| Title: | William Taylor, Nebraska, to George Hilary, Ireland. |
|---|---|
| ID | 3109 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Taylor, William/3 |
| Year | 1873 |
| Sender | Taylor, William |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | former army officer / farmer |
| Sender Religion | Protestant |
| Origin | York, Nebraska, USA |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | Hilary, George |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | friends |
| Source | Donated by Mr & Mrs George Hilary, Belfast. Enquiries to Lorraine Tennant, 14 Somerton Close, Belfast. |
| Archive | The Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh, N.Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9605258 |
| Date | 27/01/1873 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 20:05:96. |
| Word Count | 2257 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Direct to me York, York Co. Neb. [Nebraska?] U.S.America York Co. Nebraska Jany 27/73 Dear Friend George I received your kind & welcome letter on the 24th inst dated Nov 28th I was sorry to hear of your Mother's death, but I am glad to hear of so many of her family being yet alive. time glides by swiftly & changes are quick & rapid, & soon we will be in the graves with our Fathers & our children take our place in the busy strugle [struggle?] of life. George I have been careless about writting [writing?] and I have not got any letters from Ireland (but yours) for a long time. I will send you a short account of my history since I left the army. I was discharged on the 18 of Oct 1864 & I got married on the 8th of the following Dec, my wife's name was Jane Downing of Londonderry She is a Presbyterian was 18 when we married. we have three children living Hester Isobella 7, Frank 4, Benjamin Irenseus 2, and John Jamison who died in Nov 67 aged eleven months, after I got married I farmed two years for a man at Millersbug [Millersburg?] on shares, he furnished team & feed also seed & farming implements. I boarded myself & done all the work, gave him one half of the crop ready for market, I raised 400 Bs of wheat one year & 600 Bs of Indian Corn, next year I did not do so well, I bought a team & waggon [wagon?] which cost me about 500 Dollars I lost one of the horses & bought another & in two years lost that one, crops were poor and times verry [very?] hard I rented ground and gave one 1/3 of what I raised, we could live verry [very?] well but save verry [very?] little so I thought I would try farther west. Land in Illinois is verry [very?] dear Improved land is worth from 30 to 50 Dollars per acre & Prairia [Prairie?] Land from 10 to 20 Dollars per acre. the land is good whether Prairia [Prairie?] is wood land but the latter takes a great deal of hard labour to get it in Cultivation I think that Illinois cannot be beat in the states for raising Indian Corn, but for wheat & other small grains this state will beat it. Illinois has all the advantages of Religion & education. Churches of all denomanations [denominations?] are numerous and well sustained School Houses are abundant and suplied [supplied?] with good teachers, Ministers are Paid from 700 to 1000 Dollars a year in the Country & school Teachers from 30 to 50 Dollars per month, the climate on the high rolling Prairia's [Prairie's?] in Illinois is healthy but along River Bottoms & low lands People are subject to [Ague?] Ills [Illinois?] is crossed in all directions by Railroads & several Canals, it is nearly surrounded by River & Lake navagations [navigations?], her woods abound, & her coal fields underlye [underlie?] most of the State, her summers are intensly hot (mercury up to 100 in the shade) & her winters some times of the bitterest Cold (Mercury down to 25 degrees below zero) Such weather is hard to stand whether in summer or winter but it does not last long Some seasons, fall weather is delightfull [delightful?], you can raise & keep any kind of Stock in Illinois that you can in Ireland, most of the large Farmers are seeding down their farms in Cloves & Timothy & raising Cattle & some few keep sheep, men with small farms Cultivate the soil raise mostly Corn & feed Hogs in good Seasons wheat will turn out 20 Bs to the acre (English Land Measurement) Indian Corn 50 to 60 Bs, Oats 40 to 50, Rye 25 to 30, Barley 25 to 30, Potatoes 150 to 200, Sugar Cane is raised & men make their own Mollasses the grain is cut by Reaping Machines which generaly [generally?] cut 10 acres a day 5 men do the binding. wages last year was 1¬ dollars per day, 62 cents per Acre for Cutting, Machines thrash about 400 Bushels per day, charge 5 cents per Bs for wheat & 2« for Oats, thrash 1000 Bs of Oats per day it takes about 8 men to attend to a machine besides the owners, these men who do the feeding, driving & keeping it in running order, ten horses are used on such a machine the owners suply [supply?] 6 & employer 4, the prices of grain vary a great deal wheat from 75 cts to (sometimes) 2 Dollars Oats from 15 to 50 cts Corn from 20 cts to 100 cts Potatoes from 30 cts to 1 Dollar a good worker can tend to 60 acres of land (some more) Plow [plough?] up 25 to thirty acres in the fall and put it on small grain in the spring, then plow [plough?] up 35 or 40 acres & put it in Corn it requires to be plowed [ploughed?] through three times, which will take about 4 weeks work, with a two Horse Cultivation, one good hand will husk 50 Bs of Corn each day, crop ready to gather from middle of Oct to 1st of Nov, most of crops gathered before Christmas Lands all require to be fenced in Illinois, such fencing if put up with Posts of Timber will cost a little over 1 Dollar per Rod for the Material, if a man owns timber land he can make rails & fence it cheeper [cheaper?], good Horses in Ills [Illinois?] cost from 100 to 150 Dollars each. Waggons [Wagons?] 100. Double Harness 40 Dol. [Dollars?] Plows [Ploughs?] 20 to 25, Corn Plows [ploughs?] 