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John Stewart, Dublin, to the Proprietor of Pennsylvania (John Penn), London, 3 May 1736
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Collection Stewart Letter
Title John Stewart, Dublin, to the Proprietor of Pennsylvania (John Penn), London, 3 May 1736
Description Shipping merchant John Stewart writes to the Proprietor of Pennsylvania [John Penn —  the American-born merchant who was proprietor of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania during 1718–1746] while he is visiting London. He seeks his aid with the plight of stranded emigrants to America, fleeing the oppression of landlords and tythes, especially from the north of Ireland. He claims that landlord magistrates have tried to illegally imprison shipping agents at Carrickfergus assizes for publically encouraging tenants to emigrate. As a result, Collector George Maccartney of Belfast said he did not know when the next ship would sail with its poor passengers, resulting in ten ships being held up for the past 18 or 20 days with 1700 or 1800 people in "deplorable circumstances". Many were not able to pay their passage and were destitute of houses, with some reliant on their friends in America "for yearly accounts". Stewart asks for Penn to intercede to resolve the situation and suggests one of his own ships would have better capacity to carry the passengers.
Date 03/05/1736
Date Issued 27/03/2023
Resource Type Text
Archival Record Id p155/70/21
Publisher University of Galway
Extent 3pp
Topic Stewart Letter
Geographic Dublin (city),Dublin (county),Ireland,London (city),Greater London,England,United Kingdom
Temporal Eighteenth century,Seventeen thirties
Genre Transcript
Note Transcript text by Professor Kerby Miller. Title and description by University of Galway.
Creator / Author Name John Stewart