| Title: | Sotherin, William to Carey, Mathew, 1791 |
|---|---|
| ID | 6645 |
| Collection | Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan. Letters and memoirs from colonial and revolutionary America (1675-1815) [K.A. Miller et al.] |
| File | caanan/53 |
| Year | 1791 |
| Sender | Sotherin, William |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | shopkeeper |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Debtors' Prison, Philadelphia, USA |
| Destination | Philadelphia, USA |
| Recipient | Carey, Mathew |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | not acquainted |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 399 |
| Genre | application for assistance |
| Note | |
| Transcript | William Sotherin, Debtors’ Prison, Philadelphia, to Mathew Carey, Philadelphia, March 1791 M Carey Sec’ry to the Hibernian Society Sir, As the Institution to which You are Chosen Sec’ry is Established for the Relief of Your Fellow Creatures, and as None Stands in More Need off assistance than Myself— Having the Honor to be a Hibernian— I flatter myself I can lay Claim to Your Assistance which the Institution You have Established Convinces me of Your Goodness & Humanity, and fills me With the Greatest Veneration for all that worthy Society. Unavoidable Events lays me under the Necessity of Applying to Your Goodness and to hope that You as Well as the other Gentlemen of the Society will use Your Influence with the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas to give me a hearing <before> this Court, that I may Be Enabled By my Industry to Endeavour to Support a Wife and three Small Children who Have been labouring— Under the Greatest distress Immaginable this Nineteen Months Past (the Time I have been Confined)—and having a Claim upon Every Member of that Society— One of Whose Pillars is Benevolence & Charity, That I flatter my Self You will use Your Influence to Obtain My Releasement--- It is Objected on the Part of my Creditors I have been Guilty of Fraud— But as I and Many others Conceive this Objection Cannot be Supported, as I can Assure You its without the least Foundation— and having Made Every Overture to my Creditors that Was in My Power— But in Vain— as I am Still in Confinement No <with> Possible Means of Relief— without Your Friendly Assistance which Joind to that of His Excellency the President Gov. Mifflin, Bishop White, Revd Doctors Pilmore &c Cannot fail of Having the Desired Effect. ---Nothing Gentlemen Can give You a More Striking Idea of My Distress and Inability to Pay My Creditors than the Necessity my Family Labors Under and Was it Not that the Overseers of the Poor Mess Rob Wharton, W. Malory & Must have perished At the foot is alist of My Creditors, with whom I wish You had undertaken to Support them, Certainly they Also to Use Your Influence.—and beg leave to Subscribe Myself with Respect Sir, Debtors ApartmentYour Most Obdt Servt Philada March 1791William Sotherin Benjamin Fuller--- Mordecai Lewis & Co.} Creditors John Nixon--- |
