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 |
