| Title: | Wm G. Weir, New York, U.S.A., to Thomas Weir Jnr., Ireland |
|---|---|
| ID | 3258 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Weir, William George/18 |
| Year | 1859 |
| Sender | Weir, William George |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | Protestant |
| Origin | New York, USA |
| Destination | Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Weir, Thomas Jr. |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | D1948/3/8: Presented by P. J. V. Doake Esq., Glenlagan, Kinallen, Dromara, County Down |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9501028 |
| Date | 25/06/1859 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT/JW, 04:01:1995. |
| Word Count | 1494 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | [fragment] To: Thomas Weir Junr [Junior?] From: New York 25th June 1859 Dear Thomas I promised to write to you the next letter, and now I am about to fulfil that promise I think I have not told as yet anything about my fellow Passengers in the City of Baltimore, so that I may give you a short account of them. The one with whom I was perhaps most familiar was a little fair headed fellow with a very slight mo-stache [moustache?] who sat next to me at table. He was going out as a teacher appointed by Government to a very outlandish part of the world, namely Turk's Islands, West Indies He was very fond of Poetry & litterature [literature?] &c and although something of a pedant, I liked him, as he was kind hearted and disingenuous. Next there was a very old man of 77 accompanied by a young one: they both wore outlandish clothes, and let their hair and beard grow. Papa saw these at Liverpool. as they did not attend our religious services, and were particular about what they ate, there were a great many surmises afloat as to their religion. one day they were, "American Jews." Again "they were certainly Mormons," and it was an established fact that the young man had 6 wives in the steerage," Some thought they were Plymouth Brethren, & even, "Mahommedans. [Mohammedans?] Mr D Stewart told me that they belonged to a Sect like Moravians, called "Menice." [Mennonites?] all these conjectures were proved false by the young man stating that they were followers of Johanna Southcote, and that they he never shaved nor clipped his hair in conformity to the law of Moses, they were going to Australia via New York & Pannama [Panama?]. the old man had been there 4 times. Notwithstanding his religious belief, the young man was an intelligent and pleasant companion. Then there was a Mr McBlain of Newry and Canada who thought "no small beer" of himself, or his brother who was candidate for Newry upon Mr Kirks retirement, he got on board at Quienstown [Queenstown?]. Next an Armagh Tailor with wife & Two Children who had made some money in Liverpool and was coming over on a visit to a prosperous brother here, - rather vulgar. Then a good looking and agreeable young man, a brother of Charles & Alexander Rea of Gracehill memory. I saw Alexander at Liverpool in full clerical costume & Charles is also a Pastor!! Then there was a very gentlemanly young man, a Spanish Captain who was going to join his ship at New York, he spoke French, not much English. Then an old German with his wife with whoom [whom?] I had a great deal of conversation, he was a great pianist and had introduced some new method of teaching but he had a pareletic [paralytic?] stroke which deprives him of the use of his hands They had been over to Europe to bid farewell to a daughters [sic] in France, and also to one in England - a Mrs Wallace wife of a great Musical man in England - as they intend laying their bones in America. They have some Children here great musical people, the name is Stoebel. It was the greatest scene I have seen for some time, the meeting with their daughter &c. here first she rushed at the old father, put her arms round his neck, & kissed him repeatedly on both cheeks, then held him at arms length looking into his face and then kissing him again. This was repeated several times both in the case of the father and mother and there was quite a crowd of amused and delighted spectators. There was also a cockney Lady coming out with 4 children, her meeting was a remarkable contrast to that of the Germans. One might have thought that she had not been parted from him for 24 hours. This woman kept up a continual clatter at meals and was rather a nuisance, it must be a pity of her husband, who is a schoolmaster in Brooklyn indeed he seemed quite afraid and subdued. There were two regular Yankees on board one was always walking up and down muttering to himself. The other - Wm [William?] Henry Stewart, remarked him [sic] at Liverpool, - was returning home after visiting Continental Europe. both spoke very much through their noses, and had many other national peculiarities. There was an old Welsh man with his son and daughter, both young. An Englishman who had been many years in America and Lived at Niagara Falls he was accompanied by his brother a boy of about your size and appearance. This youngster declaired [declared?] on the 3rd day after leaving that he would not eat anything untill [until?] he arrived at New York. This was whilst he was recovering from sea sickness, but before three days more he took his victuals as well as anyone on board, (And most of us had pretty good appetites.) There was also a very nice American Clergyman who had been spending some time in Germany he was so sick that he did not appear untill [until?] we arrived at Cape Rose Another sufferer was a young man from Sheffield who was and looked very miserable but as it was not an incurable disease (sea sickness) all recovered. We had a sea faring man also; a fine tall gentlemanly fellow, who had been over a good deal of the world. And I shall end my list with a young Lady who was just finishing her voyage round the world by landing at New York. She left Brooklyn last July with a sister who had got married and was going to Australia went by the Cape of Good Hope and after stopping some time in Australia Came to England round Cape Horn in the Great Brittain [Britain?], she was only a few days in Liverpool, before the Cy [City?] of Belfast and instead of being tired of the seas she said she liked the voyage very much indeed The Captain and the Officers were Gentlemanly men I called down to see them the other evening I saw the City of Baltimore leave on Saturday at 12. The Vanderbuilt [Vanderbilt?] left at the same time so that they would have a race There is a great interest taken in the war here and the News by every steamer is anxiously looked for, The people here sympathise [sympathize?] entirely with the French or rather the Italians. Thery seem to think that the French will find no difficulty in getting even to Vienna in one campaigne [campaign?]. The French have doubtless had the advantage greatly up till now. I see the Derby Ministry has been defeated on account of their Austrian Sympathies. I hope England will not mix in the War, come what may My dear Thomas I wrote most of the about about 3 Weeks ago leaving this in New York, whilst I was in Philadelphia I thought that I would be back in a few days but I just arrived here on Thursday 23rd After an absence of a fortnight; which was very agreeably spent However as there is no news in this it will keep. I was much pleased with Philadelphia. It is such a beautifully clean City. All the street [streets?] are perfectly strait [straight?]. The first one from the Delaware is called front st[reet?] the one next 2nd & so on up to 25 or so I do not know how far. One of the streets is 25 miles long that is it is [sic] laid out for that laid out for that length one is paved &c for 15 miles the sidewalks are paved with bricks and lined with trees, the houses are generally of bright brick with green shutters & wite marble steps. Almost always one Family occupy the whole house, this is not the case in New York where they live in floors. There are several nice shady squares which are inhabited by squirrels racoons [raccoons?] peacocks &c and in some there are herds of deer, these aninmals [animals?] will eat out of your hand, and of course they are a source of amusement to the numerous children which frequent these walks. The principal sights of Phila [Philadelphia?] are the Gerard college an asylum for orphans built by a French infidel it is said to be almost the only act of benevolence which he ever performed. Having hoarded together a large sum of money and finding himself without any near heirs he bethought [betrothed?] himself of [sic] easeing [easing?] his conscience and handing down his name to posterity through this lasting monument, He accordingly left a large sum in the hands of the City partly to build this College and partly to endow it. The building is of the purest Grecian Style, entirely of white marble it is of Grand dimentions [dimensions?] and has two smaller buildings at each end in the same style. |
