| Title: | Greeves, Susanna to O'Brien, Joseph Sinton, 1842 |
|---|---|
| ID | 6124 |
| Collection | The Transatlantic Letters of an Irish Quaker Family_1818-1877 [B. Jackson] |
| File | quaker/134 |
| Year | 1842 |
| Sender | Greeves, Susanna |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | Quaker |
| Origin | Lisburn, N.Ireland |
| Destination | Collins, Lake Erie, NY, USA |
| Recipient | O'Brien, Joseph Sinton |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | aunt-nephew |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1563 |
| Genre | correspondence, family, weather |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Lisburn 9 Month 4th 1842 My dear Nephew By a letter I had some time ago from thy dear Mother, I learned that she was anxious I should commince a correspondence with thee & by doing so we might hear more frequently through thee of them, which certainly would be very desirous. And now that I have complied with her wish, I hope there will be nothing wanting on thy pact to convey to us how they get along, not forgetting at the sametime to say how thou art thyself and how thou art getting on in thy new employment. For new it must be to thee and every thing relating thereto from what thou has become accustomed to. I learned long since thou had a taste for something of the kind & when this is the case those that have a willing mind can do a great deal born for themselves & for their employers. I hope this wilt he the case with thee, my dear nephew, and from that little I know of thy disposition (through thy Sister Maria) I am persuaded thou wilt do thy best. Thy Cousin Anna O'Brien sent me a long letter she had from Maria, the persual of which was very gratifying, particularly as it gave minute details of each member of your family, besides the manners & customs of your country - principally that part where you reside. Since I had the reading of it, I wrote to thy Mother a joint letter with Grandfather. 1 am sure she will be glad to see a letter from him; it may be the last, as of late he is much declining: yet it is wonderful to see a man of his years write so well and so clear on every subject - he is now in his 82 year and a nicer old man thou would not see any where. About a week ago he sent a box with some things in it to Lpool to be forwarded to A Bells care for thy Mother. I hope it will arrive safe & thou wilt take the necessary precaution in having it sent as soon as opportunity will allow after its landing. I expect J.&D. Malcomson will write their Uncle about it. Well, my dear Joseph, as thou an not personaly acquainted with any one in this side, I feel at a loss to communicate any thing that would be interesting. I am no politician, lam only a mere matter of fact kind of person who has a round about way of telling any thing; and if thou can put up with such a homespun correspondent I will be quite satisfied to write to thee once & a while as you Americans say; with this proviso, that thou wilt write me two letters for every one I write thee; is not this fair - and I think thou must allow it is when I tell thee how much I have to look after and to attend to myself, viz Housekeeping, shopkeeping, purchasing goods, writing business letters and besides all this and more I have a good many letters of friendship to write to my friends and acquaintance. My father & Aunt Molly are at present at Brooldands, about a mile & ¼ in this side of Belfast. It is where Sister Jane and her husband lives. They went there about a week ago in consequence of our Landlord putting a new roof on our house. It is a nice quiet place for them to be, out of the confusion and dust. Brother and Sister invited them: the latter has been in London for nearly 4[?] weeks, seeing brothers friends. It is Aunt Janes first visit since she was married. She writes me she was very affectionately received amongst them and .seemed pleased with her, and she is equally so with them. They expect to arrive at home in a few days. Their sweet little daughter was left in my care during their absence but, Lisburn not seeming to do so well with her as the pure country air, I had to send her and the nurse home again. She has been finely ever since. I would wish thee to give my affectionate love to A Bell & his family and tell Rebecca I do not forget the last day she passed through Lisburn before she left Ireland. Nor do I forget the kind note I had from her from Lpool. All is fresh in my remembrance and what I desire is that I may feel sufficiently thankful that my feelings at the present moment are so different to what they were then. Thou may also tell her that her Aunt [Elizabeth] Greet spent part of the day & a night with us lately. She had been in Belfast and came up to see father. She looks muc[h better?] than she did sometime ago. She has been traveling with Sarah Squire, a Ministering friend for upwards of two months and 1 think it has been of use to her. This is the Q Meeting which is held at Moyallon: formerly it used to be held at Grange in this Month. I could not conveniently leave home, particularly as our house is in such disorder which I fear it will be for sometime longer. This has been one of the finest summers we have had these number of years: the harvest has come in much earlier but still there is a great depression in trade, but we are looking forward to it improving. We had a visit from Cousin John Greer Greeves of New Orleans about a week ago. He came by France. His visit was short: he expects to leave LPool about the 15th for home: which way he intends to return, I did not hear. It was ah our 6 years since he was over. Thy Mother knew him very well. I mentioned to her his visit to us. Thy Uncle Thomas is at the Sea Side with Sister Rachel and one of the child. I am sorry to say his health still remains delicate but is better for the little change. He speaks of crossing over to Lpool & going on to Manchester and taking Sister Rachel with him to see her brothers & sister718 who reside there. Art thou acquainted with Thomas Richardson from this neighbourhood: if so, please remember me to him. I hope his health keeps good. He hears so frequently from home that it is needless for me to tell him any thing of his friends here: only mearly to add they are all well. We frequently hear from Cousin James R. Greeves of Philadelphia - how much we did enjoy his visit. I hope he will come again and bring his son with him. I have spun this out to a much greater length than I anticipated when I began. I hope thou wilt not be tired before thou gets this far, but let me know when writing and I will not give thee such a long scrall the next. Hast thou met with a person of the name of Elizabeth Clarke™: if thou knows any thing of her or what she and her husband are about, I would be obliged by thy mentioning. If thou does not, perhaps AB or Rebecca could tell thee. Now, when I recollect, thy Mother mentioned in her letter that thou met with a person who had just landed from this part of the country & who knew grandfather and thy Aunts; and that one of them was married lately and that the other was soon going to be. But I must tell, my dear Nephew, that if it was me he ment, as I suppose it was, that it is too good news to be true (as we say here in this Country). I do assure thee it cannot be without my knowing it; therefore I am quite satisfied at the report not being correct. So do not feel disappointed at not getting a new Uncle for I do not reel disappointed at not getting a husband. I fear thou wilt think me a queer old Aunt. I wish thou could see me, that thou could spend thy opinion, but this is not likely to be soon yet. I do hope the time will come that we may both have the pleasure of seeing and knowing each other; but until then we must endeavor to be satisfied with Knowing each other in this way. Farewell, my dear boy, and may He who sees all things watch over thee and protect thee is the sincere desire of thy affectionate Aunt Susanna 9/15th 1842 I had this written & ready to send off a week ago, but I left home in rather a hurry & forgot to seal & direct it before leaving. I was over in Armagh for nearly a week at thy Cousin John G. O'Brien's. He is about leaving that & giving up business there & removing to Liverpool, where he has got a situation. Business and the state of the times are such that he thought it best to give up before going on further. I hope it may be for his advantage. He has a wife and one child- With love I must say adieu & remain thy afft Aunt Susanna |
