Letter from my GGGG Grandfather to his daughter Maria Louisa Eyre (b1820, my GGG Grandmother) who immigrated to Australia from Cornwall in 1849, onboard The Nelson. She died in 1908 in Carlton Victoria and was buried in Footscray Cemetary, CE
(This letter was transcribed as it was written, including old/erroneous spelling and lack of punctuation)
Truro May 18th 1850
My dear Maria
I am now going to write you a long letter about a month since I received a letter from you informing us of your having safely arrived out after a very rough and unpleasant voyage However it gave us much pleasure to find that you got out safe although when I think on it you are completely lost to the family for there is not the slightest prospect of ever seeing you again But do write often We were anxiously waiting the letter for as you say the vessel did not touch any port nor spoke with no vessel on her passage accounts for our not seeing any account of her in our way whatever. In about a fortnight after you left Oke came and said he wanted a few hands to go to Sidney and like yourself only gave about 48 hours notice Well he persuaded poor John[1] to go and all I could say and do would or could not prevent him so he left for Sidney on the 24th day of August and about 3 weeks since we received a letter from him saying he arrived safe after 15 weeks passage so he must have got to his destination before you They put in at the Cape and remained there a week during a heavy storm after being at Sidney a month he got into steady work at the rate of from 20/- to 25/- per week I suppose that his is piece work He said as soon as he had saved sufficient money he should take a trip to see you but were or how he would find you I know not but I dare say he will find you somehow he don’t foolish fellow say how we must direct to him so what I shall do to find out I don’t know he lodges at present with a person called Martin one of the Hithians[2] in this county person keeps a school in Sidney but no one knows how soon he may remove However I shall do my endeavours to find Martins address but they were very poor people of the family that is left hance I hardly think cares anything for those gone and cannot even afford to pay the postage of a letter so if you should be so fortunate as to see John let us know – I sent your letter as you requested on to dear Laura[3] who I dare say ere this have answered it herself who I am sorry to say has been and am afraid still is very ill – we received a letter from her about a fortnight since when she was then very unwell and ordered by the doctors to take portwine p—- to strengthen her – about a fortnight since we also received a letter from William[4] He was then very well and got in a very good situation better than before being now what they call an overseer That is to look over the other workmen he does nothing I believe by way of work himself altho much more confinded to the office His address now is No 10 New Charles Street Goswell Road How long that may be his address I dont know I generally get a letter every 3 or 4 weeks both from him and laura – next comes poor Emma[5] She is as usual not very well I have not seen her this three months but I saw Anthony at his house about a month since I called there on Thursday last when he was at work and she was at Carelew They were both well They are removed in a better home and has a nice garden attached to it – it is in the same village as to George[6] We never heard from him from the time John left in August last except we get anyone to call until yesterday He came hance unexpectedly We were of course glad to see him I find he is doing very well but fear he and his wife dont agree altho I said nothing about it to him He has a most excellent business and says he is doing very good business He keeps 14 journeymen beside boys and apprentices He leaves again I suppose on Tuesday or Wensday We were much surprised to see him not having heard from him for so long a time He told a person who called that he had not time to write His little girl[7] is very well and so is his wife She behaved very kind indeed to poor John he particularly mentioned it in his letter that she was remarkably kind to him and so was his brother which I think a great deal of Isabel[8] is now very well She had her ?mery again last year Wether she will have it this remains to be proved She and Ellen are both grown wonderful since you left Isabel shall write you a letter in about a months time and then a month after I will write again – your mother is now except her knee tolerable well she has been very busy cleaning for the summer as we expect her 2 sisters Mrs Witt[9] and Mrs Carstairs[10] here for a week in a week or two – as to myself about a fortnight since I caught a very severe cold but am glad to say I feel better today than I felt ever since I don’t know when I was so unwell accompanied by a very dry