| Title: | Sinton, Mary to O'Brien (n. Greeves), Anne, 1819 |
|---|---|
| ID | 5966 |
| Collection | The Transatlantic Letters of an Irish Quaker Family_1818-1877 [B. Jackson] |
| File | quaker/16 |
| Year | 1819 |
| Sender | Sinton, Mary |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | Quaker |
| Origin | Dublin, Ireland |
| Destination | Philadelphia, Penn., USA |
| Recipient | O'Brien (n. Greeves), Anne |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | cousins |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 2847 |
| Genre | correspondence, family news, wedding, friends, birth |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Dublin 27 Corn Market 7 mo 15th 1819, 5th day My dear Anne Although I have had no letter from thee since I wrote thee last 3rd mo, yet, as I have met with so good an opportunity as the present, I wd not let it pass without writing to thee, being well convinced a letter from me, let it be ever so short, would always be acceptable to thee and, I think I may add. to my Dear Cousin Wm. Thee may perceive at once that I did not intend to write a short letter, as I have got such a large sheet of paper. Great as the distance is between us, dear Anne, you are as dear to me as ever. I often, very often both think and speak of the many happy days we spent together and it grieves me as much as ever when I think how far we are separated - I fear, never more to behold each other in this world. Thy dear Mother still flatlets herself with the hope of seeing you in Ireland once more, and I think thee used to say thee thought you wd come over some time or other: but thee suffered so much going-I rear if there was nothing else, that wd prevent thee. I have been longing to have another letter from thee, but will be daily looking out for one now, as I think I might have one since I wrote thee last. The vessel I sent my last by, I heard, was to sail from this the 10th of 3rd mo and [I] sent it to Pims in time - and after all it did not sail til that day mo. I was glad to hear you were well, by a letter from J & AW [Wright] lately, and that thee had gone to see Uncle Sinton, and Wm was to go for thee. It must be a great gratification and comfort to thee to have so many friends and relations in America. There was a letter from T O'B in which he says they expected you back there - I hope you are not going further away from us. I hope Win still gets plenty to do where he is. I am sure you may be delighted that G.V. [George Valentine] is gone away from you, for I never heard of so discontented a man in my life as he is. I hear he is as much dissatisfied now as ever - and that G & E Taylor as happy and contented as they could wish to be. What a contrast between the two, and to add to their happiness Bess has got a son. Thy Mother was with us for a day on her way to Carlow. Danl met her here, and they went home on last first day week. She wd have staid a few days, only as Dan was here she did not like to let him go alone: but she has promised to stay longer when she is returning. Elizabeth was in Carlow for three weeks: she only came home on 7th day last. I was there since I wrote to thee last, for near three weeks: I came home two weeks before the yearly Mg. Dan1 had been very ill here and I went home with him. One day he was very ill and fainting every now and again (after raking sttong physic which was necessary for him) and, poor man, he began to cry most bitterly and thought he would never see Mary and the children again - for she was not able to come to him at the time - and he said, even if he did recover, he wd not be able to go home alone for ever so long a time. I comforted him as well as I could, and told him I wd go home with him and see him safe, as he thought he wd die off inside the coach and he could not go outside. So he kept me to my promise and made me go, tho' he might have gone alone, for he had got such a cleansing that he was not a hit sick going home. I was glad he was laid up here, for Mary wd not have been able to attend him and I had plenty of time. I scarcely ever left him: he soon got over it by taking it in time, but if he had not he surely was in for a fever. I need not be telling thee anything about John Wirings illness or marriage etc, as Lucy can cell thee all - they are to be married next fourth day. Mary is to go with them - I dont know what they intend doing. Mary I hear is quite delighted at the thoughts of going to America: I hope she may not be disappointed. I think thy Mother looks very well - better a great deal than I expected to see her, and as pleasant and as cheerful as ever. She was saying a deal about you and shewed me the letter she had from thee, written two days before my own. She thinks if you stay where