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Daniel Shehan Letters (from Margaret Gallagher,
Daniel T. Shehan [and Margaret Shehan], Stony Creek, near Hamilton, Canada
West, to his mother, Mary Shehan, Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, 15 April
1847.
Stoney Creek
April the 15th 1847
Ever Dr Mother Daughter )
I hope you are all well Together
Brothers Sisters Friends and )
with my Motherinlaw Brothersinlaw
Neighbours )
and Sistersinlaw and all enquiring neighbours
As this letter leaves me and wife and three children Elizibeth Margerett
& Thomas at present thankes be to my God
we are furnished hear
With the awefull picture of my Dr Country which ye feel in reality
and on which I intend to dw[e]ll in my next letter
Dr Mother I have Suff-
ered much disappointment and hardship this time past or Sooner than
This my letter would retch you bein idle last Summer and indeed despaired
of my life at the time I wrote the last letter about augst I thought
It would be my last parting farewell though I did not plianly let ye
Know it
I thought it soon enough another would let ye Know the news
I Knew would add fuel to flame already Kindled in your breast but
now I am in hopes you will yet lay your head on my arms when
you are going to enjoy the presence of your God and mine I have
laboured under a fit the effects of Cold
at night I would Swell up you
Could hardly Know me nex[t] morning
towards evening I would reduce again
At
the Same time I Suffered Some foolish har[d]ship too through the
means of my Sister mary
learning by hearsay that She and
husband Came out I went to Kingston from Toronto and took my
family and luggage with me for to See her and if possable to advice
her for to come to the upper Country
if not Margerett was determined
To be near her
I was willing myself for at the Same time I did not think
I was to live long
I [mi?]ssed making her out but I could
understand John Callah[an?] lived in a place too remote
I
concluded
It was there She and husband were (I met Thoms Kissane of pulleen in
Kingston
we passed a part of the night Together in my room he is well in
Daniel T. Shehan [and Margaret Shehan], Stony Creek, near Hamilton, Canada West, to his mother, Mary Shehan, Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, 15 April 1847
Description
Daniel T. Shehan notes the "awfull picture" of Ireland which his family must bear at home, while he also laboured in severe weather and poor health. He reports of the birth of his son, named Thomas, in memory of his late father and late brother. He strongly advises that his Irish family sell up and come to Canada as "ye could not be worse of hear [off here]". Shehan offers to help them settle in and suggests his brother John could finish his three years in college in Canada and perhaps administer to the natives [as an ordained priest]. He then recommends they go to the States if possible. Shehan also mentions he has written lines in memory of his uncle Henny Breen, his son Thomas in Tralee. Appended to the end of the letter are some lines from Margret Shehan (Daniel's sister) to their mother advising her she had a son the previous January and advising her brothers, James or Daniel to "come to this country".
