| Title: | Mary Cumming, Petersburg to Margaret Craig, LIsburn. |
|---|---|
| ID | 789 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Cumming, Mary/32 |
| Year | 1814 |
| Sender | Cumming (n. Craig), Mary |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | middle class housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Petersburg, Virginia, USA |
| Destination | Lisburn, Co. Antrim, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Craig, Margaret |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | sisters |
| Source | T 1475/2 p.116-119: Copied by Permission of Miss A. McKisack, 9 Mount Pleasant, Belfast. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9006108 |
| Date | 04/06/1814 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by JM 01:11:1993. |
| Word Count | 1398 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Blandford June 4th. 1814. And can it be possible that my beloved Sister is no longer Margaret Craig? is a question I often ask myself. This happy event I have expected this some time past, and about a week ago I received the long-looked-for letter, telling me you were to change your name in March. I had a letter from you at the same time dated December. Oh, how I long to hear of the wedding, it seems to me so strange that I should not have been with my darling Margaret at that time. Any person who had seen me when I first read your letter would have supposed I had heard some very mournful news. I am sure I wept for an hour after it. I cannot account for my being so much affected, for I felt most delighted at your prospect of happiness, and Oh, my beloved Sister, may it be lasting, and exempt from all sorrow, is my sincere prayer. William desires me to give you and my new brother his most hearty congratulations on the joyful occasion. I have not written a letter to you this long time past in such good health and spirits as I am in at the present. I know this will give my dear Margaret great pleasure. I have had tolerably good health for some time past and I think it has been much better since I received the last letter from home. You will wonder how it could have such an effect. In the first place I am delighted at my dear Margaret's happiness, but it is the delightful prospect of soon witnessing it that makes my spirits so good and my health better. You must not be too sanguine, for I have a year to stay here yet, but my dear Mr. Cumming has promised to take me home next Spring or Summer, and it is this delightful prospect in the view that makes me feel so happy and contented at the present. I think of it during the day, and at night it almost prevents me from sleeping. I think the heat will not be so oppressive to me this Summer as I formerly found. I can bear it much better now, as I trust it will be for the last time, and I expect to discover new charms in this country which I have overlooked when I thought of remaining in it for a much longer time. You need not be afraid of my health this Fall, for I mean to ensure it by making my escape from Blandford for three on four months. I am now as busy as possible making preparations for our departure next month, we are going to take a charming excursion, from which I hope to enjoy health and a great deal of pleasure. We propose going to Balltown, a place I suppose you have heard William speak of. It is the most frequented gay place in America for a few months in the year. I shall there drink plenty of Saratoga water, which I have no doubt will complete my restoration, as I have found great benefit from some William had brought in bottles from the Springs. Balltown is six hundred miles from #PAGE 2 this place. What a journey, my dear Margaret, would this once have appeared to me! Now I think nothing of it. William says my ideas of distance have enlarged since I came to this great country. The truth is, the people here think nothing of travelling five or six hundred miles; however, we shall go a great part of the way by water, which will make the journey much pleasenter. We purpose taking a carriage from this to Baltimore, spending some time there with our friends as we go on, and on our return also. From there we take the steamboat to Philadelphia, staying a few days to see the sights of that delightful place, again go by the same conveyance to New York, where we will remain a short time, and from there go to Balltown. We must return the same way. Do not you think this will be a delightful trip? and I have an idea that in all probability I shall be visiting all these fine places for the last time, which will not render the journey the least affecting to me. On the contrary, it will add a charm to it. Indeed I often wonder at myself when I look at this charming place, how I can wish so much to leave it, but I do most anxiously, for it does not possess that first of all blessings - health. I sometimes think that it would be too great happiness for me to see you all well and happy again without some drawback. Oh, Margaret, had my two lovely children been spared to me how proud I would have been to have taken them home, but I must not repine, for I do enjoy so many blessings that I must expect some sorrow. We have had the greatest profusion of strawberries and cherries this season I ever saw. We shall be away during peach-time, however we shall get finer fruit where we are going. As this letter is to be sent to Boston I shall defer writing to my dear Father and my sweet Rachel till I go to New York or Baltimore. Give my kindest love to them and thank them for writing to me. I know they will see this epistle. Rachel's letter gratified me very much, her hand is so good and the style excellent. How I long to see her fine figure. You must write very ofen, my dear Margaret, and tell me how you are fixed, etc. I know you will make a good wife. Give my best love to my new brother James, and tell him I think he was very fortunate in getting you, though I say it that should not, and if you live together as happily as William and I do I shall be quite satisfied. Give my kindest love to Miss McNally and Cousin Meg. Tell them I will answer their kind letters very soon. I want very much to be at Meg's wedding. Tell my Father I hope he will plant a great many potatoes next year, and sow an additional quantity of oats, for I verily believe I will live on these two things when I go home. Oh, that delightful word makes me so happy, I do believe I shall be crazed when I again set foot on Irish ground, the #PAGE 3 rapture I shall feel in again seeing you all will compensate for all the shaking I have had from the ague. I am sure my brother James is a fine-looking young man, he must come and see me immediately on my return. I will not be satisfied till we are all once more under the same roof. Many is the castle I build. I hope they will not all prove without foundation. Give my love to Mrs. J Ward and Mrs. Telfair. I trust Mrs. Ward will be fortunate this time. Do you go to Strawberry Hill every day? If I lived so near I would be a daily visitor. The weather has not been very hot as yet, but we may soon expect to be almost fried. Thank Providence it is the last time for me. Rejoiced and happy as I will be to leave America I will feel great regret at parting "to meet no more" with many of the inhabitants of Petersburg, for whom I feel a very great regard. The society is extremely agreeable and I have met with the greatest kindness and attention from my friends here which I will always remember with gratitude. I suppose Rachel spends a great part of her time with you, she is Miss Craig now. We expect James Cumming here next Fall. I hope to receive a great many letters by him from all at home. I wish he would bring a wife with him. Mr. John Brown of Baltimore went to Ireland not very long ago, and returned home lately with a little Irish girl. William joins me in wishing you and your good man every happiness this world can bestow. God bless you, my ever darling Sister, is the prayer of M. [Mary?] Cumming. Rev. A. [Andrew?] Craig. Lisburn. Co. Antrim. IRELAND. |
