[Front of Envelope]
Mr Saml [Samuel?] Neill
Care Mr Robert [Shaw?] [Silversmith?]
Banbridge
County Down
Ireland
[Stamped]
NEW [YORK?]
NOV
23
[Written upside down at top]
LIVERPOOL
SHIP LETTER
5E
DEC [?]
[--?]
[Page 1]
Louisville, Ky. [Kentucky?] Nov 16th 1840
Dear Father, I again take my pen to write you a few lines hoping
they may find you and all friends in good health as they now leave
me. And in this I think I say more than I have ever said on any
previous occasion that is I hope it is the last letter I shall ever
direct to you in Ireland, as I trust my next shall be in New Orleans.
The last letter I had from John was dated Oct 6th at which
time He and Lucinday were in good health but as I presume He has
written to you lately, I need not here trouble you with a
recapitulation of His affairs.
Your last letter (of 16th May) I Recd [received?] on the
2nd Sept and on the 24th Augt [August?] I Recd [received?] one
from Matthew dated July 26th And on the 15th of Sept I wrote to
Matthew answering both Yours and His, which I hope you have
Recd [received?] ere now, in it I gave you all the information I could,
respecting Your journey and if you be spared to reach New Orleans
in safety Mr Dobbin will give you any further instructions you may
require.
In answering Matthews letter I was careful not to inspire
Him with any false hope of success here but I now state to you
that if I succeed for another year in this place, I think it would be
better for Him to come here. You could all come together to the
Mouth of Ohio and then you go on up the Mississippi to Iowa and
let Him come up the Ohio to this place. If I can make this
arrangement suit I will write you of it care of Leonard Dobbin,
New Orleans, But if I leave this place
[Page 2]
my advice will be for all to
go on to Brother John in Iowa without delay, And as I advised you
to come early in the season owing to the sickness in New Orleans
I would here say with pleasure that there has been less sickness
there this season than usual – there has been no yellow fever
which is the usual epidemic [---?]. But although I speak of
sickness do not think where you are going is sickly for it is quite
the reverse as when you leave New Orleans You are going nearly
due north all the way to Burlington.
As you will see from some Newspapers I send you with
this – this country has just passed through one of the greatest
political contests ever witnessed since the days of the revolution and
I think we can now say to a certainty that William H. Harrison of
Ohio is elected President for the next four Years in opposition to
Martin Van Buren of New York the present incumbent, on coming
here I knew nothing (comparatively) of the Politics of the country,
and as my employers were both [Loca?] focus or in other words Van
Buren men I was for some time rather disposed to take part on that
side, but I soon began to find many things not as I would wish,
and finally when I saw that Popish Priests and Bishops were taking
part in the contest, and writing Political letters in favour of Van
Burens I declared myself opposed to them and in favour of The Whigs.
Pennsylvania has 30 votes which is yet doubtful but I think will go
for Harrison but New York has 42 the most of any state. Ohio 21,
Kentucky 15, Indiana 9 &c [etc.?] and several other states
which make the election of Harrison certain for Pres [President?]
and John Tyler of Virginia for Vice President.
But to my own affairs as most important.
[Page 3]
My present
Salary as I believe you are already aware is Five hundred dollars
per annum from which with the blessing of health I can clothe
myself and lay up Thirty dollars [per?] month, or nearly £75 a year,
but this Dear Father I am sorry to say is the only enticement I have
to stay in Louisville, and I believe I would have went to Iowa last
year but for the necessity I was under of earning money. However
under such circumstances I am content, as I have now provided
myself a home if at any future period I might feel disposed to go
to it. John and I have 240 acres of good land (purchased by our own
earnings) that is 120 acres apiece in addition to which He
has 40 Acres within 3 miles of and 2 lots in the City of
Burlington which He got with his wife so that we have done
extremely well for three years. But although I have earned
most money, I must say my Brother has done much better
earned better than gold.
But my time is yet to come, and come I hope it will. I wish
you to write to me as soon as you receive this, letting me know
how you are getting along, and what time I may expect you in
New Orleans, that I may know when to write [faded] I can do
anything for Matthew here I will advise you of it in my letter to
N.O. [New Orleans?] And I also request you to write to me a
second time but not untill [until?] you are ready to sail and know
to a certainty when you will sail, the name of the ship &c [etc.?]
When I receive your first letter in answer to this I will write to
care of L. D. [Leonard Dobbin] New Orleans and then soon after I
hope to receive another which will give me the name of the ship.
You will be onboard and then I can see from the Newspapers
when such ship arrives and That You and all the Family may
arrive in safety and good health is the earnest prayer of your
distant Son
Henry Neill