cough We have had a very cold May and Easterly wind and I was told that I should not lose it until we had a change of wind which is now the case so I trust and hope that it will now soon leave me Poor Mrs Pearce[11] that lived next door is nearly dead in a consumption Mrs Julian John Julians mother is dead Miss Webber was just as you discovered in the family way and was discharged directly not allowed to come another day at her situation is now married to a person who has now large salary of 30 per year so much for her Mrs Lidseas family are as usual very well and so is Mrs Williams Mr Butcher and just the same as usual Their second daughter is married and living at New York (I have never heard from there since you left I mean Mrs Williams family the carpet manufactures who now resides at New York) There are some very unpleasant talk about Mr Williams Mr Butchers daughter who is now at New York Poor Mrs Pine is dead Old Robert Blu is dead Poor Mrs Barnett whom John used to be such friends too is dead this one on Friday last Your mother sends her kind love to you wishing you health and prosperity and so my dear Maria look at yourself Remember the distance you are from either your mother sisters and myself the only persons you have to look to this side of the grave Isabel and Ellen Likewise send their love and ?wishes with mine May every blessing such a person can enjoy under the canoby of heaven attened you may the almighty protect you from ill insult and oppression is the ardent wish of
Your Affectionate Father Thos Eyre
[1] John Charles Eyre, one of Maria’s brothers, born 1829 Cornwall, died 1912 in Australia
[2] Cornwall Hithians, a location
[3] Laura Oliva Violetta Eyre (L.O.V.E), one of Maria’s sisters, born 1822 Cornwall, died 1906 in Devon
[4] William Thomas Eyre, one of Maria’s brothers, a compositor, born 1818, died 1879 in Cornwall
[5] Emma Mathilda Eyre, married to Anthony Sara, born 1816 Cornwall, died 7 years after this letter was written, in Cornwell
[6] George Booth Eyre, one of Maria’s brothers, cabinet maker employing 12 men and 5 boys, born 1826 Cornwall, died 1885 Devon
[7] Emma Eyre, born 1850
[8] Isabel Andrew Eyre, one of Maria’s sisters, a pupil teacher, born 1835, Cornwall, died 1861
[9] Possibly Susanna Maria Witt (nee Murphy), born 1809, christened in London
[10] Charlottle Prudentia Carstairs (nee Murphy), born 1807, christened in London, died 1880
[11] In the 1841 census there is a Betsy Pearce (56) and James Pearce (58) listed in Fairmantle St, same street as the Eyres. She is still there 10 years later
7 responses so far ↓
1 warthog // Aug 19, 2008 at 4:50 am
That is marvellous.
You are so lucky to have such items of family history in your possession.
2 squib // Aug 19, 2008 at 9:57 am
I only have a photocopy of it. We don’t know who ended up with the original but it’s written in that economical style left to right portrait then left to right landscape over the top. Makes it hard to read
It’s interesting how half the neighbourhood has either carked it or is about to. After he died, his poor wife ended up in a workhouse at the age of 75
3 warthog // Aug 19, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Yes, life was very hard.
The revised “Poor Law” came in around 1834. The workhouses were built and the new ’system’ was going full tilt by this time because there was economic depression in the late 1840s and early 1850s ,[probably why your GGG Gran emigrated].
The depression was so bad that they even neglected upkeep on the RN and there were few seaworthy ships for the Crimea campaign
in 1854.
Sending poor widows/old couples/widowers to the local workhouse was a very common practice. The habit became so strong that the places slowly converted into council ‘old age pensioner’s’ homes or ‘cottage hospitals’ by the 20th C. and a few old converted workhouse buildings still exist today, being used in these later roles.
If it was convient, or the workhouse was full, they often declared the oldies as ‘mentally feeble’ and stuck them in asylums, as most county asylums were large, new affairs having been built in the 1840s. Old grannies formed the majority of the inmates in these places and again many of these places ended up as county “OAP homes”.
4 warthog // Aug 20, 2008 at 10:31 am
I lost my big long post here.
It didn’t turn up but computer say I was double posting when I resubmitted it.
I think it went off to some old thread somewhere
5 squib // Aug 20, 2008 at 10:37 am
Sorry - just found it in my spam filter
6 warthog // Aug 21, 2008 at 9:39 am
Should have been caught by the Tedium Filter.
Not sure if it’s spam.
7 squib // Aug 21, 2008 at 10:13 am
No, not at all. I found what you had to say interesting because I don’t know a lot about that era in that particular part of the world
It was caught by the Careful you Might Learn Something Filter
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