F. [Frank?] Martin Aunt & Uncle of Lila [Martin?]
1929
ULSTER IMPERIAL LINE
M.V ULSTER MONARCH
Belfast Ireland June 15, 29
Dear Grand-pa Martin, We are
this evening crossing the Irish
sea from Belfast over to Liverpool
We have spent the day out at
your old home and as I have
some wild flowers and heather
gathered from the farm Im going
to send you some time tonight and
and we will have some more for you
also some [word scored out] peat (small
piece) We found the folks very
glad to see us and we
had a fine visit with them
although it rained nearly all
the time we were there, but the
sun came out a few minutes
and I took 2 pictures of the
house the McMasters
live in and wanted to get some
more but the rain. We met an
old man by the name of Willie
John Carson who
[Page 2]
is the husband of Bell Martin
a sister of Thos.[Thomas?] Martin your
cousin, he is now 92 years
old and went over to the
cemetery with Tommie [?] to visit
the grave of your father.
The spring is still giving
them water just the same
and Mr Carson located all
land marks for us and
he seems quiet, spry and
is typically Irish, but he
seems to remember Uncle
Matt Martin better than you
maybe they were together
more.
The country is beautiful
and I never saw a lovelier
sight than the north of
Ireland was the other night
when our big boat was
coming into [word scored out] Greenock. It
was more beautiful than
a picture and the fields
of Ireland are lovely
from the sea
[Page 3]
CANADIAN PACIFIC
S.S DUCHESS OF ATHOLL
they are laid off like
a checker board [word scored out] with
a hedge fence around each
little patch there are a
few rock fences but most
all hedge, we had lunch
at Ballymena and visited
the markets and Grand-pa
we saw that pig in a poke
you have told us about
in fact we saw two, a
woman had the first one
a squealing and kicking
and a man the second
and we had a good laugh
and the meat markets
were all open and the meat
hanging out on the street
with the dust blowing, just
like when you lived here
Ill bet and do you
remember
[Page 4]
the 2 wheel carts? They
are thick as fleas yet, and
we took a picture of 2
little boys in one with
their donkey pulling them.
There are 3 sisters in
[place of one(?) scored out] and we gave
two gold pieces to all of them
their names are Agnes,
Lizzie and Annie. Mrs McMaster
is an invalid cant walk,
she has 3 daughters and 2
sons all home. the sisters
live there too, they still live
just as they did when you
left I believe.
Well Grand-pa it is a
long, long story we will have
to tell you when we come
home, But we send our love
to all of you and listen, dont
forget to stay out of the sun
this summer and we like
your Ireland to look at.
(This letter was written by Americans visiting Ireland in 1929
and writing back to family in America.)
Document transcribed by AlisdairMoran. Checked by CMcIvor.