Great-great Grandfather's letter

Philada, July 14th/65

Transcription of a copy of a letter written by my great-great Grandfather, Patrick Carroll, to his brother, Coleman Carroll, in 1865:

While Patrick’s address is given in the body of the letter, there is no address given for the brother or for anyone mentioned in the letter. According to my best guess, based on the average of the ages given for Patrick in all the available census and death returns, Patrick was born in about 1821 in Middletown, County Cork, Ireland. I did find a baptismal record for a Patrick Carroll in Cloyne Parish, dated 9 February, 1821. I can’t be absolutely that this is the correct Patrick. I did not find a record for a Coleman Carroll, or of a John Carroll (mentioned in the letter,) with the same parents.
Patrick would have been 44 years old when this letter was written. He died in October of 1899, and his death record states that he was then 78 years old.

_______________________________________________________________________


Dear Brother Coleman

I am in
receipt of your letter which gives me
pleasure to hear that you and your
family are well and I am happy to
inform you that I and my family
are well Thanks be to god.

Dear Brother when you get this letter
please forget all my former and I would
say heretofore negligence in writing to you,
for I need not tell you that it was through
no indifference to your welfare that I did
not write to you – and dear Brother
though you made some sharp and
pointed remark to me in your letter
I loved and liked it the better for this
for I know your kindness and affection

I will now tell you a little about how
I am getting along. I have just
returned from the oil regions in
Western Pennsylvania where I have

Page 2 -
been for the last 3 months at work
and I intended to remain there until
November but the children got [sick[i]]
and of [course] had to come home. Now
They are getting well. Business is rather
dull in this city lately but I can [get]
a job any time I have done no work
on my own account for nearly 03 years
but being employed as foreman for other
Builders the man that I was [fore…]
died lately and I think it likely
I shall do something myself very soon.

I done very well by that contract
you wanted to know about – I made
about two thousand dollars clear
and I bought a little property, have now
is worth six thousand dollars to me.
My rents bring me 40 dollars a
month but taxes are very high at [present]
so that if I have my health I can make
a comfortable living for my family and
if I die they will have a little to assist them.

Page 3 -
There was some [gre-----s] [---] [[---]
[lately] and told that Brother John and
Mother were well john had a daughter
6 mo old named Mary. Our cousins
Patrick Michael and John Keefe are well
and their sister Johanna and husband
are doing remarkably well and
David Walsh and his sister are
well they are both married
I think I mentioned in my [previous?]
letter that Owen Keefe[ii] was killed in
the Battle of South Mountain he
was the oldest of the boys none of the
rest listed and David Walsh’s sister’s
son Edmund Lynch was killed at
The siege of Charleston.
As for my part I escaped all the drafts
and I had no fancy for volunteering
still there is hardly any of us [witness] their
kindred blood reddening and their bones
bleeching [in] some or other of the many
battle fields of this war.

Page 4
I have 4 children Coleman is going
in his 14^th year and Kate is
8 years And by my second marriage
I have two boys Joseph and
Charles Joseph 3 years and Charley
1 year old. I am living in the
(word crossed out) that I built for myself (word smudged)
1909 Carlton st. [iii]

I will conclude hoping this
will find you and family all happy
as it comes with it from us our
warmest love and affections for
you and your wife and children
and our best wishes for your
welfare – Your (confusing scribble) Brother
                                                                                Patrick

---

[i] Words in brackets are either unclear to me, or cut off at the edge of a page. Parentheses indicate that I am unable to read the words.
 In this instance, I would point out that Patrick had already lost two children by his first wife, so an illness would have been a very important reason to get home.

[ii] There was indeed an Owen Keef listed among the dead after the battle of Antietam, which Patrick here refers to as the Battle of South Mountain. Other than the fact of his death, and the name of the unit he fought with, nothing more was learned about Owen Keefe.

[iii] Notes later written onto the letter mention 3 later daughters – Mamie Burrows, Maggie Fox, and Lizzie McGonigle; and also that the Carlton st. address is near the Parkway museum and court area. (near 19^th and Vine, and the Logan Circle in Philadelphia.) At the bottom of the page it is noted that Patrick is William B. Lavin’s great grandfather on his maternal side. William was Lizzie McGonigle’s grandson. 

Old Newspapers

I have spent a good bit of time on my new favorite online playground, called Newspapers.com . Initially, I spent the time looking up death notices and other items connected to anyone in my extended family tree. One can search by name, date, or any other phrase one can think of to find anything that might appear in the newspaper. The papers range in some areas from the 18th century (you can find George Washington's 'Farewell Address' as originally published) to 2017 - at least in my local area. There are some gaps in the "searchable" pages, but in many of them you can browse. You can clip and save anything you find.

There was a piece about my Grandmother's house (the house my Mother grew up in) from 1923. It seems they confiscated three 15 gallon stills and a bunch of liquor. Who knew Grandmom was a bootlegger? Or perhaps it was all for personal use. That is, from wha I hear, certainly a possibility.

There were a series of Real Estate transactions whereby my Great-grandfather's brother in law (a real estate agent) sold a property, amounting to a city block, to a man who then sold it to my Great-grandfather's brother who then sold it back to the Brother in law - all on the same day and for a nominal fee. I'm not at all sure who made out on that deal, or how, but I suspect it was the Brother in law.

There was another ad, a few years earlier, place by the fore-mentioned Brother, who was seeking employment as a club pianist. Personally, I was pleased to see this as I am unaware of many musicians in the family tree, and sometimes it feels a little lonely. There are, however, no indications that my Great great-uncle found any musical positions. He later married and moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked as a contractor.

Having exhausted most of the intersting (to me) notices connected to my family, I started looking up various historical things to read the original news reports/ I have read about several 19th century minstrels and popular composers like Septimus Winner. I looked up reports on the Aurora Borealis. I looked up news reports (from London) on the trial or Williams Burke and Hare, and Burke's confession, as well as reports of his execution. I didn't realize his remains are still on display somewhere in London. Nr did I realize that William Hare was released from jail less than a year after some of the murders, and he and his wife disappeared with the aid of the authorities.

I also looked up the history of some of my old favorite bars.

So, while it does require subscription, it is wellworth it. I have been having lots of fun.