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William Lalor, Lima, Lagrange Co., Indiana, to father, Patrick Lalor, Tinakill, Queen's County, 12 May 1843
Luaigh an doiciméad seo Amharcóir IIIF
Bailiúchán Lalor Letters
Title William Lalor, Lima, Lagrange Co., Indiana, to father, Patrick Lalor, Tinakill, Queen's County, 12 May 1843
Description William Lalor, who emigrated from Liverpool to New York in 1837, describes in detail his vicissitudes in America : his "total ignorance" of America's hypercapitalist system; severe sickness; his father's failure to loan or give him desperately needed money; economic depression following the Panic of 1837; and the "Yankee tricks" which cheated him out of money and a farm in Michigan. Is now resigned to working on a railroad or canal, alongside "the dregs of the earth," to recoup his fortunes. Plans to move to Wisconsin and marry Amelia Fox from home, whose Protestant family is also in the process of moving there. His future brother-in-law, Joseph Fox, is engaged to marry his sister, Mary Lalor. William is proudly Catholic but very tolerant in his religious opinions. Perhaps the best part of the letter concerns his bitterness over his father's inheritance practices, which obliged William to emigrate rather than remain an "old bachelor" in Ireland.
Date 12/05/1843
Date Issued 27/03/2023
Cineál Acmhainne Text
Archival Record Id p155/1/2
Publisher University of Galway
Extent 8pp
Topic Lalor Letters
Geographic Lima (township),LaGrange (county),Indiana,United States,Tinnakill (townland),Laois (county),Ireland
Temporal Nineteenth century,Eighteen forties
Genre Transcript,Reproduction
Note Title, description and transcript text by Professor Kerby Miller.
Creator / Author Name William Lalor