Springfield Clark, Co. Ohio.2 | April 17th 1854.
My dear John,
Your welcome favour of Oct. 16th3 was received in due season and met with a hearty welcome although my silence since discredits my assertion. Nevertheless it was so, I will not attempt to appologize for my apparent neglect. I was much pleased to hear from you and learn that although wrapt in your profession that you occasionally gave some thoughts to the days long past and gone. The days of our happy boyhood, when the world seemed all a pleasant scene and anxious for the completion of our manhood. But alas how little did we anticipate the cares and toils of that manhood, the disappointments and sorrows which ever follow in its train. To some of us at least it has brought unrequited toil so far as position and a name extends. Our mutual friend, poor Joe,4 was I fear far from that station which his talents and opportunities would have entitled him to occupy had they been properly applied. Had he lived I have no doubt he would have done well here as I had secured for him an engagement with the Dargan of our Western country.5 But the all-wise fiat of Omnipotence had ordained it otherwise and we must bow in humble submission to his will. Joe’s decease was very melancholy I recollect no rational answer he gave to the many enquiries I made of him on his arrival here. One of my first was to ask for you and your prospects in life. One of the greatest men living was his reply. On further enquiries of a like nature I ascertained his mind was unsettled and so continued until his death. To me the pursuits of life has not been so ungenerous. You are well aware that my ambition was never of a lofty nature. I well recollect a severe rebuke you gave me many years ago when I informed you that I would like to be a guard on a Mail coach and intended applying for it although I doubt whether I had then sufficient interest to obtain so lofty a position. Your ideas had some weight in preventing me from the trial and has often occurred to me since. By some fortunate circumstance I got engaged in the Railroad business in 1845 and have continued in it and with the same company ever since, so that if I have gained nothing more by the connexion we at least ought to have an intimate knowledge of each other by this time. I hold an office which requires a personal attention of at least 10 hours per diem and requited by a salary which enables me to keep my family very comfortable, a large one now, and prevents me from acquiring much hold on this world’s goods as is generally expected of emigrants to this part of the world. I am however making some little progress for myself and in a few instances been of some benefit to my fellow man. How pleasant it is to turn from the preceding incidents to look upon your career when by your own unaided industry and talent to have so soon acquired a position as to enable you to be the colleague of one of the first men of the age whose fame neither ocean or mountain barrier can confine. The name of Faraday is as familiar here as household words, when scientific research is mentioned, and I have no doubt it is so on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains6 and the, used to be far off shores of the Pacific. To see your name coupled with his was a proud day for me and a happy one to learn that you sometimes could lose sight of your station to allow your thoughts to ramble back to the time when we dabbled in the crystal waters of Madlin7 when our highest prize was a small Eel or speckled trout and our most formidable weapon of attack a three [pronged]8 fork whose usefulness in the culinary department was often missed by our respected mothers.9 Well, those days are past and gone and the dark side scarce remembered whilst the sunshine of them often flashes before our vision. I was indeed sorry to hear your health was not good, take care that your too close application to your studies does not prevent you from accomplishing much that you would otherwise complete were you to pay a proper regard to your health. I do not know but what the advice or practise of it would be beneficial to myself and the effects of close attention to my business is very visible. Parties who knew me seven or eight years ago will scarcely recognize me as the same individual, I have got so completely emaciated in flesh, having lost some 50lbs., in weight since my arrival in the States. Notwithstanding, my health is tolerably good but I lack strength to perform the same amount of labour I did a few years ago. I had some idea last winter of dropping into your rooms this Spring and given you a surprise. But a bargain in a house and lot offering improvements made this Spring, made me apply the funds I had set apart for my trip. Perhaps in another season I may accomplish the object with less disadvantage to my pecuniary means. It is an object I have long had in view just to spend a few days in the vicinity of the old home to visit Ballyknockan Moat,10 Maudlin Lug11 and Burgage,12 to greet the few of my old acquaintances who still reside there, and for-ever bid adieu to scenes around which my heart will fondly linger to my latest breath. How happy would I be if I could have you for an associate in that visit. I am well aware of the vast difference which exist between our minds and modes of thought still I cannot but cherish the belief that were we seated on the old familiar Moat or the Grave Stones in Ballynockan for a short period our thoughts and feelings would flow in unison. Perhaps that day may yet arrive, at least I shall always look forward to accomplishing it. I was happy to see notwithstanding your entire devotion to science you did not allow it to crush out all thoughts of a matrimonial nature. You cannot in justice to mankind allow all your talents and acquirements to pass away with yourself but should endeavour to transmit them to a host of Tyndalls. There is plenty of time yet and I know enough of good looks left to secure for you a helpmate in so righteous a cause. So let me hear from you soon that you are thinking seriously of committing yourself in the cause of matrimony. It would I have no doubt add much to your happiness. You know from my experience I ought to be capable of judging in this matter. When writing home to Ireland please give my best respects to Miss Emma13 and tell her I am much indebted to her for the privilege of once more addressing you, for I feared my former neglect would have deprived me of it, and I trust my present delay will not prove an obstacle in future. The fact I had two letters written but they did not suit my views, nor does this, but if I wait until I write one that would I should never send it, and so have concluded to Mail this for what it is worth. If perused by you in some of your leisure moments and provokes a reply it will afford me pleasure.
I have taken the liberty to promise a letter of introduction to you to a friend of mine who will visit London this Summer, J.B. Morris Esq.,14 Agent of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Com.,15 with whom I have transacted business as the agent of a connecting [firm],16 for the last three years. You will find him a gentleman well acquainted with the Eastern Seaboard and Western country. He has been extensively engaged in commercial transactions the last few years and been very successful in his operations which has enabled him to visit Europe, more in the hope of restoring his health, than the eclat17 of a European tour. Any attentions which your engagements will admit of during his stay in London will be extremely gratifying to me. I will be happy to reciprocate the favour if ever in my power. I have promised him much from the interview he will have with you in London, and some of my friends in Dublin.
I will now close with my best wishes for your health and future prosperity in which my Mother18 and Wife19 join. Let me hear from you soon and oblige
Truly yours | William Wright.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/5/1828–1831
LT Typescript Only
William Wright: William Wright (1818/9–92), a childhood friend of Tyndall’s. The two had a long-term correspondence (see Volumes 1, p. 391 and 2, p. 448) and Wright often urged Tyndall to join him in America.
Springfield Clark, Co. Ohio.: a city located in Clark County in southwest Ohio, USA.
Your welcome favour of Oct. 16th: letter missing.
Joe: likely Joseph Payne, who was a civil assistant in the 5th Division, C District of the Irish Ordnance Survey. He joined the Survey on 1 April 1839, the same day as Tyndall, and worked closely with him. On 8 April 1842, he was transferred to the English Survey. He is possibly the Joseph Payne, son of William and Jane Payne, who was born on 5 November 1821 in Dunleckny, County Carlow (see Volume 1, p. 441).
Dargan of our Western country: reference to the western United States, though Dargan is specifically unidentified.
the Rocky Mountains: a major mountain range in North America, located on the western side of the continent.
the crystal waters of Madlin: reference to the Madlin River in County Carlow, Ireland, where Tyndall was born and grew up.
[pronged]: in the typescript LT was not sure what this word might be and suggested ