| Title: | Extract of Letter from Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, USA |
|---|---|
| ID | 1103 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | G.E/5 |
| Year | 1821 |
| Sender | G.E. |
| Sender Gender | unknown |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Susquehanna, Penn., USA |
| Destination | unknown |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | unknown |
| Source | The Irishman, Friday, September 21, 1821 |
| Archive | The Linen Hall Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 9410387 |
| Date | 20/03/1821 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 20:10:1994. |
| Word Count | 654 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (From the Examiner) Mr. EDITOR - I have read with satisfaction your paper for the last ten years, and see you now and then amuse and instruct your friends with information from America; I therefore, in return, send you this extract of a letter:- Silver Lake, Susquehanna, March 20, 1821 "I, who have bought, and now hold 115 acres of good land, for county-tax, one dollar and four cents; and two dollars and eight cents for road tax. This last I have to work out, and that is the total of all my taxes for the present year. When I have paid my 104 cents, it matters not much if I get no more cash for twelve months. It is true, for cash we can now buy 2 1/2; mutton 2; wheat 62 per bushel; rye 37 1/2; potatoes 12 1/2 to 18 per bushel of 60 pounds; salt, 3 dollars per bushel of 280 pounds. A good milk cow from 10 to 15 dollars; a yoke of oxen, from 40 to 80 dollars; good horses, from 30 to 80 dollars; fowls, 12 1/2 cents; sheep, 1 1/2 dollars; geese 30 to 50 cents; venison, on which we have lived principally for three months, 2 to 3 cents per pound; soal [sole?]-leather, 25 to 30 cents per pound. Stage travelling averages about 6 cents per mile; hay 8 dollars per ton; oats 18 cents per bushel. A labourer has five and six shillings a day; and a mechanic a dollar and upwards, 70.6d to the dollar; so that a good joiner or shoe-maker may get, say, 1 bushel of wheat, 10 pounds of meat, 1 pound of butter, and half a bushel of potatoes for a day's work. Next he may buy one acre of freehold land, in some places, for two dollars, up to six eight and ten but the common average is three or four; so he may work two days, one for his family food, one for their clothing and sundries, and four for an acre of freehold land, that has as much wood on it as he will consume in ten years. The mechanic and labourer therefore, must improve his condition by settling in America; but he must not extend his views very far, since all he has to pay wages for is loss to him; he cannot make profit; wages are too high for the state of things, they are gradually coming down. In farming, a man must maintain his family independently, but cannot realize property. The produce of the country is greater than the consumption; and there being no export trade, there id a dearth of cash at present which causes the low prices. Every man is not adapted for this country. He who has no capability to adapt himself to new employments and methods, and who cannot for himself turn carpenter, wheeler, cooper, taylor [tailor?] and shoemaker, had better stay at home; unless he can bring with him as much money as will buy all these things, to carry with him to the settlement. We make our own soap and candles (duty free), and have abundance of wild gooseberries, currants, cranberries, blackberries, cherries and raspberries, for family use in summer. Apples in this new station are rather scarce; but in the older settlements, they were so plentiful last year, that immense quantities were left to rot for manure, or were eaten by hogs. I have been here now nearly nineteen months, and have not taken ten dollars in cash, but have had meat, flour, vegetables, building materials, etc., which I must have paid cash for, so it is nearly as well. We have many privations to endure, many hardships, and much hard labour; but the rest of the chapter is sweet. We have pleasure and advantages that I would not exchange for all the luxuries of London. We are free and unfethered as the door that bound over my field, and the birds that delight me with their notes while I am taking the trout from a fine stream that meanders through my lot." "N.B. - Silver Lake Settlement, is about 170 miles from New York, and about 150 from Philadelphia. I am your obediant Servant, G.E." August 26, 1821. |
