1844: Letter from Elizabeth Cree (nee Cutts) to her son Joseph H Cree |
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Dear Son & Daughter I received your letter. Happy to hear that you are well as it leaves us at present, thank God for it, as it [is] all the pleasure I have in this world to hear of my dear children being happy and comfortable. I must content myself with that as I cannot enjoy your society. Tell me all the children says about America and how they like it, what sort [of] Christmas you had, if you keep the old rules and had possett on Christmas Eve. Every little thing you can tell me about the children or yourselves whould please me. |
Commentary: [Posset: a hot milk drink curdled with ale or wine and usually with spices or sugar added.] |
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In respect to the knife blades I have aplied [sic] by George Slater & he cannot get them under 1lb/1s/0d the grose. I have enquired of Old Wapington about knife blades & he tells me that I cannot get them at Sheffield under 24 shilings the grose. Your father says he will enqire of [a] man that hawks knives & such things at Mansfield. I should very much have liked to have procured them for you but we are in very great distress for money as we are bihind with our rent & Mr Betts is very awkward & puts us about all he can. |
Why did Joseph Cree want his parent to procure knife blades for him? Was he setting up in a business selling, repairing or sharpening knives? The price is 1 pound, 1 shilling and 0 pence in pre-decimal currency - £1.05 (but much more at to-day's values). A gross is 144. Wapington is spelt Waplington later in the letter. |
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Your Uncle John is very ill and [h]as been for some time & I doubt not likely to recover and our affairs are in [a] very deranged state with him. Your Uncle William is very carefull of our intrest and wishes me to go over and get acoumpt settled with him but wee cannot compel him to pay [h]is fathers debts so wee must leave it to providence. I dare say he is afraid wee shall want something of him. I hope I never shall. When it comes to that I shall set sail to America if I can raise the money. You must let mee know if there is plenty of imployment for woman sewing or getting up linen. I should not wish to be a burden to my children. |
John Cree, who was a painter, had inherited the shop and houses of his father James Cree in Mansfield. He died suddenly there in April 1846. The Nottingham Journal of 17th April 1846 reported that, "John Cree, a painter, residing in Stockwith [sic] Gate, Mansfield, died suddenly at his lodgings on Tuesday night last. He had been occasionally unwell for some time, but had never had any medical attendant." Wlliam Cree, although the youngest of the three brothers, was executor of the will of his father James. Surely there were not debts outstanding 26 years after he had died! |
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I should have wrote sooner but I could not get satisfied about the check. Mr Fletcher got Mr Horsley to apply by Oaks firm and wee received it on Sunday 21. I wish you had not sent it. I am afraid you will want it as it is winter. It would have been very useful to you. We have not paid Mr Sheppard for your cloathes. He is very pressing for the money. Your father will give it him on Friday. Wee must pay the rest as soon as wee can. Your Uncle Benjamins son James is comeing to you in March or April as soon as wee can get a letter back from you and you must send word if he can get imployment and what kind of wages is given. He is [a] very steady, industrious young man and he intends to take up [h]is aboad [abode] with you if it is convenient. He will not stop in this country any longer for [h]is father goas on in [h]is old courses and he cannot keep any money. He says he should have had 40 pound if it had not been for paying [h]is father['s] rent. He cannot bare to stop to see them in distress. You must send all the information you can for him where to find you. He has been every Sunday lately to see if I have wrote to you. |
ALFRETON This letter can be dated from the reference to "Sunday 21" since 21st January 1844 was a Sunday 21st. We know that the Martha and her six children arrived in New York on board the sailing vessel "New York" on 18th November 1843. (Presumably Joseph had travelled ahead to find somewhere for them all to live.) See Notes on the Voyage. We may therefore presume that Elizebeth is writing on 29th January 1844 at the earliest, but possibly in February. Uncle Benjamin is Benjamin Cutts, the writer's brother. James Cutts is therefore Joseph's first cousin. |
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Tell me if you have found any better friends in Ame[rica] then in England. Mr Henery's Haman [?] tells me that Peter Bussey is [a] Yorkshire man and a great republiction and [h]as been in the convention and that you are got to the right man to get you forward. He says all this to please me I dare say but I think of the 10 pound he would not lend me for you so I take very little notice what he says. |
Peter Bussey was a Yorkshire innkeeper and a delegate to the First Chartist Convention. He fled to America following the abortive Chartist conspiracy to stage a revolution in 1839 and ran a boarding house in New York for some years before returning to England. This is a closest we get to a hint that Joseph's might have had radical political views. (See the Chartist Ancestors web site.) |
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I shal apply to Old Waplinton son. He puts blad[e]s into knives & I will send you 1 grose by James Cutts when he comes if I can get them. Pinxton Mill was burnt down [...] with 150 quarter corn and flour in it and Joseph Corden is got transported 10 years for horse stealing. Mrs Fletcher of Selston Hall [h]as been had her fortune told and they have fortuned 54 pound out of her and decamped with it. I dont know wheather you read if I could write and indite as well as you I should write you quires of paper. Mr & Mrs Brindley send their best respects to you. George Hill likewise. Give all poor children kiss for their grandmother. I must contlude [as] it is very late. Goodnight, God Bless you and prosper you altogether is the constant prayer of your loving mother,
Eliz Cree
| Notes on the voyage | |
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All the transcriptions, notes and commentaries on these Letters to an Emigrant web pages are copyright © Mike Spathaky 2009. |
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