James Wray, Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania, to his brother, Thomas Wray (and his mother), Coleraine, County Derry, 1 October 1818
Description
James Wray assures his family that they are always in his attention and that he and his two brothers, John and Robert, are in good health, each with a "keeping school" within a few miles of each other. They all travelled from New York together, buying two horses and a wagon travelling from Monday to "thursday in the next week" on a bad road and in hot weather. However they all quickly secured work as school masters with a wage "as good as £50 pounds a year". He describes it as a "verey fine country" with plenty of work and money "for all that come" including in "Iron works that is Coaling or the like" while noting that there are many Irish living about. Wray tells his mother that he hopes he will be able to visit in a few years but now with land cheap, he and his brothers have "some notion" to purchase a farm for $5 per acre, "for if ever a man gets a farm here he can ive as Happy as he pleases".
Date
01/10/1818
Date Issued
27/03/2023
Resource Type
Text
Archival Record Id
p155/3/2
Publisher
University of Galway
Extent
5pp
Topic
Wray Letters
Geographic
Spruce Creek township,Huntingdon (county),Pennsylvania,United States,Coleraine,Derry (county),Ireland
Temporal
Nineteenth century,Eighteen tens
Genre
Transcript,Reproduction
Note
Title and transcript text by PRONI. This transcript includes handwritten corrections to original transcript from PRONI, made with reference to original letters. Letter description by University of Galway.