Letter
from Charles Kaighin (10300)
to
his nephew Charles Kaighin (9400)
See transcription at the bottom
of the page
To download high resolution
images of this letter click here
Special thanks to Diana Bulls
of the Reedley (CA) Historical Society for unearthing this treasure
Editor’s clarifications in brackets [].
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To Charles Kaighin Ship write Amarica September 9th
1841 Loving Nephew I have taken this
opportunity of Writing thes few lines to you hoping you are all in good
health as we are all at present thanks be to god. We are verry glad to heare of your
well doing. William Cowley from peel
was giving very good Accounts of you All and we are doing as good as we
can. I was last sunday at crammag and
at Thomas Lases [Lace's] and Nanny and every one of them is Grand and lives
verry comfortabel and I was at me sistor Chatrin I got me brakefast at Cowley
cramag and me lunch with Nanny and me denner with Bella and me tea at my
sistor Cathrine in KK michael. I left
Douglas at 6 a clock in the morning and walked about 40 miles and let me know
can your mother do such a jorna [journey] as that in one day and I am older
then your Mother about 16 days. I came
home a Sunday Nite and went to the herrins[?] amonday night and got a Boat
full and nex night another full Boat what I think verry grand And Chatrine my Daughter is for
comming to ---------------------- PAGE 2 ---------------------- About it and
would be glad to know the Prices of Dress making and bonnot making and which
is the Best she can get work plenty work in Douglas if she would work withe
out money with fine promes[promise?] And low wages. And Charles my son is for a
carpenter in the carpenter yard and promising to come to Newyork as soon as
he will be out of his time or before that for he is talkin of his cussons in
amarica very often. And my Daughter margaret is
wanting to be remembered to you all But in perticuler to Phillip, and she
would be as glad as anny of them to come if she would know how to get there. And Jane yore Brothers wife is
over glad to heare that your doing so well and every one of you. And John Gell enelengey[?] Little
London is for coming to Newyork for spring and Cathrine is thinking of
comming with them, there famely is for coming and the[y] live in the one
house with us. For me and my old wife we need not
think of coming for we are very old to think of coming. But if I would be there I would not work at
anny Thing sooner then Dabbling about sailing ----------------------- PAGE 3 ----------------------- And if you can remember the day
that you left the Island I have not been sick since but I have faild a great
dail but Deare Brother and Sister we are yet in the town of Douglas living
Jane[?]. my wife is often talking of
you and old tims. She want to let you
know that Bell Quine is in the famely way.
By hir master Dan. Cane alln[?] hir master. Dear Brother we would like to heare from
you. write a few lins to is [us] as
soon as you can. Remember me to your mother and to
all your Brothers and sistors Brothers in Law and sistors in Law And my wife wants to be
rememerd to you All in perticler to
Ellenor your sistor and your sistor So No More at Presant from your
Unkel and Aunt Charles and
Ellenor Kaighin And send word as soon as this come
to you. |
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Editor’s note: This section is a consolidation of several emails
I’ve written regarding analysis of the above letter. The letter writer was my GGG Grandfather. The parents of Charles Kaighin, letter writer, were John Kaighin and Elizabeth Nicholl (or variously spelled Knickol, Crigal, Knickal, etc.) of Kerrowglass, Kirk Michael, Isle of Man. The parents of Charles Kaighin, recipient of the letter were John Kaighin and Eleanor Cannell (who was sixteen days older than Charles). This John was Charles' brother and of course the son of John Kaighin and Eliz. Nicholl. Previously, I had thought Charles' parents were John Kaighin and Ann Lace. The circumstantial evidence was very strong that this was the case, but I never had anything solid. The process of elimination narrowed down the possibilities to only one Charles, but I always considered the connection tenuous. Turns out, our Charles' birth/christening record never made it to the IGI. He was born about 1777, several sources indicate this, so the only Charles in the IGI that was born about 1777 was the son of John Kaighin and Ann Lace (born 30 Nov 1776.) That and a couple other circumstantial clues led me to conclude that he was the correct one. But now we know better. When I initially read the letter, I immediately knew which
family he was talking about in NY. Two
of the sons of John Kaighin and Eleanor Cannell moved to I was able to determine who Charles' parents were by analyzing the letter with some other data. We know from the letter two siblings, Charles and Catherine (Chatrin), as well as John in NY, even though he's not mentioned (John died sometime prior to 1835). Charles mentions a pretty good hike through Crammag (in Kirk Christ Lezayre) and on to Kirk Michael. Some of the names I'd never heard so I did some digging. I suspected at this point that I was looking at family 6750 in my database which also has the following other siblings: Margaret, Anne and William. There wasn't much in my database on this family. But I found that Margaret was married to John Cannell of Kirk Michael. So I decided to see if she had a will. She did. And she mentions a son-in-law, John Cowley of Crammag, Lezayre. Further digging shows him to be the husband of Margaret's daughter Elizabeth. Charles also mentions having "me denner with Bella". Margaret had a daughter Isabella who married Thomas Lace of Lezayre, both of whom were mentioned. So you understand the relationships, Elizabeth and Bella (Isabella) were Charles the letter writer's nieces and Charles' (the recipient's) cousins. I don't know who Nanny is, but I suspect that is Charles' sister Margaret Cannell; she died 24 Dec 1854. I would also guess that William Cowley from Peel is somehow related to John Cowley of Crammag. So now we have a fourth sibling including Margaret. The only two not mentioned are Anne and William, but it is possible they had died by 1841. I found a will of John Kaighin, Kerrowglass, Kirk Michael, 1792. In it he mentions his two eldest daughters, Margaret and Ann and youngest daughter Catherine, as well as his 2 youngest sons, Charles and William and his oldest son and executor John. He mentions his wife, Elizabeth and also mentions John Cannell, husband of his daughter Margaret (see above). It's now coming together. I've got some work to do to figure out who the parents of John Kaighin (family 6750) were, but there is indication that it was Henry Kaighin and Eleanor Gelling. I've got a few more wills to go through. Kerroglass, Kirk Michael was the family farm. Kerrowglass is situated about 2 miles south of Kirk Michael village. I'm not sure why John Jr. left for NY if he inherited Kerrowglass. All 13 of his children were born before leaving. Maybe he left because there wasn't enough room for 13 children and figured he could get enough money to go to NY by selling it. Who knows? His sister Margaret was residing there at the time of her death. However, her husband John Cannell's will shows that he purchased Kerrowglass from another John Cannell. Mentioned in the letter were some of the children of
Margaret Kaighin (sister of Charles, the letter writer) and John Cannell
(they had five daughters and no sons).
One of their daughters, Margaret married another Charles Kaighin
(family 11900 in my database). This
Charles, best I can tell is unrelated.
This Kaighin family had several sons, including two who emigrated to Moving on to the hike Charles describes in his
letter. He visits Cowley Crammag in
Lezayre (John Cowley's place). This is
situated halfway between |
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Submissions, corrections or suggestions gratefully received by the editor at kaighin@iname.com Copyright 2004, 2005, Gregory D. Kaighin, All rights reserved |
