Fermoy1 | Feb. 4th 1842.
My dear John
I am sure you will be surprised to find my letter dated from this. I came down here yesterday with Miss James2 who was coming to see her sister Mrs Little3 and will stop here until Monday morning next when we return home. I would be very glad to see you if you could come down. If not write by return of post I would have written to you long ago only I heard that you had left Kinsale and consequently I did not know where to direct. I know you will say I am never without an excuse but I am not the only girl that knows how to make one. We are still thinking of going to America. I expect Ballybromwell4 will not belong to my father against5 I reach home. We expect to leave Ireland in April. I hope that you will come to the Co.6 Carlow before then – If you cannot see me here send me a long letter and a great deal of news and don’t forget to let me know how you leave all your little girls. You need not fear my telling Rachel.7 I had great sport coming down here, we travelled on a jaunt car8 and were obliged to stop one night in a village 7 miles at this side of Clonmell.9 There was great preparations there for a patron10 the next day the patron was to be for making up matches coming up to Shroff.11 I must have been very unfortunate in being there a day too soon or I might have a chance of a Co. Tiperary Irishman. There is no help for misfortune. I saw Wm. Chapman12 coming through Clonmell. He was very glad to see me and made me promise to stop with him a day on my return. He and his wife look uncommonly well and have a nice place. He had £100 a year from Mr. Hughes.13 His employer died about one hour before I reached Clonmell I suppose the business will be carried on by his sons.14 I am anxious to hear how Wm., will be circumstanced. Pardon great haste. Let me either see you or hear from you before I hear this. Direct to me at Mr Little’s
I am ever your | affectionate cousin | Deb. McAssey
RI MS JT/1/11/3759
LT Transcript Only
Fermoy: a town in County Cork, about 20 miles north of Cork.
Miss James: not identified.
Mrs Little: Sarah Little (née James), who had married the Fermoy coach agent James Little on 22 October 1840 (Irish Church Records).
Ballybromell: a village in the parish of Fenagh, County Carlow.
against: before (OED).
Co.: County.
Rachel: probably Rachel McAssey (1822–1908), Deborah’s younger sister.
jaunt car: a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by a single horse.
Clonmell: Clonmel is a market town in County Tipperary.
patron: a feast day of a patron saint, especially in Ireland (OED); it was presumably the patron for Saint Brigid, on 1 February.
Shroff: a dialect word, seemingly specific to Tipperary, for Shrovetide, the three days before the beginning of Lent (see [O. J. Burke], ‘The Bridegroom of Barna’, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 48 (1840), pp. 680–704, on p. 699). Shrove Tuesday, which in 1842 fell on 8 February, was a traditional day for Irish weddings because of the prohibition on celebrations during Lent; see letter 0047.
Wm. Chapman: possibly a relation of Marianne Chapman; see letter 0033, n. 6.
Mr. Hughes: probably Thomas W. Hughes, owner of a mill on the quay in Clonmel.
the business will be carried on by his sons: In 1846 there were corn merchant businesses in Clonmel called Thomas Hughes and Son, Bridge Street, and Thomas and James Hughes, Quay Street (Slater’s).
Please cite as “Tyndall0121,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0121