THE DIARY OF JAMES HALLIDAY, GARRYDUFF, BALLYMONEY, CO, ANTRIM

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Document ID 0711006
Date None
Document Type Diaries and Journals
Archive Private Donor
Citation THE DIARY OF JAMES HALLIDAY, GARRYDUFF, BALLYMONEY, CO, ANTRIM;Anonymous ; CMSIED 0711006
50934
PAGE 1 WHAT WILL YOU DO LOVE

                                    What will you do love
                                        When am I going
                                    With the white sails flying
                                        And seas beyond
                                    What will you do love
                                        When seas divide us
                                    And friend will chide us
                                        For being fond
                                    Through waves dividing
                                        And friends be chiding
                                    Faith abiding Ill still be
                                        True
                                    And I pray for you 
                                        on the stormy ocean
                                    With deep devotion that
                                        Is what Ill  do 


PAGE 2                              ( 2)
                                     If I was spared Id
                                       Bless  tomorrow
                                    And want and sorrow
                                       That left me you
                                    And Id welcome thee from
                                       The wasting billow
                                    My heart thy pillow thats
                                       What Id do
                                    What would you do love 
                                       When home returning
                                    With  hopes high burning 
                                       And wealth for you 
                                    Aha the Barque thats
                                       Bound oer the foreign  foam
                                    Should be lost  near home
                                       What would you do


PAGE 3                             What would you do love
                                      If distant tidings
                                   Thy fond confidings
                                      Would  undermind
                                   And I abiding  neath
                                      Sultry shield
                                   Would think other eyes
                                      As bright as thine
                                   Oh name it not though
                                      Guilt and shame
                                   Were on your name
                                      Id still be true
                                   And Ill pray for you 
                                      On the stormy ocean 
                                   With deep devotion  thats
                                      What Ill do

PAGE 3/4

We left Ballymoney about 8:15 and was in Derry  about 10:20.  The agent was at 
the station waiting for us and took us to the office.  We had to travel about 
a mile.  We paid 4 apiece for getting our boxes taken.  Hugh had to pay a 20  
for getting his trunks drew. When we got our tickets marked we were to be at 
the tender  at 11:00.  It was 11:30 before we got started.  It took us about 
3 hours to go out.

PAGE 5/6

The steamer started about 3 p.m.  We dont see much of the coast.  It was too 
rough on deck and the smell of the steerage made us sick.
We got our dinner shortly after we got on of potatoes, pea soup and fish.  
We ate some of the potatoes, but the peas soup made us throw  off.  We all took 
sick then and was sick till Sunday.  We got some tea of our own on Sunday 
which made us feel a good deal better. There was a heavy swell of Friday 
& Saturday but Sunday was a fine day.  On Monday night I was going out for 
a drink when the man below me in the berth asked me if I would 

PAGE 7/8

bring him one.  I said I would.  I brought in another for myself to drink 
at night and set it at the corner of the bunk over his head in the middle 
of the night I heard him cursing and swearing was I pishing down on him 
there when I looked the half of the mug of water was spilt on his face 
with the rolling of the boat. It was rough on Tuesday we dont taste the 
ships meat that day either.  Wednesday was a bit calmer.  We were able to 
take in the evening some tea and corned beef and bread.
That was the first night there was any dancing.  The sailors danced the 
waltzes, highlands and Gigs to a melodeon.

PAGE 9/10

On Thursday there was Irish Stew to breakfast.  Hugh and me took ours up on 
deck and ate it.  We were able to take all the meals  that day.  At night 
there was plenty of dancing. It had been stormy  all day with some snow 
and hail showers but we got down along the galles [gales?]and we were 
all right Friday was a good day compared to Thursday but it was rough 
enough to.  We had good appetites that day and could nearly ate a man 
off his horse.  It got rough towards the evening.  I threw some off 
going to bed.  Saturday was a rough day. I was a little sick and threw 
off some more
PAGE 11/12
But I wasnt alone at it-there was plenty throwing off besides me.  
Robert played on the flagelot that evening to the sailors dancing.  
One of the engineers said it was the nicest music ever he heard.  Sunday 
was a very fine day-they put up the sails in the morning but
about the middle of the day they had to take them down for the wind 
turned dead ahead it calmed down in the evening.  There was hardly a ripple.  
The sea was like a bottle. Monday was a wet day and very misty.  
They were blowing the horn every few minutes.  We expected to be in sight 
on land about 2 p.m. but the fog was
PAGE 13/14
That thick she couldnt make good time.  The pilot came on about 
3 o clock p.m.  We had  to anchor 3 times before we got in.  The first 
land we seen was Sandy Hook-it didnt look very nice at first.  It was 
very low looking but we soon changed our minds about it.  The point is 
very low but after we got round it there was some nice scenery.  It is 
a very nice sail up the harbour into the deck.  Nice villas and private 
houses with trees growing round them.  There are plenty of forts with 
the cannon sticking out of them. There is a good deal of traffic- 
ferryboats, steamer tugs, steamers

