1848: Letter from Elizabeth Cree (nee Cutts) to her son Joseph H Cree | |
|
[Outer:] paid
[Postmarks:]
[Inner:] My Dear Son & Daughter & Grandchildren | |
|
I write to inform you we are all pretty well in health considering old age & I hope you & your family are the same. You will think it very strange that I have not wrote an answer to your letter but I had not enough to pay for them coming & I took the opertunity of sending 3 newspapers 2 letters and the Pantheon by Barbers George Tomlinson Grandson in March & I am affraid that you have not received them. I have sent you his directions and you must write and let me know. |
|
|
I have enqu[ired] about Howits works & the price of the whole would be a guinea & I have not as many pence at my command. |
Is this the search for a source of knife blades cotinuing from Letter 1? They were then a guinea a gross (1 pound 1 shilling per 144) |
|
Our circumstances are very much embaresed. We have been distresed fo[r] rent twice & we are a year now in arrears & I expect him serveing us the same again. We have got tow [=two] years Hay by us at this time. It has been a very dry summer with us & hard winter last & I hope we shall sell off our hay as the hay crop was very light last summer & then we can pay our rent. We have nothing to live upon but what our Will gets & Frisby by labouring & that is not much. Bread has been very high 3s/10d & 4s/0 shillings per stone. We have no cow now. Your Uncle Cree took her for money we owed him & have not got one since but I hope we shall raise one this year. Tom will assist us at Martinmas. |
"Our Will" is Elizebeth's youngest child, aged 26. Frisby is her grandson William Frisby, aged 17, son of Tom Frisby and Elizabeth's daughter Hannah who died in 1842. "Your Uncle Cree" is William Cree, the youngest brother of Elizabeth's husband Thomas, since the only other brother John died in 1846. There are two people referred to as Tom in this letter, Thomas Cree and Thomas Frisby. My guess is that this is the former, Elizebeth's son Thomas who is now 26. |
|
Your father gets a poor old old man & goes down the hill very fast & I cannot think of leaving him now he [h]as nothing he has not a friend. Your Uncle Cree never speaks to him if he can avoid it and he is all the brother he has now your Uncle John is dead. You was speak[ing] about us thinking you might send us some money but we never had such a thought. You are right welcome to all you have had. I only want to know if [you] are comfortable & how the children are going on every particular about them and if you get plenty of som[e]thing to eat. |
“Your father” is of course Elizebeth's husband Thomas Cree was now 70 years old. In fact he lived for almost a further six years. John Cree died in April 1846 about three months after she wrote Letter 1. I think this passage implies she had written again, probably soon after that, to tell Joseph of the death. There is therefore a lost letter written between April 1846 and the elopement of Betsey with Tom Frisby in May 1847. |
|
You want to know who is in the ascendant. I don't think anybody is hereabouts. Your old friend Ann Stanley's husband has failed. John Stanley of Mansfield [h]as also failed & your Uncle Cree cuts him but he cuts his own brother & he cuts his old and particular friend like the rest & never speaks to him now he is poor. |
|
|
Mrs Callis's son Groley is broken and Wm Chambers of Sutton [who] has been keeping public house in Mansfield is also bankrupt. We are not by ourselves; everybody is getting poorer in this country. Job Berresford is working labouring work at Swanwick; his wife is living with her daughter at Alfreton dressmaking. Mr Machin is dead & his son Antony is got married; he would not stop at home. They took him a place at Crich. Mrs Machon went to keep his house & he ran of[f] & got married to Miss Western, school teacher at Riddings. She has no fortune. His mother is fit to go mad. |
Job Beresford was mentioned by William Greaves in Letter 2. "She has no fortune" means she has no dowry or marriage portion. |
|
Joseph Machon of Bakewell is got married again & is living pretty comfort[ably]. Your Uncle Samuel is dead; he died in London of a stroke with his pipe in his mouth. He was at work at the Shoreditch Station. His son John is got married & Elizabeth too & both are living in London. |
Uncle Samuel is Elizebeths's brother Samuel Cutts. |
|
Now I must tell you something about ourselves. We have had a revolution in our Family. Tom and Betsey is got married & I believe Mr Wood will never forgive them. Thay got married at Derby secretly. She stopt while she could. Thay have got a little girl. When she told them she was going to leave there was a pretty peice of work. Thay was both to go but thay got friends again and Tom stayed awile longer but one morning Mr Wood came out in a great pet & thay quarrelled. Mr Wood told Tom he was not trustworthy. Tom said I have been too long ist [=it's] time for me to go & went and got work at the Park. Thay are living there. John and Tom are at Butterley, one pipeing and the other fitting. Betsey is dressmaking & has 2 apprentices & she will make 8£ pounds in prices[?] in rather better than a year. |