you are she will have a chance of seeing you again; but if you go back into the woods, you would never come back - it wd be such a journey. I suppose Maty and she will write to you from Carlow. Would thee be surprised to hear that Thirza is married about three weeks ago to Thomas Jackson - Tom went to the North to ask for her and then her Father came to town and took her home - and they were married in Tullelish [TullyJish] Church. Tom of course will be disowned. Joe & Tom and their wives all live together in Cutpurse row. I believe they had the shop there before you left this. Thirza is not very stout - I fear she will never scratch a grey head. Dan1 is talking of going next spring, but the Mother dont know: I believe but she was telling him here that, if he went, he should not take Maty with him. I am longing till she is returning till we have her a while with us. 7mo21st I have had no acct. yet from M OB [Mary O'Brien]. Joseph & Lucy are to be married this day, and to leave Carlow immediately after, not to return to it. Debby Taylor's sister Mary & her husband are going very soon to America. I might have had a nice opportunity of writing to thee in 5 mo last, had I known it in time, but I did not know the person was going to Philadelphia till the hour he was going off to Liverpool to sail from that. I had better tell thee who the person was as I think thee saw him once - it was Wm Davis of Wexford. He was at James Webbs more than a week before he went, but just as he was on his way down to the packet he came to bid us adieu. I had not spoken to him for three or four years before, so thee may chink I looked a little awkward. E & M [of 'the Sinton girls'] were both so engaged that they did not see him for several minutes and I just spoke to him when he came in. Why, I thought they never would look about: at last they saw him and began chatting (they had both spoken to him several times before). I told him if I had known he was going I wd have been very glad of the opportunity of writing to thee. It is ... likely thee will hear of him being in Philadelphia - for I understand he intends going on to his brother John and take a farm. He is very much altered since I knew him. He has conducted himself very well these two years and mote - and has been on good terms with his father this good while: but his face looks quite old and thin to what he was - I was surprized when I saw him near me. I am told he had been attentive to Mary Anne Thompson, Sally W[illia]msons niece in Wexford, and that she was in a bad enough way after him. But dont mention anything I have said of him: I am sure [it] was high time for him to be tired of the idle life he led. Hannah Woodcock & James Perry have presented their m [a mage] this mo - and I am told that James Doyle of Camolin and Pers is Ennis are going to be married. Percy was a few months with R [Rebecca] Webb but they soon fell out. Now she is in Enniscorthy. Sarah Pike is near being confined again. Sally White has got a son. There is no sign of any increase in my Brother Wins family yet. Anna is not at all stout: she has miscarried several times. She has a very bad head & stomach: the Dr has given her particular orders this time to take care of herself and to keep quiet, so I hope the next time I write to thee there will be something in this way. Sure she is not disowned - last mo mg. they have concluded on not disowning het. She and we have fallen out two or three times, but now we ate on good terms and I hope we will keep so. She is the strangest tempered mortal ever thee knew, but she doats on Wm. Dont say anything about het. Oh! how delighted I will be to get another letter from thee. The letter I wrote thee I told thee that Wm Doyle was going to be married - but it seems there was nothing of it at all: it was someone else. There is another of Sami Mortons daughters dead, Peggy I believe. I hear Aunt Deb by is very comfortable and looks just the old thing: no sign of a little one. Thy Mother is still as vexed as ever with her. I was endeavoring to take her place a little to thy Mother - thee knows thyself how. She and her stepson [Thomas Joyce] were at Be ma the week before thy Mother left home. That was the first time for them to meet since she was married. Jane lives with Uncle Sam still and Sarah lives there also. No sign of Uncle getting married. M.McDonnell is still in Laurencetown - her Father is dead. No talk of her going to France. Hannah Christy (that was) has had a child but it is dead. The lump in my neck was almost gone before the Y. Mg. but 1 got cold somehow and it is as large as ever and more troublesome: so I got it bled and I am rubbing it with something now that I think is putting it away fast — I am under a surgeon's care