Three Letters from English Immigrants in Early Republic Era New York City Discussing Class Differences, the 1807 Embargo, Houses that “might be made delightful if the inhabitants had any taste”, and the Many Individuals Enslaved by Local Merchants.
New York and (likely) Connecticut: 1795–1809. Three letters (1795, 1795, and 1809) totalling approximately eleven pages; the larger two letters measuring approximately 7 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches and the smaller (1809) approximately 7 ¾ x 9 ½ inches. 1809 letter Near Fine; earlier letters having some damage especially at folds and margins intersecting with text, very good plus. Overall excellent. Item #List3525
Three letters from English immigrants to the United States sent to their cousin “Miss Gifford” in Duffield, Derbyshire. The earliest letter, from A. Bakewell, describes a stroll along the Battery and compares the classes of people in the two countries:
“[My son Jon’s] favorite walk as well as mine, is the battery, it is a delightful [?] it commands a very fine view of all the ships that come up to this harbour, the opposite shores of Long Island Governors Island, & Staten Island which are very fertile one very small Island in the water, with a number of small boats & barges which are generally sailing [?] is extremely pleasant, the Idea that sometime or other I may see the ship arrive which will contain my beloved Husband, renders it peculiarly interesting to me [...] the more I see of this country the more I like it; the lower classes of people are much better informed & from the high price of wages, enabled to live more comfortably than in England, it is very uncommon to see a beggar here: one very great inconvenience is the badness of servants, they are ten thousand times worse than in England [...] I could get some that is decent here, the manner of the ladies here is much more vulgar than the women in England & they were generally very ignorant, there are however some exceptions [...].” (February 1795)
The writer’s husband is William Bakewell, who writes to Miss Gifford in 1809 from what is probably Tolland, Connecticut (which he renders as “Tolland Ford”), reporting on the state of the economy and the 1807 Embargo Act:
“I fear the intercourse between this country & England will be stopped for a time [...] during the continuation of this Embargo which has caused a total stagnation of business [...] I have since seen Mr Kinder (a friend of my Brother’s) & who for some time (his home being in the country) boarded with my Brother’s family in New York. He assures me that with respect to everything he observed there was as much economy as ever compatible with decency & that their table in particular was furnished in a more frugal stile than that of any Merchants he was acquainted with. [...] I hope to hear from you as frequently as is practicable while the communication is [?] between the two countries for this government will I expect pass a law to stop the intercourse with both England & France until they cease to capture American vessels. [...] [My son] Thomas is gone to NYK to wind up his adventure to New Orleans. He had 5000 dollars in silver with him. In the present uncertain state of mercantile affairs it is doubtful whether Mr Kinder will like to make any further adventure.” (January 1809)
Lastly, a 1796 letter from another cousin, a sister of “A.”, opens by relating her arrival to New York City during an outbreak of yellow fever:
“the worst of all was as soon as we [missing] land which we had so often wish’d to see the Pilot came on Board & told us of the fever being so bad at N York & that every Body that could had left it. I did not know in what situation I should find my Brother & his family or whether I should find them at all, but when we came to Anchor a Boy [ca]me on board & told us my Brother was at Philadelphia [...] my sister & Thomas was at long Island just [missing] the East river. [...] we staid a fortnight at the enormous expence of 30 Dollars a week for our family, we then came to [New] York the sickness being rather abated we could not get a House or part of one on long Island they being all engag’d at very high prices to people who had fled from [New] York & for miles round there was not a room to be had. We had thought of going to Albany but there was so many people gone with goods that we suposed the Market was full, my Brother was not return’d, we at last took this House at a very great rent till May it being a very Healthy situation we came here the following week & have been here ever since.”
The yellow fever epidemic hit New York City in 1795, and surged several times, prompting the city to finally create a Board of Health in 1805. This is not the author’s only complaint about New York as compared to England:
“the Country what I have seen of it is not so pleasant as England there being no hedges all posts & rail fences appears strange to us, there are a many very good houses 1 2 & 3 miles round this city which are very pleasant they are built of wood & painted white which looks very pretty & might be made delightful if the inhabitants had any taste for gardening, but that the Americans & Dutch have no notion of, I could be very comfortable at [New] York if we was in a way of getting a good deal but we have been spending a great deal and getting but little indeed we have sold most of our goods but the scarcety of cash occation’d by the Fall trade being spoilt with the Fever oblig’d every body to take Bills at a longer date than is usual so that we have rec’d very little there is a vast many English here I have met with some very agreeable acquaintance[s] which I shall be sorry to leave [...]” (March 1796)
She also comments that “there is many Blacks here some of the Merchants keep 8 or 10 of them & I believe they are the best servants”. Though New York City had been home to a large community of freed African Americans following the British Army’s 1779 Philipsburg Proclamation, most of them had been resettled in Nova Scotia after the Revolutionary War. The author was more likely observing enslaved people, as New York did not pass its gradual abolition law until 1799 and emancipation was not completed until 1827.
Of interest to historians of immigration to early republic New York City.
Price: $950.00