In the winter of 1865, as the Civil War raged across the United States, an emigrant from County Mayo, Ireland sat down in Scranton, Pennsylvania to write to his brother-in-law across the Atlantic.
This letter, anonymously reprinted in the Mayo Constitution newspaper a month later, offers an extraordinary glimpse into the realities of immigration during the mid-19th century.
It speaks to the sacrifices made to bring family members across the ocean, the challenges of currency exchange, and the longing to reunite with loved ones on “these American shores.”
From the Mayo Constitution – February 28, 1865:
We append a letter of a native of this country for some time resident in the States.
A very clear account is presented of how matters stand in the adopted country of the writers.
The Letter
Scranton, January 15th, 1865
Dear Brother-in-law,
I hasten to remit the following account to you. I am paying your passage on a steamer, so you may be getting ready as quick as you can. I cannot send you any money, because gold is so high; you will have to pay L4 for L1.
If you have money enough to come to Liverpool, I have provided for you. After you fare is paid then into the very place I am in, you will write two days before you come, so that I can have a letter before you: so dear Brother-in-law,
I shall think every day a week, and every week a month, until I hear from you when you are coming; but bring me half a dozen of pipes and something to put in them.
Dear brother-in-law, as anxious as I am to see you, Tom Lavelle, wife and family, is more so; and his brother-in-law, Martin Moran, wife and family, is anxious to see you also.
When you are coming, bring some oatmeal with you, and bring a quart of good old ‘Paddys eye water.’ You will bring some cooking vessels along with you; bring all the articles of use you can find about the house.
When you land in New York, be careful about the ticket you get for your box, until you land in to me with it, and I will make the box all right. When you write three days before you leave home, you will send me the name of the steamer, and the captain’s name.
The war is pretty brisk here, but they can’t touch a British subject.
Money, as long as I am in the country, have not seen any gold yet; it is all paper money. I have sent you a letter before this, directed to [blank].
You will let me know how her dear father-in-law, and mother-in-law, is getting on; let her know also how her sister-in-law is; and she tells Michael to have good courage coming out, for she will have two barrels of flour before him.
My dear sister-in-law, do not be uneasy about Michael coming out, for I will do as well for him, as he did for me, when I was at home.
Dear friend, with this I conclude, hoping the day is not far distant, when we shall meet together, and drown our sorrows on these American shores.
Your affectionate
‘Brother-in-law’
Included: Ticket, 60 dollars in currency.
This letter captures the mixture of hardship and hope that defined the immigrant experience in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region in the 19th century.
For families divided by the Atlantic, remitting passage money was often the only way to bring relatives across. Even amid war and financial strain, the promise of reunion and a better future in America outweighed the risks of staying in Ireland in the minds of many Irish immigrants.
Read more about Irish immigration and the Coal Region
“The Irish in Pennsylvania Coal Country” | Interview on the “Transatlantic” podcast
Alexander Campbell | From the shores of Ireland to a gallows in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region
A tribute to a Coal Region labor leader | John Siney
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