This bit of scandal refers to Tom Frisby (widower of Hannah Cree) and Elizebeth's daughter Elizabeth. They were breaking the law of the time which did not allow a man to marry his deceased wife's sister. Elizebeth Cree may not have known this although the circumstances suggest that the couple were aware of it. The marriage took place at St Werburgh's church in Derby on 9th May 1847. This shows that Elizebeth had not written to Joe for over eighteen months. The little girl was called Hannah after Thomas Frisby's late wife Hannah Cree. Mr Wood was Rev John Wood of Swanwick Hall where Elizabeth and Tom were both employed as servants. This passage demonstrates the power which a local "squarson" could wield over the inhabitants of a village. "She stopped while she could", I take to mean that Elizabeth stayed in Mr Wood's employment as a servant at the Hall. The Park is Codnor Park where the Butterley Ironworks were situated. |
|
I should like to know how Eliza is going on with her dressmaking. |
Eliza was Joe's eldest daughter. |
|
Your Uncle Will is not married yet. It's no friendly feeling towards us but I think he dare not for fear of a family. I believe he whould have had Hannah but she whould not have him. Thay both wanted one thing. [S]he had 20£a year. I think she would not part with it. Thay have got [... ...] & now she has left him. |
William Cree is now 57. His first wife Mary Sanders had died in 1844. Hannah could be his sister-in-law (nee Wilson), the widow of William's brother John Cree who died two years earlier. She was now 50 years old, so John "would have had Hannah" without "fear of a family." However he did in fact marry before the end of the month. |
|
Tom says he will stop a little longer & see if his uncle marries. He shall set off to America to make up for lost time. Will Frisby is working at Mr Coups [?]Brookill Lane at 3s/0 per week & [h]is meat. Our Will is working anywhere. I myself go to Mr Coups to mend at 8d/ per day & down to the Park & thay pay me the same, so you see we get on well as we can. |
This Tom would seem to be definitely Elizebeth's son Thomas since the question of his uncle's marriage has just been mentioned. Brookhill Lane is in Pinxton. |
|
Your Uncle Benjamin still goes on in old way. His youngest son was killed in the pit but it makes no alteration in him. He has neither cow nor pig nor horse nor anything upon the place. |
This is Elizebeth's brother Benjamin Cutts. He survived until 1879 when he was buried in Pinxton churchyard aged 84. |
|
I cannot satisfy you as to w[h]ere James Robinson is. Hannah cannot tell. She thinks he is somewhere about [?]Bolten. He has been working at stocking making & geting 30 shillings per week. Trade has been very bad & he has been out of employment & she [is] affraid thay shall not get off this summer. Our Will has got a situation with Mr Cook Busher down at the Park. He is doing a deal of business. He married Mr Croft's widow at the Tun[n]el mouth. |
Pigot's 1835 Directory of Derbyshire shows James Robinson as a Boot and Shoemaker in Swanwick. Hannah might be the widow of Elizebeth's brother-in-law John Cree who had died in April 1846. Bolten may be Bolton, Lancs, but the reading is uncertain. Our Will is Elizebeth's son William. She means Mr Cook Busher married Mr Croft's widow. |
|
I cannot give you any satisfaction about any of us [coming to America]. Your father cannot think of coming now he is got so old & I cannot think of leaving him. It is not for the comforts I enjoy but I consider it my duty. I should not think the Almighty would permit me to be comfortable if I do not do my duty. I would have you do what you think is the best for your family & consider well before you take those steps weather you should like to live in uncivilised society. |
|
|
Rebecca is gone to live in Bury in Lancashire with Mrs Hanby, Bury Rectory, as housekeeper & she said if she did not like her place I need not be surprised at her setting sail to America. I should like Sarrah to come; she gets a grand girl but a stupid temper & there I shoud think she would have a protector. I have sent tow [=two] newspapers with this letter. Thay are very old but thay are [?what] mother sent. |
Rebecca Cree is Elizebeth's youngest daughter at 29 years old. She eventually settles in Manchester, where she earns a living as an upholsterer, and writes to Joseph from there. See Letters 5 and 6. Sarah was also Elizabeth's daughter, now aged 27. |
|
I have seen Machin and he tells me that you are in your old way in regard to religious principles but I hope you will bring your children up in a God fearing way. It mars all my pleasure about you. Tell me if you got the Pantheon. You perhaps may think I dont write [and] I don't think about you but you are the first and last of my thoughts. Night & morning I put up my prayers for you. God bless you all together
Elizebeth Cree. | Next page | |
|
|
All the transcriptions, notes and commentaries on these Letters to an Emigrant web pages are copyright © Mike Spathaky 2009. |
|