25 to 30 Harrows 10, Mowing Machines about 130 Doll [Dollars?] Reaping as high as 200 Dollars now George I have given you a little information about Ills [Illinois?] & I will tell you a little about this new state (Nebraska which I have chosen for my new home. Last Summer I raised 40 acres of Corn on my Brother in law's Place I sold my house for 222« Dollars, I had to give one year's time on part of the payment, I sold my furniture & stock & Started on the 22nd of August for this State bought a team of Horses Waggons [Wagons?] also a team of two year old mules which I tied behind the waggon [wagon?] along we had a heavy load for such a journey (nearly a ton) we traveled [travelled?] from 20 to 25 miles a day we had [bars?] and a cover on the waggon [wagon?] so that we did not suffer much with the heat, the roads were dry though very rough for nearly 300 miles when we got near the Missouri River it commenced to rain and rained for nearly a week the roads became very muddy and our progress was very slow, we got out here about the middle of Sept. I homesteaded a quarter Section of land the government gives to every Soldier who served in the Union Army 160 Acres of land, Said Soldier has to come where there is vacant land, Pick out his quarter Build a house on it & live on it 2 years that is if he served 3 years in the army if he only served 2 years he has to live on the land 3 years, so that the time he Served in the army & time he has to live on the land amounts to 5 years. Some served 4 years & consequently has only 1 year to keep possession of the land till he get a deed from Goverment [Government?], when a soldier homesteads his land he pays 18 Dollars, & gets a Receipt for the money with the land described & when he goes for his deed has nothing more to pay, Pays no taxes on the land till he receives his deed, & need not take said deed till five years after he enters his land, Citizens of the United States who are not Soldiers can take 80 Acres of land by paying 14 Dollars & living on the land five years when the [they?] will get a deed, their land same as Soldiers exemp [exempt?] from taxes till a deed is given, this land is free to Citizens of every Country who come here and Swear alegiance [allegiance?] to the United States & become Citizens, the [they?] can homestead 80 acres of land as soon as the [they?] can get though the [they?] cannot vote for five years but should the [they?] die before that time their wife & Children Can hold the land, the land here is very good, high rolling Prairies as far as the eye can reach bounded by the horizons & seeming like a vast ocean one thing is lacking, timber, which is very Scarce also Water, we have to dig sixty feet for water, & a great many has to burn Indian Corn for fuel it makes a splendid fire & 200 or 300 Bushels will do a family a year I have got wood enough to last me till harvest. the water here is good 'tis [it is?] found generly [generally?] in quicksand at the above depth though vary's [varies?] according to high or low Prairias [Prairies?], there are Some good Streams of Clear running water Skirted with timber such as Elm, Ash, & Willow the land is surveyed in Sections Comencing [Commencing?] to count from the North East Corner of the township & Counting west Six sections then back to 12 then west & back till the Plot is square which makes 36 Sections in a township every odd number from one to 35 belongs to the Railroad Company's even numbers's homestead land this division is only made when Company's have as will make a road, & extends 20 miles each Side of the road, I live inside of Railroad Limits, & ten miles from County Seat which is York Center [centre?] a Small town with a court House, school house, Presbyterian & Methodist Churches, 4 Stores & a few dwelling houses, town about 1 year old I think it will grow rapid when Railroad Comes to it there is two whole Sections out of every township given for school purposes which I think is more than any other state has done, if you will run your finger on the Parallel of 41 North Latitude & follow it to the Meridian line of 97 West from Greenwich & crop it 25 miles you will see on the map nearly where we live I hope you may yet see the Soil & own Some of it if you come to America I think that this would be a good Country for you there is no fencing to be done in the [this?] State every man has to take Care of his own Stock & People raise their crops on the Open prairia [prairie?], & it can be broken up with one team of Horses, & will raise abundance of anything that a man will plant, there will be plenty of timber here in 3 years, People are turning their attention to raising it & several kinds will grow rappid [rapidly?] such as Cotton Wood, Maple & Box Elder [A?] sage thorn grows rappid [rapidly?] & people will set out hedges for shelter & to save herding Stock, Cows here are worth from 35 to 40 Dollars Other Stock the same price as in Illinois, Crops about the Same price Wheat from 73 cts to 1 Dollar Bs flour 3 Dollars per 100 lbs Corn 18 cts per Bs. Potatoes 30 cts Pork 4 Dollars per 100 lbs net Buter [Butter?] 20 cts per lb Tea from 150 cts to 2 Dollars per lb Sugar 16 cts per lb Coffee 25 cts per lb Now George I will conclude this Scribble & if there is anything you want to know more about this country write & I will answer you to let you know if it is in my power to do so My Brother Thomas lives in [Keithsburg?] [Misses?] got married 1 year ago last fall my Sister Hester & Husband also live in Keithsburg he has had verry [very?] poor health for several years with Rheumatism the [they?] are well off there, though the [they?] talk about coming out here in the Spring I was surprised to hear of William Logan's death please send me the Particulars in your next letter George I want you to write me a long letter I would like to hear of the changes in Anaghmoon [Annaghmore?] Sands' town, Ballylough & Donaghcloney, how are your friends the Adams' doing why could not some of them come out here with you, this is a very healthy State a dry bracing air, free from fever & Ague. George I have had good health since I left the Army & I feel as strong today as when I headed you up Slieve Donard, I will close least I weary you making out my Scribble, I wish to be remembered to William & John also your Brother James & wife & family I suppose Eliza is a big girl now Best respect to Robert Kearns & Mr Harvey & family Remember me to my Brother John & his Wife & family & old aquaintances around Sands' town, if he came out here he would do better for his family Please write soon your sincere friend William Taylor |
