Letter home from the emigre from Lancashire to Pittsburgh James Livesey, 31 August 1836, with extensive details on land and labour, especially the textile industry along the Ohio River

FROM LANCASHIRE TO PENNSYLVANIA: A RICH LETTER ON THE PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

4pp., on a bifoliom; 186 x 226mm.

A highly characterful and revealing 'letter home' from a recent emigre to Pennsylvania, James Livesey, imploring his brother John Marsden Livesey to come to America to find his fortune and giving extensive details on land, textiles and labour in and around Pittsburgh, concluding with an account of "the face of the Country".

"Dear Brother," the letter begins, "I take this kind and favourable opportunity of Writing afew [sic] lines to you hoping the[y] will find you and your wife a family in good health as fares me and my wife at the preasent [sic] thanks be to god for the same [...] Dear Brother you insisted(?) me to send the state of trade &c the trade is brisker than it ever was since I came to America their [sic] is work for all hands and well paid[.] A common Labourer can get one Dollar to one Dollar and twentyfive [sic] sents per day mechanic one Dollar twentyfive cents to four or five Dollars per day".

It seems Livesey, however, was particularly interested in the textile industry, because he then launches into a detailed description of the places of textile production and the kinds of materials made:

"There is very little weaving going on in Pittsburgh but down the river 32 miles there is Weaving and up the river about the same distance the[y] cheefly weave what the[y] call Casonets or Kentuckyjane and other strong heavy goods the[y] are not bad to weave and a man will made good wages at the present time there is also Country weaving that weaves for the farmers keep 2 or 3 pair of looms but these weavers should be well skill [sic] in warping niting [knitting] and gating there own it takes near as much time to gate a warp broad and some narrow just to suit the farmers".

There then follows a passage on agriculture, including advice on land prices, with James advising his brother to come, possibly bringing 'Livesey Grandy'. James returns to textiles again, now referring to his brother as James Mersden. Although there might not be work in textiles for James and his family, "their was a weaver came from New York by name Ormston came to Pittsburgh with me he learned to cut nails and he is now making as much as 27 Dollers per week".

Towards the end of the letter James gives his account of "the face of the Country", including details of his travels in the region around Pittsburgh: "the soil is of a light brown and of [a] Clay kind of a soil pretty good for grazing or corn there is a great quantity of fruit trees which makes it look the Better but the largest part of the land is mountains[,] the value of land near Pittsburgh is high they are selling land within two miles of the Town at A thousand Dollers per Acre [...] and in the senter [sic] of the Town or ciry you mast [sic] give two thousand Dollers for a small plot to build one house upon".

The letter concludes with a stark warning for John: "a man and wife and children may all be carefull and Industrious in old England and in there old age die poor but with industrious and carefullness in America in a few years you may point with your finger and say yonders my Cows my Sheep my Horses my Hogs and this is my land I live on[,] this is got by no extry labour only work as you are doing now".

James Livesey is known to have emigrated to have arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1835 (see Filby and Meyer, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index). We have not been able to establish whether other members of the Livesey family followed, as instructed in the letter.

Fair to good condition: somewhat worn and dulled, with faint spotting, but very legible and fully intact.