Accounts From Two Irish Settlers

Below is the link to the website where I have chosen to base my blog on this week.

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/growth/text4/irishpennsylvania.pdf

These are examples from two Irish Settlers, Robert Parke and Francis Cample.

The first example is a letter by Parke to his sister back in Ireland. Parke moved with his parents and several siblings in 1724 and writes to his sister about the wonder that is America.

"hoping it may find you all in Good Health, as I with all our family in Generall are in at this present writing, & has been Since our Arival, for we have not had a days Sickness in the family Since we Came in to the Country, Blessed be god for it, my father in Particular has not had his health better these ten years than since he Came here his Ancient age considered"

I believe that this may be the most telling of this example as already, even though the family have been there a year, they are able to report that they have not suffered from ill health unlike so many of the other settlers did. Later on in the letter he dismissed the rumour that they were not happy in America and in fact encourages his sister and brother-in-law to join them. Parke goes onto to describe the prices of items compared to Ireland and the difference in the ways of life such as clothes;

"Trowsers which are breeches & Stockings all in one made of Linnen they are fine Cool wear in Summer"

Parke was obviously one of the luckier early settlers as he seems to be enjoying his new life in America without the hardship that some of the others had to face.


My second example is journal entries from Cample's early beginnings in America. He has a different view on life and his entries are somewhat livlier too. He made the move to the USA and went on to become a successful merchant, farmer and land agent.

I'd firstly like to write about what attracted him to move to America in the first instance which I believe to be the attraction to alot of people;

"It is not the grandeur of rocks, cascades and romantic glens, but it is the beautiful panorama of forest and plain spread out in all their beauty which meets you everywhere, and which will, at no very far distant day, become the happy home of intelligent, God-fearing people, when the savage shall have passed forever from its borders. This is the kind of grandeur which surrounds me, and this is what attracted me hither."

He describes America as if it were a storybook, describing the vastness of the country and the beauty of his surroundings- a deciding factor if ever there was one. It is perhaps my last example however that turns the story book back into a reality, as the common dislike for the Native Americans or 'savages' is detail in his last enrty;

"A quarrel occurred last night out at the Spring amongst a party of drunken Indians, during which, four of their cabins were set on fire, and burned to the ground. One of the Indians, named Bright Star, a desperate man, was seriously injured in the fight, and will likely die of his wounds. I saw him not an hour ago, and considered him then in a dying condition. These savages will give us trouble yet."

A tragic situation, even if it was brought on by themselves through drink. Cample seems to keep a neutral attitude towards the situation, but concludes that as the Native Americans have caused trouble on one occasion, it will happen again and they should be wary. Causing a furtyher rift in a already frosty relationship.

Two very different tales from people who originate from similar backgrounds, providing a very interesting and telling read.