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Trenton State of Kentuckey Feby. 20 I8I9
A
Dear Father & Mother
I hope you have Recvd. my other letters this is my fourth one & have
never heard a word from you yet, which makes me very uneasylin my last
I stated I had not got to my journey end but thank god I am now
Settled and entirely to my satisfaction I arrived here on the 27 day
of Decr I8I8 and found every thing acquiesd. with my expectation and
Some things even to exceed them, the young man I live with is a very
agreeable young man & we live together very happy indeed. the business
we follow here is Keepg shop or as it is called here Store Keepg. the
business is not carried on here altogether on the same plan as in
Ireland. It consists of more variety in a shop here, you could get
everything you could name as the saying is you could get from a
Kneedle to an Anchor in any of them, goods Sells much dearer here than
in
Ireland. wd. buy at home sells much dearer he re than in
Ireland. Linen you wd. 5uy at home for 3/- you wd pay 6/h people
that
comes to this country, if they are in circumstances to give as much
now
more for there cloathes here as what they could buy them for at home
I wd. advise them upon now other tearing to come without them, people
that lands in a Seaport town that intends moving 3 or 4 hund. miles
into the country it will Cost them from 7 to 8 dollars for every I66
weight the have.' Doll. is equal to 35/- the commonest pair of shoes
you wd. put yr. hand on you would get them no less than kneix 12/-2
For a good hat 8 Doll and every other article in proportion, this is
an uncommon fine open fruitful healthy country and I think this still winter
has been as temperate as I have experienced in Id.
Kentucky
asits inhabitants of its foresty considerable heards of
R.c.
Deer possesses Bears panthers, foxes and pole cats, as for the Bears & Panthers
there are none of them in this part of the country but for the rest
the are extremely numerous about here, evry farmer has to Keep from
IO to 20 hounds to protect his property from their Ravages, and
occasionally a fiew neighbours joing goes out a hunting with
perhaps
40 or 50 dogs and that the consider great amust. and the are sure to
make great havock among the bush taild. gentry, the plains &
mountns are covd. with the finest timber I ever saw it consists of
is Maple, and Locust, Walnut Magnolia oak mulberry cherry cucumber & ash
are found in all parts of the State of the most Luxurious growth,
l.c./ Kentuckey is a very large State much Larger than Ireland it contains
54 Coutys. 40,000 Sqr. miles or 28,166,000 acros. and
2 / 405064 Inhabitants of which are 8056I Slaves, the next in number,
the
Baptist
religion
is
the most numerous. the Presbiterian & Methodist are
There are some Episcopelians & some shaking Quakers, but there are no
Cival
distinction whatever in respect to Avil Rights. Farmers here are the
2. first men in the County in respect to Respectbility if the use any
2.0 Kind of Industry at all the can live like Kings and some of them
knows no bounds to their lands, Some of them owns thousands of acres
2c.1 owns a great many Slaves here they are all black negroes the generally
that began here with nothing about IO yrs agoe. Farmers generally
keep from
Ten to 40. When a man ownes a fiew men and women his family soon inex
increases and the more children the get it is the better for their
always
Kentucky
James Richey, Trenton, Kentucky, to his family, Ireland, 20 February 1819
Description
In his fourth letter home, James Richey writes to his parents that he has now safely settled in America but is uneasy not to have had a response from them as yet. Since arriving on 27 December 1818, everything is to his expectation or even exceeded them, while he is living with an "agreeable young man" and are in business "Keeping Shop" or known here as "Store Keeping". He states that it is different than in Ireland with more variety of products but they being much more expensive. He describes the country as an "open fruitful healthy country" with Kentucky still possessing considerable herds of "Deer Bears, panthers, foxes and pole cats" in its forests so that farmers had to keep ten to twenty dogs to protect his farm from them. He states that in the state there are 405,064 inhabitants of which "80,561 Slaves, the Baptist religon is the most numerous, the Presbiterian & Methodist are next in number, there are some Episcopelians & some shaking Quakers but there are no distinction whatever in respect to Civil Rights'. Richey notes that farmers can begin with nothing and yet amass thousands of acres in a decade and generally each owns "a great many slaves here they are all black negroes the[y] generally keep from Ten to 40. When a man ownes a fiew [sic] men and women his family soon increases and the more children the[y] get it is better for their owner. When a man gets too many of them he hires them out to his nieighbour [...] Negroes are brought to the market for sale as regular as Cattle [...] some masters are very indulgent to them & some beats them and abuses them more like beasts than human beings, the law won't take hold of him'. He gives his 'private opinion' of his objection to Slavery saying "in a free country [it] is a great stain" but the Americans don't mind that, the[y] are too much blinded by Self Interest". Richey informs his parents that while land is cheap, it takes a farmer a considerable sum to invest in his farm including hiring slaves and buying livestock. He concludes his letter detailing the native american tribes who were the sole possessors of the state up to fifteen years ago [but is incomplete due to the letter being partially damaged]. He concludes being '"extremely glad I came to this country".
Title and transcript by Professor Kerby Miller. This transcript includes handwritten corrections to original transcript from PRONI, made with reference to original letters. Letter description by University of Galway.
