| Title: | James Young Caughey, Pennsylvania, to His Cousin, Co Down. |
|---|---|
| ID | 3437 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Young Caughey, James/16 |
| Year | 1888 |
| Sender | Young Caughey, James |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | works for a railway company |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Penn., USA |
| Destination | Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | female? |
| Relationship | cousins |
| Source | T 2040/1: Copied by Permission of Mrs. I. Grant, Ardnagreena, Holywood, County Down. #TYPE EMG James Young Caughey, McKeesport, Allegheny [County?], Pennsylvania, to His Cousin in Ballynahinch, County Down, 30 April, 1888. |
| Archive | Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9006201 |
| Date | 30/04/1888 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | 27:06:1990 GMcE#CREATE created 04:12:1991 WJC inpu |
| Word Count | 892 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | April 30, 1888 Dear Cousin, It is with pleasure that I write you these few lines to let you know that I am in good health at present and hoping this may find you all the same. I have wrote you several letters before this one left but they all returned uncalled for. I thiught it very strange and addressed them just the same as I did the one or two you received and answered So this one will surely reach you if the ship don't sink as Mr Marsh told me that he would certainly give it into your own hands as soon as his arrival home and I hope he may arrive in safety. I cannot write very much or at least have got very little to say at this time only what family of us that are left in this world are getting along as well as can be expected [Stained] Bob John and myself think you are aware that Andy Bella & William are dead and Sam might as well be or maybe is as I have not heard from him for ten years He went to California about twelve years ago and has never returned but I think he still lives and hope to hear from him in some future time He and I were the only single ones in the family I often think he must have got married and settled down right in that country and I suppose you are aware of the [----?] that when marriage takes place it is a kind of a separation and also the old saying out of sight out of mind Therefore I cannot get away just now I have none of the best of a Constitution and several doctors have told me it would be the very best thing I could do Still in regard to this country's prosperity it is very uncertain some years it is very good and some very poor. It has never got over the war effects yet and this country being comprised of every nationality it is very uncertain for business so many strikes which take place. This immediate vicinity in which I live is principally manufacturing and also a mining district but coal mining is pretty much played out We use very little else but natural Gas which I suppose you are aware of It is a rare thing aropund here to see a coal fire in a town or City Iron and metal are manufactured in their various ways by the use of Gas alone as fuel this is the cause of mining being so poor a business Of course there is Thousands of miners engaged but not thirty per cent of what was eight or ten ago when I came to this country it was the most money making business in this country for capitalist and common miner as well but the Natural Gas knoched both out I suppose you have no such a thing in Ireland yet or at least I never heard or read of such a thing it is a very strange thing just to think of a whole Town being kept in fuel and some use it for light out of one little hole bored in the ground about four inches in diameter and two or three thousand feet down never the less it is the case I tell you it has the pressure some wells run up to twelve Hundred pounds to one square inch. I will not bother you any more explaining gas anymore Just now but at some future time will give you some More Idea of its workings As I said it is an uncertain Country as Strikes occour [occur?] so often everything looking favourable as could be men all engaged in their several trades and occupations today. Tomorrow before dinner all out on a strike This has been the case since the financial Crisis struck this country in 1871 and it seems to me there is not much improvement being made since that time especially in a manufacturing District But Farmers never feels have [half?] as much of the affects [effects?] as other branches of business I must now stop scratching or scribbling pretty soon as I cannot Intrest [Interest?] you very much whoever gets this perhaps who may it will not interest them any but if you only return me a note I will do my endeavour to write you something of Intrest [Interest?] I also trust My Friend Marsh will arrive safely on the other side of the Atlantic and He can tell you some of the things peculiar in this Country although He did not become a full fledged Yankee like me I would have sent some little 'Trinkets' but so uncertain to me the arrival of them I have posponed [postponed?] till some future time I must now tell you a little about myself I am in the Express business and getting along there is no use in blowing about ones self [oneself?] but I am doing well enough not married but happy where my hat is hung up is my House but my business is right here while I attend to it Now I will close by sending my regards & Love for you all I Remain Your Cousin James Y. Caughey Adress [Address?] McKeesport Allegheny [County?] P[ennsylvani?]a |
