| Title: | O'Brien, William to O'Brien, Joseph Sinton, 1842 |
|---|---|
| ID | 6109 |
| Collection | The Transatlantic Letters of an Irish Quaker Family_1818-1877 [B. Jackson] |
| File | quaker/126 |
| Year | 1842 |
| Sender | O'Brien, William |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | Quaker |
| Origin | Farmington, NY, USA |
| Destination | NYC, USA |
| Recipient | O'Brien, Joseph Sinton |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | father-son |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 837 |
| Genre | correspondence, farming, fatherly advice on life |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Farmington 15th of 6th mo 1842 Dear Joseph I suppose thee will be a little surprised to find this letter written from Farmington, but mother took a notion to come and persuaded me to come with her and we are now here in attendance of our Yearly Meeting; and having an oppertunity by George F. White I thought I would write thee a few lines, as I cant settle down to write thee much of a letter as if 1 was at home. We send thee two letters for thee to forward to Ireland; also one for Abraham and one for thee from Thomas. They were written to be sent by John Kerr669 or some of the merchants this Spring but none of them going we brought them along, thinking probably we would have an oppertunity of forwarding, which we now do by G. F. White. Thomas in his letter will have mentioned how we had got with our business this spring, so that I suppose if I write any thing it will be only a repetition. After he wrote we got a piece cleared off in the slashing before we started joining the piece we had the wheat on, and fenced and ploughed ready for planting and left it with the boys to plant. The early part of spring we had fine warm weather and things appeared to come on very fast, but it came on cold and it seemed as if the growth of every thing sloped, and continued cold untill within a few days. It is now warm and pleasant and every thing appears to grow very fast, but I fear we shall not be able to raise any corn unless the frost stays away pretty late in the fall. Last week we had two nights frost that killed every thing that could be killed - our vines, beans, potatoes, and corn. I expect ... cut off the potatoes and corn will come on, but the others ate entirely passed cute and too late to plant mote; what a disappointment it is, but we have got to be satisfied as we are no worse off than out neighbours. We have had no letter from thee since Maria wrote in answer to one that came by one of Indian committee and one by post - unless there has been one since we left home. I am glad to find by thy letters that thee trys to make thyself useful and I hope thee will exert thyself in every way thee can to learn and be useful to; and try to keep thyself as much as can be and be careful what acquaintances thee makes and what places thee goes to' Be always candid with Abrarn and indeed with every body, and if thee makes any kind of blunders or mistakes never set up any th.ng by way of defence for they wont be thought such unless they are so. Thee may be said to be making thy first outset and great deal depends upon how thee starts. Be satisfied thee is in the right road and keep steadily on, turning neither to right hand not to the left, fot if thee gives way so far as to step out of the road to pluck a flower, thee may see another more beautiful which may induce thee to take several steps more, and when thee has possessed thyself of it will soon begin to wither. Thee will find how fleeting the pleasure was thee antisapated in the possession of it; and after awhile thee will consider how far thee had stepd aside for the enjoyment of some tryfling gratification; and in trying to return, thee may get bewilderd and hard set to find the road from which thee had strayed. I want thee should come to a determination never to be seen any where nor in any company in which thee would be unwilling thy friends should see thee. Yet at the same time I dont want thee to shun every body, far from it. If thee wants to get acquaintances, let them [be] such whose conduct will be a good pattern for thee to follow and whose conversation will be a benefit to thee. When we left home we milked 5 cows and we expect shortly to have two more, which make in all 7 our number for this summer. They have all done well but their profits wont amt to much, as money is so scarce; I carried some butter a short [time] since to Buffalo and the most I could get in cash was 7½ cents cash per lb. I traded it out for 10 cents tho we wanted the money badly, but what I had would come to so little that 1 hated to sell so low for cash If thee has not answered Maria's letter, write soon after the receipt of this. With love to thee, Abraham and family, in which thy mother unites, I remain affectly thy father William O'Brien |
