| Title: | Richard Yeats, St John's, N.B. to Henry Gore Booth, [?] |
|---|---|
| ID | 3436 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Yeats, Richard/31 |
| Year | 1849 |
| Sender | Yeats, Richard |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | supervises voyages and |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | St John's, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Destination | unknown |
| Recipient | Sir Henry Gore Booth |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | employee-boss |
| Source | British Parliamentary Papers, 1849, X1, (122), pp 124-125. |
| Archive | The Main Library, The Queen's University of Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 9804814 |
| Date | 27/08/1849 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 30:04:98. |
| Word Count | 586 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Appendix to Minutes of Evidence Before Select Committee Appendix X Henry Gore Booth,Esq. My dear Sir, St. John's N.B., 27th August 1847 Your having kindly expressed a wish that I should communicate how we proceeded on this Voyage I do so with pleasure to say it has pleased the Lord to have given us no Storm to encounter but I regret to say toward the closing of it we have had Fever to contend with; by the unremitted attention paid by the captain but one man fell a victim to it out of about fifty cases, ten of which were very bad, also we lost an old woman and a child, but their deaths I think were caused by general debility. On our arrival here on the evening of the 19th of August Fever was still hanging about us, next morning when the Doctor came on Board to inspect the Ship he found many labouring under it and had three and twenty landed on the Island out of which one was dead next morning, and since then up to Tuesday the 24th inst. about the same number has been landed, some of them to take charge of their friends, and four children having died on board, the Captain and the Commissioner of Emigration seemed to think it better to land all as they dreaded it would cause a great uproar to bring them up to the city particularly after the tax the passengers of the former ship has imposed on the citizens, but I have no doubt that the passengers brought by this ship will quite redeem their characters for they are admitted by all who have yet seen them to be of a very superior class, and indeed I must say their appearance have been much improved by the exertion of the Captain and Mrs. Purdon [Purden?] whose attention throughout the Voyage to all was beyond anything I could have imagined and for theirs to me I cannot ever forget. The Captain deeming it advisable hired a Steamer to take all the passengers that were well to town yesterday many of whom have already obtained employment. Young Gillmor [Gilmore?] has succeeded in obtaining employment as farming servant to Doctor Petters at Twenty Pounds per Annum with his boarding, and his sisters an old Lady has taken charge off [of?] until she can procure them some suitable employment. Mr. Robertson understanding that there is a great demand for Labourers in Digby and Fredericktown have [has?] made arrangements to transmit some of them by the steamer tomorrow. I have handed him your kind letter of introduction and he seems to hope to be able to procure me employment in a few days, indeed I am much pleased with the reception I have met with from all to whom I have as yet been introduced, as also the appearance of the Town which far exceeded what I expected, it has about thirty thousand inhabitants, some of the shops are very large, most of the buildings are made of wood notwithstanding the greater part of the country around the Town is one mass of Rock. I had letters written to forward home by the first Vessel we might meet passing but we were not fortunate enough to meet any and now as I have many letters to write to forward by the post which starts tomorrow and besides I am aware the captain is about forwarding a detailed journal of how we proceeded on the Voyage I beg you will excuse my not writing more fully now but shall take advantage of the first opportunity to do so. And I remain my dear Sir, Very gratefully yours, RICHARD YEATS |
