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Title: James & Margaret Carson to their Dear Mother Brothers & Sisters
ID588
CollectionIrish Emigration Database
FileCarson, James & Margaret/36
Year1857
SenderCarson, James and Margaret
Sender Gendermale-female
Sender Occupationlandowners, farmers?
Sender Religionunknown
OriginPhiladelphia, Penn., USA
DestinationN.Ireland
Recipienttheir family
Recipient Gendermale-female
Relationshipunknown
SourceD 1520/3: Presented By Mr. Thomas W. Carson, 10c Shaftesbury Cross, Carrickfergus, County Antrim.
ArchiveThe Public Record Office, Northern Ireland.
Doc. No.9310736
Date06/11/1857
Partial Date
Doc. TypeEMG
LogAction By Date Document added by C.R., 26:10:1993.
Word Count716
Genre
Note
TranscriptPhiladelphia Nov [November?] 6th 1857

Dear Mother, Brothers and Sisters
We received your last
letter of the 8th October and were all glad to hear
that you were well, from the time we received
the information of Fathers danger Mother felt
very uncomfortable she got sick was confined
two weeks became very weak recovered
slowly is now in tolerable health but continues
to feel weakly
Fathers death must have been
another afflictive providence to you all as a family
you have learned by experience that Human
life is not all sunshine cloud has succeeded
cloud and the last the heaviest, how little we
can know of the ways of providence
His way is in the sea, and his path in the
great waters and his footsteps are not known
But one thing we do know "The judges of all
the earth will do right" What cause for
thankfulness has his family, that whilst he
so faithfully and successfuly [successfully?] discharged
the duties of this life, that he did not loose [lose?]
sight of the future world, and died at last in the
hope of the gospel
Mother joins you all in expressing entire satisfaction
with her Fathers arrangement [----?] [-----?]
You will have learnt before this, the
present state of affairs in this country, for some
weeks past, trade has been prostrated, business
is nearly at a stand still, Money matters
is in the utmost confusion, and confidence
or credit has ceased to exist, about five or
six weeks ago all the Banks in this city
suspended [specie?] payment, and such a
state of excitement as then ensued you can
form no idea of.
It would be too tedious to talk
of the causes which produce these periodic
panics in our Monetry [monetary?] system in this country
but without doubt, there is something radically
wrong in the management of our Banking
Establishments you will see those causes
ably discussed in the newspapers, In the
present circumstances it would be wrong to
ask anything like a money order between Ireland & this place
some of the best houses in our city have suspended payment.

#PAGE 2
We are satisfied Mothers money is in safe hands where it is,
and we think it the better way, to let it remain where
it is, for the present. The Banks by suspending
payment forfeited their Charter Governor
Pollock an extra session of the state leglislature
[legislature?] at Harrisburg, and passed a bill freeing the
Banks from the penalty and giving them till next
April to prepare themselves for resuming payment
against that time. What number of them will
come out of their dificulties in an Honorable [Honourable?]
manner is all an uncertainty.
We have succeeded in this
country as well as we had calculat [calculated?] upon
we are now over nine years in this country
and I have been all that time in the same
employment, Robert has made such proficiency
in his trade that he can provide for himself
anywhere, I have often told him that a trade
is easily carried, and if he can afterwards do
better at anything else, so much the better.
John never liked the trade and it does not
seem to agree with his health, he has grown
tall, but seems delicate, open air
perhaps would have agreed better with his
constution [constitution?], but the opportunity of being
all together [altogether?], was an inducement to keep at
the trade Mary and Margaret Jane are healthy Elisa looks
weakly Mother begins to talk of the severity of the
climate
Lacy and Phillips have nearly suspend [sic]
work, I have been Idle for some weeks.
And it is uncertain when the [they?] will have work
perhaps not before spring it is cause for gratitude
that we are not depending on the weeks wages, there
are thousands of persons in these united states that
will have hard times this winter.
John and Robert are still at work, limited to
nine hours per day, they have already discharged
a number of their boys.
Would James or George be
kind enough in your next letter, to inform us
of the price of land in Ireland I mean for
farming purposes, Francis Magee sailed
from here a week ago in the ship Wyoming
for liverpool, the family joins us in love to
our [Rokeel?] and Monaghan friends
We remain affectionately
#PAGE 3
Yours
James Carson
Margaret Carson