| Title: | R. Campbell, U.S.A. to W. J. C. Allen, Belfast. |
|---|---|
| ID | 495 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Campbell, Robert/28 |
| Year | 1870 |
| Sender | Campbell, Robert |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | merchant |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Augusta, Georgia, USA |
| Destination | Belfast, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Campbell Allen, William J. |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | friends, business |
| Source | D 1558/1/1/417: Papers of William John Campbell Allen Deposited by F. D. Campbell Allen. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, N. Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9802482 |
| Date | 17/11/1870 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 09:02:98. |
| Word Count | 1021 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Augusta Nov 17/70 [17 November 1870?] W. J. C. Allen Esq Ulster Bank Belfast My very dear Sir I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from you while in the upper country, but being unable at present to keep my papers in very good order, cannot lay my hands on it to speak of its date. I reached home here last week and found that our old friend John Bones had been recently carried to his last resting place. He had been spending the summer in Marietta and had returned to Augusta in good health but by an act of improvidence in taking a long walk, he overtasked his strength, and was laid up with fever in consequence. After a few days illness it was found he could not recover. Perfectly aware of this himself, he said he had no fear of death, and on the 25th ult., he quietly breathed his last surrounded by a mourning group of relatives and very warmly attached friends. He was in his seventy ninth year and was the oldest man in business in Augusta. He leaves an estate which is valued at about $225,000 which is to be divided among his six heirs, all of whom reside in this country, (the families of his sisters, his two deceased brothers, and the children of William Brown,, his brother in law). Apart from this a legacy was left to his adopted daughter Miss Longstreet. Though the summer was unusually hot being at ninety for a few days at Clarksville, came down in rather better health than when I left Augusta. I reached here on Friday the 4th inst. and found everything quite green, even the most tender vegetables & vines, out first killing frost being yesterday morning (yet the city generally continued healthy). Though very few buildings were going up, still I could see various improvements going on. A new bridge has been built across the Savannah river with stone foundations leading into Washington Street, (the one next below me). This is a railroad bridge for a new line leading from Charlotte N.C. [North Carolina?] through Columbia S.C. [South Carolina?]. This makes the third bridge across the river at Augusta. The passenger cars pass with a locomotive directly through the city, to the south of the Presbyterian church, to the Georgia, (now called the Union Depot), from which all passenger cars now start. Since you were here the street trees have grown up very beautifully, there being four rows of elms and oaks extending for more than a mile in Green Street. Between the two markets there are no trees in the middle of Broad Street but above and below this interval, the four rows are perfect. From the introduction of the river water to a tower of considerable height on the nearest high ground south of the Beaver dam, this water is distributed throughout the whole city by iron pipes and secures very effectually from any great losses by fire. It is also taken advantage of, to supply a number of public and private fountains, which add to the comfort and ornament of the city. Besides this it is applied freely to laying the street dust from which we used formerly to suffer. A large part of the ground near the south east common has been recently devoted by the city to public use and enjoyment. An Agricultural Fair has just been held there with success. A railroad on which a good deal of work has been already done, is to extend from Port Royal harbour in S.C. [South Carolina?] to this place, one of the most easily entered and deepest harbours on the Southern coast. As soon as this road is finished, it is expected that comfortable accommodation will be erected there for emigrants to the rich lands of the North West, in the largest vessels that come to New York and Boston. It requires only this road to make the shortest line through a pleasant winter climate to St. Louis, where it will connect with the Pacific R.R. [Railroad?]. You will see the advantage of this route by looking at the map. Old as I am I hope to live to see the day when I can reach Clarksville by a railroad now charted from Athens via that place to Rabun Gap, in the direction of Knoxville, Tennessee. Nonwithstanding some complaints of the negro labourers, it is calculated that the state will make as much cotton this year as she did previous to the Rebellion, which shows that they have generally done very well. Almost all sensible men now think slavery a happy riddance and see a successful future for the state, which could not possibly exist under the slavery system. The Politicians only pretend to think differently. If they would heartily give up their Confederate ideas, no state in the Union would rise so rapidly, but from the tone of them and their newspapers, Northern men are afraid to invest their Capital here. Soon after I came down I saw your cousin Mr Bryson, who though he had been sick in the summer looked pretty well but complained of inability to walk about as formerly. His family are very well - I believe he is doing his usual amount of business. Mrs William Bryson her son in law, daughter and child spent a few weeks in Marietta where her health improved very much, but returning too soon here, was taken sick and is now quite unwell. Mr John Davison seems in his usual health. Mrs John Moore though advanced in years enjoys comparatively good health. Mrs Sibley, whom you remember as Miss Emma Longstreet, was here yesterday with four very fine children, two boys and two girls. She & her husband are as happy a couple as I know and if she knew I was writing would assuredly send her regards to you & your family. Her sister Hannah has been good enough to write this letter at my dictation. She desires to be affectionately remembered to your circle. I expect to write and trouble you again in January and with kindest regards to you and your family, I am dear Sir, Most truly yours R. [Robert?] Campbell Kind respects to Wm. [William?] Campbell and his sisters Anne & Mary. |
