(?)
owner, when a man gets too many of them he hires them to his neighbour
for a man about I4 or I5 he would get I60 doll. a yr for a woman
about 106 degroes are brought to the market, for sale as regular as
Gattle and a young fellow would sell for Ten hundrd doll. and a woman
for 8. Some masters are very Indulgent to them, & some beats them and
abuses them more like beasts than human beings, the law won't protect
them a man may beat his slave till he Kills him and the law won't taek
hold of him, In my own private opónion I think the word Slavery in a
free Country is a great Stain to it but the Americans don't mind that,
the are to much blinded with Self Interest to See that, the americans
in genl are a very good hearted Shrewde Keen Knwoing people much given
to Dancing and some to Gambling, but to return to my Story of Slavery,
and it is my opinion that it would be better or at least as good to be
in Slavery here as to be labouring under the oppressive and might
say Tyrannical government such as you are under. the Difference I
can perceive between yr governt. & Slavery is yr laws are more polite
worded but the oppression is greater, to be sure people in Slavery can
make nothing but if the can the have nothing to pay & people in yr.
Station has an oppurtunity of making but what of that, when you have
all you can make to pay away, I will leave it to yrself to Judge but
I know what I think of it.
Land is tollerable cheap in this country you could buy a farm here of
about 4 or 5 hund acres with 40 or 50 acres cleard ready for the
plow for IO Doll per acre & by paying the I/4 down you could get 3
or 4 yr of a Remand Imprd Land Rents here form I1/20 to 21/2 Doll. per
acre, this is a great place for growing tobacco an acre if well handled
will produce from I2 to I3 hund. weigth which will sell for xixx 6 or
7 Doll! per cwt Land on an average will produce from 20 to 30 Doll
per acre, there is a new Country which has been lately purchased from
the Indians lies about 4 hund. miles north of this Land can be
purchased there for I 1/2 to 2 Dol. per acre but there is no Improvt. on,
it
whatever but tibax timber is very valuable here and there is a veery
good market for it, Land you purchase here you have it for ever and
without any rent on it. there is only a small tax comes off it of about
I Cent per acre which goes to maintain the Soldiers that are keeping
down the Indians-
zel
It would take a considerable sum for Strangers to settle comfortably
in a farm, for of course the wd. have everything to buy. The first place
the wd. have to hire negroes to work the farm for strangers could make
no hand of it the first yr. you could buy horses here from 50 to IOO
Doll. COWS from I2 to I6 Sheep from to 2. A wagon would cost about
is
I50 Doll. and that is an article a farmer could not do without, people
are well paid for their work here a carpenter has 2 Dol. a day a
tayler has for makg a coat 87 Doll. a woman has for making a plain
Shirt I1/2 Ruffd. one 2$ measures are the same here as in
Ireland. Weights are the same except the only allow IOO cwt. to the
cwt. weight. About I5 years ago the In
were
the sole possessors of this State there are
about here now & what there are are frie
Friendly
[form]
time of the war the helpd. to fight the engl
english
times a fiew of them comes to market with
le Skins of wild Beasts which the have Slain
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.
