| Title: | Mary Adams, Monticello to Reverend William J. Stavely, Ballymoney |
|---|---|
| ID | 4 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Adams, Mary/75 |
| Year | 1818 |
| Sender | Adams, Mary |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Monticello (Virginia?), USA |
| Destination | Ballymoney, N. Ireland |
| Recipient | Rev. William J. Stavely |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | cousins |
| Source | D 1835/27/2/2: Deposited by Greer Hamilton and Gailey, Solicitors, High Street, Ballymoney, County Antrim. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9310016 |
| Date | 17/02/1818 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Action By Date Document added by C. R., 01:10:1993 |
| Word Count | 1119 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Letter from Mary Adams, Monticello, USA, to Reverend William J. Stavely, Corkey, Ballymoney, County, Antrim. February 17, 1818. Monticello February 17th 1818. Dear Sir With feelings of the greatest gratitude and affection I received your letter of the 19th of August. Dear to my heart are the friends of early life. Among those C. Hall and your family hold the most distinguished place. Melancholy is the recital you have given of poor Ireland. When I perused your letter I could [-----?] say whether pacified sympathy for my native country or joy that my family escaped such complicated misery predominated in my bosom. That you suffer so much is extremely painful to my mind. Most ardently I wish that Drumrardin [?] was sold, if you delivered from every embarrassment upon that account. I am truly grateful to you for feeling so much interest in our honor and integrity. Every wish of my heart is in union with your request. At present it is not in my power to meet your wishes. But in the [-?]all of the Almighty spare our lives I hope we shall be able. I shall now give you a statement of your affairs. Our small stock kitchen utensils, and a few articles indispensably necessary cost us about one hundred dollars. This is an expense that we will not again require to incur. We have provisions laid in for six months, there is fifty dollars due us and at the first of May Ann's people will owe her about sixty dollars, and mine will owe me about 160. This money we cannot raise until the Fall as people here make payments only once in the year. That is after the sale of their cotton crop. They then pay the debts contracted in the last year, lay in a stock for the ensuing one. And whatever money may be redundant, they lay out to the best advantage, either in land, stock, negroes, or perhaps place it in the Bank. Our situation however is precarious, and I am not certain if Ann's payments will be so regular as mine. This my dear Sir is a correct statement, and I hope God who has planted a seed of Justice in our breast, will also bestow the means of acting uprightly. Mr. Davis is uniformly my friend, his advice is ever ready, and his concurrence to every thing that is for my interest. There is scarcely an article which Mr. Davis does not send me a part of. They both say they esteem me as their own child. Indeed the friendship of the people to us is astonishing. One person sent us a present of more than one hundred of fine flour. Another gave fodder for our cattle and another sent us upwards of forty pounds of prime beef. But it would be endless to repeat every instance of generosity. Still we have #PAGE 2 drawbacks upon our comfort. The distance is great to Mr. Kelly's place of worship, and you will be surprised, when I tell you I have not heard him preach since I came to this neighbourhood. From the place where my Father lived in summer, we could have gone to hear him once a month, and would have thought little of the fatigue but we were denied that pleasure. My cousin Mrs. Bones absolutely forbid our going. Or if we should all pro[-----torn]ion and friendship from them should cease our [---damaged] [-----torn] was unprotected, and by doing so we should incur cen[sure?] [----torn] that we are unprotected we truly feel. This we are su[-----torn] without a religious acquaintance of our own profession. And without access to the Ordinances of the Church we wished to communicate with. From this view of the subject you will perceive, that we must either live in our unprotected state entirely dependant upon the will of others, or take a step which would for a time disconnect us with the Church. Ann is near enough to attend Mr. Kelly's ministrations, but she is not her own mistress in this respect. A circumstance which depresses her beyond description. Mr Rogers is the only person we occassionally [occasionally?] hear. He preaches excellent calvanisitic [Calvinistic?] sermons, and many of his people are pious, but the discipline of his Congregation is lax. Here the Covenanters occassionally [occasionally?] here [hear?] preachers of other denominations which is not against their standing in the Church. I am sorry to say Mr. Kelly did not pay much attention to us. I wrote him importunably [?] requesting a personal interview, of [or?] if that was not convenient I requested him to write. He did not condescend to answer my letter. I beg my dear Sir you will give me your Advice how to see in this dark path. I frequently wish you were in the United States. Confident I am it would be the best thing you could do for your rising family America presents an infinity of resources for the industrious. She is always extending her territories, so that an ample field is afforded for agriculture. Congress has purchased from the Indians an extensive tract of land known by the name of the Western Territory. I have been told that it contains nearly as much as the United States at the commencement of their independence. Part of it is situated on the River Alabama West of Georgia and it is thought to be the most fertile land in the world. Commerce is flourishing, the staple article Cotton is so high at 35 dollars per hundred. The people are remarkably forward in promoting learning, establishing public seminaries, and encouraging the arts and [-----?]. This settlement is considered one of the wealthiest in the Union. The planters are as rich as [-----?], #PAGE 3 intelligent and active. To give you an idea of their annual profits Mr. Davis has this year made 40 Bales of Cotton each Bale sold at 100 dollars the total amount 4000 dollars. I wrote Jane in November and shall soon write her again. I have wrote to A. Adams by this conveyance. Be so good as to write me soon and often your Letter I shall ever prize most highly. Tell John and Mary I shall write them and hope to receive many letters from them. Indeed I was very proud of their little epistles. My Father Mother and Eliza join love to you Jane, the children and C. Hall Family. With esteem I remain your most respectful amd affectionate cousin Mary Adams PS. I fear you cannot read this scrawl. Direct your letter to Monticello Post Office Fairfield S. [South?] Carolina. Letters by the Northen States will reach us as soon as those by the Southern. It will perhaps be better that you will not show this letter to any person. |
