| Title: | A letter from Mr. John Donnan, Delaware, America to Mr. Hugh Donnan, |
|---|---|
| ID | 849 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Donnan, John/12 |
| Year | 1849 |
| Sender | Donnan, John |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farm employee (ploughs, looks after cattle) |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Delaware, USA |
| Destination | Cahard, Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Donnan, Hugh & wife |
| Recipient Gender | male-female |
| Relationship | son-parents |
| Source | D 2795/5/1/10: Presented by Mrs. Chas. [Charles ?] Donnan, Cahard, Ballynahinch, Co. Down. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9311548 |
| Date | 01/04/1849 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Action By Date Document added by C. McK,. 22:11:19 |
| Word Count | 446 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | A letter from Mr. John Donnan, Middletown, Delaware to Mr. Hugh Donnan, Cahard, Co-Down. April 1849. For Hugh Donnan. Dear Father and mother I take the oppotunity [oppertunity ?] of of (sic) of sending you a few lines in Thomas's letter to let you know that I received your kind letter which found me in good health, I was very glad to hear that you were all enjoying the same blesing [blessing ?] and that you were getting along pretty well considering the hard times you say that Wretch Shaw paid you a visit last winter and bgan [began ?] his old method of distraining some of his poor old oppressed tenants but that he has given you a little more abatment [abatement ?] of your rent, that is still a little help to a poor man but it is not to copare [compare ?] with a free country they have no such things as tyrants of landlords here you could get land for a very reasonable rent but not for more than five years that you can make double as much money off. and not be oppressed too hard, here you say that you have got in your crop early and had fine weather this spring but we can say to the reverse for we had very little pleasant weather here since the first of January there was little ploughed here before the 19th of March which was the first day that I ploughed and no seed sowed before 8th April. I left Mr. Gearsley on the 1st of April and he was unwilling to part with me he asked me on the 19th of March if I intended to stay with him this summer I said that I would not engage by the month this season that I had wrought mostly since I came to this country and I wished to see some more of it and I would work by the day and he seemed to be displeased and said that I suited him very well and that it was difficult to get a suitable hand but he could not force me to stay. so he paid up to the 1st of April all that he owed me on the 31st of March which amounted to 49 dollars or £10.4.9 of your money so I now get 1 dollar per day when the weather is fit to work but we have not wrought more than 3 days per week as yet, if Frances's people has not wrote before this comes to hand you can send me a few lines with it of any particular and I will write better to you towards the last of May I send my kind love to you all not forgetting Eliza Jamison yours truly John Donnan. |
