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 [].

This letter was written in 1841 by my third-great-grandfather, Charles Kaighin, and addressed to his nephew, also named Charles Kaighin, in New York City. The younger Charles was the son of the elder Charles’s brother John and John’s wife, Eleanor Cannell. Around 1826, John and Eleanor emigrated from the Isle of Man with eight of their thirteen children, whose ages ranged from one to twenty-five. The family settled at 653 Water Street, in the area now known as Lower Manhattan.

The financial means by which John supported so substantial a migration remain uncertain. Passage for the family would have cost approximately £50 to £70 in 1824, the equivalent of roughly $10,000 in 2026. More significant than the expense of the journey, however, was the property John left behind. He had been the tenant landholder of the quarterland farm of Ballaquine in Kirk German parish and of the adjoining farm of Middle Kerrowglass in Kirk Michael. Before emigrating, he settled both holdings upon his eldest son, John, who remained on the Isle of Man.

The letter’s recipient lived near the family’s original Water Street residence. The 1840–41 New York City directory identifies him as a ship’s carpenter residing at 429 Cherry Street; by the time the letter arrived in late 1841, he was living at 662 Cherry Street. He was married and had a son, Charles Henry, born about 1835. Charles died on 25 July 1842, approximately nine months after receiving the letter.

The letter subsequently passed to Charles’s youngest brother, Thomas. Thomas married Mary Dennis and, in the 1890s, moved with her and their surviving children to the San Francisco area. Among them was their daughter Clara, who later married Manxman Edward Corlett. Clara and Edward’s daughter Amelia eventually settled in Reedley, California. Through this line of descent, the letter reached the Reedley Historical Society, later known as the Reedley Historical Museum.

In 2005, museum curator Diana Bulls discovered the letter at the bottom of a box and forwarded it to me.

The following is a transcription of the letter, with the original spelling preserved. Bracketed numbers correspond to the numbered individuals shown in the genealogical chart at the end of this paper.

PAGE 1

To Charles Kaighin ^[1]

Ship write

Cherrey Street No. 662

New York North

Amarica

September 9th 1841

PAGE 2

Loving Nephew ^[1] 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 ^[2] [Lace's] and Nanny ^[3] and every one of them is Grand and lives verry comfortabel and I was at me sistor Chatrin ^[4] I got me brakefast at Cowley cramag and me lunch with Nanny ^[3] and me denner with Bella ^[5] and me tea at my sistor Cathrine ^[4] 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 ^[6] 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 ^[7] my Daughter is for comming to New york for nex spring to try her fortune if she can. And she would be verry glad to have your advise

PAGE 3

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 ^[8] 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 ^[9] is wanting to be remembered to you all But in perticuler to Phillip ^[10], and she would be as glad as anny of them to come if she would know how to get there.

And Jane ^[11] yore Brothers ^[12] 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 ^[7] is thinking of comming with them, there famely is for coming and the[y] live in the one house with us.

For me ^[13] and my old wife ^[14] 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 4

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 ^[14] 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 ^[6] 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 ^[15] your sistor and your sistor Elizabeth ^[16] she was Lementing very much at leving the Island.

So No More at Presant from your Unkel and Aunt

Charles ^[13] and Ellenor ^[14] Kaighin

And send word as soon as this come to you.

Charles Kaighin Bigwell Street Douglas

End

The letter writer, Charles Kaighin, was a son of John Kaighin and Elizabeth Nicholl, whose surname appears in the records under several variant spellings, including Knickol, Crigal, and Knickal. The letter’s recipient, also Charles Kaighin, was a son of John Kaighin and Eleanor Cannell. Eleanor was sixteen days older than the elder Charles. Her husband John, Charles’s brother and likewise a son of John Kaighin Sr. and Elizabeth Nicholl, had died before 1835. John Sr.’s great-great-grandfather acquired Ballaquine before 1619. Middle Kerrowglass had entered the family through his wife Eleanor Cannell’s father, who conveyed the property to her by inheritance in 1614. The cottage at Ballaquine survived until 2016, when it was demolished by the current owners; the cottage and farm buildings at Middle Kerrowglass remain in use as of 2026.

Ballaquine cottage, 2016

John Kaighin and Elizabeth Nicholl represented the fifth generation of Kaighin tenant landholders associated with the adjoining quarterland farms of Ballaquine and Middle Kerrowglass. They had eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood, including the brothers John and Charles discussed above.

Charles married Eleanor Killey in 1807. Of their nine children, only three, Margaret, Catherine, and Charles Jr., survived to adulthood. Eleanor was still living when Charles wrote the letter in September 1841, but she died a little more than a year later.

Margaret later married William Kneal and moved to Liverpool, where she died in 1870. Catherine remained on the Isle of Man, married Robert Roberts, and died there in 1888. Charles Jr. married Margaret Christian in Douglas in 1848. In 1850, the couple moved to Birkenhead, where Charles worked as a carpenter at the Cammell Laird shipyard. They emigrated to Brooklyn in 1852, and Charles subsequently worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In March 1855, Charles Sr. followed his son’s family to New York. He died of dysentery in May of that year and was buried in The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn. By about 1867, Charles Jr., Margaret, and their five surviving children had relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, probably in response to the post–Civil War reduction in work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Cleveland’s substantial shipbuilding industry offered suitable employment, and Charles eventually worked for American Ship Building. Two of his nephews, William and Philip, the brothers of the letter’s recipient, had also moved to Cleveland in the intervening years. In addition, several members of Margaret Christian’s extended family were already living there by 1867.

In the letter, Charles recounts walking from Douglas to Kirk Michael, with a stop at Cowley Crammag, where his niece Elizabeth Cowley als Cannell lived. Elizabeth was a daughter of his sister Margaret. The map below presents an estimated reconstruction of his route.

The reconstructed one-way distance is approximately twenty-two miles rather than the forty miles claimed in the letter. The discrepancy may reflect some measure of exaggeration, perhaps intended to assure his sister-in-law that he remained vigorous and in good health.

Charles operated a small shipbuilding business in Douglas. His references to herring fishing and to his wish to “dabble about sailing” if he reached New York are therefore consistent with his occupation and maritime experience.

So far as the available evidence indicates, neither Margaret nor Catherine emigrated to the United States. Margaret died in England, and Catherine died on the Isle of Man.

The “Jane” identified as “yore Brothers wife” was Jane Kaighin als Creer, the wife of John Kaighin, who had remained on the Isle of Man.

Several individuals and expressions in the letter remain unidentified or unresolved. I have not determined the identities of William Cowley, Bell Quine, Bell’s “master” Dan’l Caine, or John Gell of, or associated with, “enelengey Little London.” Little London is a small settlement approximately three miles southeast of Ballaquine. The meaning of “enelengey” remains uncertain; it may have been a sobriquet, or the name of a property.

A final textual ambiguity occurs in the passage, “…we are yet in the town of Douglas living Jane my wife is often talking….” Charles’s wife was named Eleanor, not Jane. The wording may therefore represent a simple error, or “Jane” may belong to a run-on sentence whose intended punctuation and meaning are no longer clear.

The letter offers a valuable, personal view of family life on both sides of the Atlantic in 1841. It records the continued ties between relatives on the Isle of Man and in New York, while also revealing the economic hopes, occupational considerations, and family connections that encouraged further migration. Charles and, later, his son and his son’s family ultimately crossed the Atlantic, helping to establish the American branch of the family that continues today.

Greg Kaighin, 2 August 2026

Submissions, corrections or suggestions gratefully received by the editor at kaighin@iname.com Copyright 2004-2026, Gregory D. Kaighin, All rights reserved