PAGE 15/16

Schooners, sailboats and every kind of ship you would name.  It is a very 
busy looking place.  The ferry boats crowded with men and teams and the tugs 
towing barges.  The doctor came on before we got in and we had to show him 
our certificate which we got from the steward the day before.
It took us a good while to get in.  It was nearly dark before we got in.
Nearly the first one we seen was James.  He spoke to us and told us he 
wouild [would?] be down about ten in the morning.  None but cabin passengers 
got off that night.  We got off about ten in the morning.  James was waiting 
there for us

PAGE 17/18

but we had to go to Ellis island in the tender and was kept separate 
with ropes running across the schooner according to the number of our 
card.  It was a good while before we got through the island.  The [they?] 
had that many questions to ask-how much money we had,
where we were going ,, If we had any friends or if we were ever in 
America before and a lot more questions.  I didnt see what was there( their) 
ends for asking.  Them that didnt know where the were going was put into 
place and kept there till somebody came for
them. James came shortly after we

PAGE 19/20

Came out and we took  the ferry across to B.lyn [Brooklyn?].  We saw the 
statue  of liberty as we were going along.  It is great monument.  The shape 
of a man standing on a pedestal with a dagger held above his head.  When we 
got over we landed on New York side of the river then took the Elevated 
Railroad across the bridge to Brooklyn.  Then took a street car
home to his uncles Mr. Howe. Mrs Howe give us a hearty welcome.  We got 
dinner then went out & took a room in 108 Hall St - off Myrtle Avenue.  Then 
James took us to his uncles were we got tea.  Then we went to our room
PAGE 21/22
The next morning we got our breakfast at a restaurant where we had paid 
20c [cents?].  Then we walked round til [till?] lunchtime when we lunched 
with Mrs Howe.  She was very kind to us.  We went down to Mrs Howes in 
the evening and got supper.  On Thursday we had a great day walking around.  
It is a fine city Blyn [Brooklyn?], lots of traffice [traffic?], elevated cars 
and trolleys cars.  The way the talk is stranger to us than anything we see.  
Andrew Kennedy was qqaroiund that night but we didnt see him.  We went round 
to Mrs Howe after lunch.  She is a very kind lady.  She has two nice little 
girls, May and Annie.  Friday was a very wet day.  We could hardly

PAGE 23/24
Stir out of doors.  Saturday we went around looking for a job and got one 
out near Richmond from a farmer that lived out near Mineola.  The Sunday we 
were invited  to dine with Mr and Mrs Howe.  We went to church  for the 
first day in America it is like a concert than [reaching [preaching?] 
the sermon was about 10 minutes and like a lecture there was a piece of music 
sung when the collection  was taking up.  James took me to see Aunt
Barbra that evening she is like the Knoxes  as she can be.  Robert Carton was 
along.  I wrote to her to come over.  She came that day we were out walking 
and misssed [missed?]her so we went over to see her.  I forgot to say at the 
first that Robert Carton and me was rooming together we pay

PAGES 25/26

$2   for our room per week.  We get our meals out at a restaurant.  We gave it up on
Monday morning and was out at James Kellys ( which is the name of the  man 
we got the job from, by 11.30.  When we got here he was ploughing out in the lot.   
He had one plough and his brother Dick was ploughing with the other.  He gave us a 
the plough when we went into the lot.  I got his Robt [Robert?] got Dicks.  
They were a bit awkward at first but we soon got into the way of them.  The ploughs 
are only about 60lbs weight.  We got our dinner about 12 oclock.  We ploughed 
from that until  night  6:30.  We planted potatoes the next day.  It is hardly the 
same as it is at home, they open the the drilols [drills?] with a thing they 
call the maker  3 rows at a time.






PAGES 27/28

It is made of wood with a shaft as it to go between the horses, 3 upright boards about 6 in.[inches?]deep and about 2 feet long, sharp, at the point about 6 in.[inches?]  Wide at the end.  They can put the thing apart so as to make it wider between the rows if they like.  They make the rows about 2ft 9in.[inches?]and  2 feet 6 in[inches?] apart.  Then they sow the manure or what they call fertilizer  with a machine, neatly like a turnip burrow only with there are 3 wheels on it. The one on the front runs in the row.  The other 2 on a drill at each side it holds about 80lbs and a thing like the foot of a grabber to mix it with the ground.  Then they drop  the potatoes the same as they do in Ireland,

PAGES 29/30

Only they stand straight which make it a good deal easier on the back.  Then they 
close them with a plough  about 36 lbs weight. The point runs nearly straight 
into the Ground or it wouldnt stay long in it.  5 of us planted about 6 acres.  
They are 2 men and a boy and 5 girls and their mother.  They are nice people.  
We get plenty to eat and the work is much the same as at home.  We rise at 5:30 
and stop work at 6:30.  Robert  and me lies together.  We get our breakfast 
at 6, our dinner at 12 and our supper about 7.  We went into B lyn [Brooklyn?] 
the first Sunday after we came which was Easter Sunday.  It is a market Farm.  
He goes to NY [New York?] market on Tuesday and Friday.

PAGE 30/31

Starts the day before and comes home the day after.  The second Sunday we were 
here we took a walk down the length of Roslyn about 4 miles and we went up to 
the top of a hill among the woods-the first woods we were in, in America.	




Transcribed by PaulaTracey