| Title: | Philip Formby, Dunton, Colorado to Mrs Myles Formby, England |
|---|---|
| ID | 1080 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Formby, Philip/40 |
| Year | 1901 |
| Sender | Formby, Philip |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | family-run hotel owner |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Dunton, Colorado, USA |
| Destination | Goring on Thames, Oxfordshire, England |
| Recipient | Carrissima, Mrs Myles L. Formby |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | brother and sister in law? |
| Source | T 2404/4: Copied by Permission of Wing Commander Myles Formby, Dundaig House, Macosquin, County Londonderry. #TYPE EMG Philip Formby, Dunton, Dolores Co[unty?], Colorado, [America?], to "My Dear Carrisima", Mrs Myles L. Formby, Goring on Thames, Oxford, E |
| Archive | Public Record Office, Northern Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9007002 |
| Date | 9/12/1901 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | 17:07:1990 TSFS#CREATE created 12:10:1990 CD input |
| Word Count | 848 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Dunton, Dolores Co. [County?] Colorado. Dec. 9 1901. My dear Carrisima, I suppose the struggle for existence so [En?]grosses our attention that one does not have much time for public correspondence, however I suppose once in a decade is better than not at all, so while the spirit moves me I will write to wish the father yourself and all at Goring a Happy Xmas. I suppose you will probably be quite a gathering anyhow. I wish we could be with you, but wishing is about as futile as any amusement one could think of, [Myttie?] declared when she was feeling bad last Autumn that she did not think she could face another of our long winters here but she got to feel a lot better so we concluded see [she?] wd [would?] try it for [just?] once more. I am getting about as fit to stay in the mountains as she is as I have been nearly crippled for 2 months with Sciatica and sometimes when I get wet at my work I can hardly Straighten up for 2 days after, I can remember what horrible faces Uncle [Hesteth?] used to pull when a twinge took him and I don't believe I should laugh any more. I have had a kind of [wearying?] day as Myttie has been in bed all day with an attack of influenza and I have had to run the house generally. My little girls have quite an idea of helping, but their efforts are spasmodic, we have had our Hotel rented out this past summer but really it is a heart-breaking business, I wd [would?] never want either a horse or a house to hire out, for both get all amount of abuse and lack of care that fairly makes the owner crazy to see and each [winter?] one gets [---ess?] if anything more than the other, it is not that they don't pay their rent but they seem to give every thing such rough handling that it takes about all the rent to keep the place in any decent shape, the present people were taking the all Summer price 50 pounds a week and have come out in debt from other mismanagement and extravagence. I have been working as a carpenter and other jobs during the summer, but have not got to work in the mine yet this winter as it is too wet for my Sciatica - Our Post office keets us pretty busy most days as [it?] is now a daily affair but the compensation is as yet rather meagre duly being about 3 pounds a month of cours [course?] Myttie has several times been calld out to go and see some poor devil that has been hurt, they brought an Englishman here at 11 0 [p.m.?] a few nights ago that had nearly had his head kicked off by 4 men, there was a wound over his eye that it took 3 hours to stop the bleeding, and if Myttie had not been here his name wd [would?] have been [Dec---?] a few day after a lot of Dynamite exploded in a mine and she had to go and see what could be done for several men that were nearly choked with the fumes of the Nitroglycerine, on [one?] of them died in 24 hrs [hours?] and 2 or 3 others are in doubt yet, all these services of which these are only an instance or two are of course purely [gratuitous?] on her part. nut as they cannot get a doctor here under 10 or 12 hours it is apparently [considered?] quite natural to send for Mrs Formby - I am glad to say that our own immediate family keeps pretty well so we don't need much nursing but I get pretty badly scared up in my Tunnel at times as it is quite a dangerous place to work in especially above and I have been knocked down twice, the last time having as close a call for my life as I want and unfortunately it is a condition of things that wd [would?] take a good deal of expense to remedy, possibly more that the values it might obtain would justify, I now and then get small bodies of good ore but the rock is harder than granite and it is slow work for one man, 6 [night?]s advance for cash working day is pretty good work in Tunnel for any one man, We are keeping a cow up this winter as Myttie and the children cannot do without their milk, and condensed milk does not seem to do them much good – I hope you people are keeping well and cheerful, how are those various engagements coming on? I wish you w[oul?]d send me some of the later Photo[graph?]s of the family as they must surely have altered during the past 5 years; I have never had my little ones taken as the local artist is such a duffer. Well Carrissima we will each have to drink to the absent - With love to you all, Yours very affectionately Philip Formby |