who says he will do his best for it. He is Saml Roderick who attended Wm so well, the time he was so ill here in Dublin: but I believe that was after you went away - he had spasms in his stomach and was most dreadfully ill: at one time he lay as if dead for a good while. This young man was an acquaintance of his in Youghal. He has taken a house in Cutpurse row and is going to be married in a few weeks. What a pity he was engaged, perhaps some of us might have had a chance of him. He is as good a soul as ever thee knew. Sam1 Watson is not reconciled to his father yet (or rather his father to him), but he allows him something yearly to keep him. I hear he is to be retained in membership. We expect Uncle Sam1 in Dublin before the summer is quite over, just now I have heard there is a young woman from Philadelphia in town: she is a niece of Nehemiah Wrights125. Anne Taylor was telling E she had seen thee, so we must see her and ask all about you. We saw het passing yesterday evening and had such a laugh at her Bonnet. We wondered where she came from: such a bonnet I never saw - it had only three of four plates in it all round the caul. All this time I never told thee how we are getting on. We have no reason to complain: we seem to get a pretty good state of business. This season is always rather dull. So far there seems no doubt but we will get on pretty well, but I never expect to be rich or to make much. If we have a sufficiency I will always be satisfied. I am glad Wm gets plenty to d o - Oh! if I could get one peep at you three. I often picture you to myself how happy you are. 7 mo 30th I have just seen J. Thompson &c pass in the coach, so think I had better finish this as they ate not to stop many days, I believe. Mgt Blairs little one died just after I wrote thee last. She went to Carlow with E. and staid a week. Het mother is as bitter as ever: her father gave them leave to go see her when the child died, but the mother never knew it as she was in the country at the time. Anna [Sinton née Jackson], Elizabeth & Mgt go to bathe every morning now to W[illia]mstown or the Rock. I am afraid to try it as it did not agree with me before. I intend to go out with them: they have only begun this week. There is the ... Wm, Anna, Abby & us three go in the car from the door and only pay 3/4 a morning. Often & often my dear Anne I wish (but alas in vain) that you were living in Dublin. How happy I would be then. We live very happy and com for table and enjoy ourselves greatly but I wd be still much happier if you were here. I wd think very had of Dan going to America, tho' it is seldom I see Mary. Yet we write to each other very often and it is so pleasant for us to have Dan I lodging here when he comes to town. John Whit ton was here the other day and desired his love to you. He has a situation now - overseer at a public bakery - which seems to answer him pretty well. I did not see Sally Murray when I was in Carlow. I could not bring myself to go, lest I should meet Hugh and I dont tike him, and Dan' would not let Mary go. I dont seem to have any news to write thee. Mary I suppose will write thee all the Catlow and Northern News. I have a little black kitten upon the back of my neck now as I am stoopd writing. Have you such a thing as cats - I wondet thete is no letter from you: I will surely be expecting one the next that come: I hope I may not be disappointed. I saw a letter from Deb by Taylor lately: she seems very comfortable. She lives with a person of the name of Scattergood. William Greeves is in town now - he wants E. to go to the Isle of Man with him for a fortnight. He says it is a nice bathing place, but I dont think she will go. Mgt expects to go to the North when thy Mother returns from Carlow. It will be my turn next summer. If I do go, how different it will seem to me - I wont have thee there: the last time I was there, little did either of us think we wd be so far separated as we are now. I must say adieu, with dear love to thee and Win in which the girls and Wm unite - and believe me, my dear Anne, as ever thy affectionate cousin Mary Sinton 7mo 31th This morning I got a letter from Danl announcing the birth of another son yesterday morning at 10 o'clock after a short illness. Just now I have heard that Joseph & Lucy [Thompson] &c are gone off this day at 4 o'clock - and I have not seen them. I am really very much disappointed in not seeing Lucy particularly - as well as not getting this sent to thee - but I will send by Joseph Smith, Debby Taylors brother-in-law, who is to go in the Pertonia in a few days. Once more my beloved cousins adieu — and often think of your truly affectionate cousin Mary Sinton Thomas Greeves For Anne Obrien 54 Chestnut Street Philadelphia |
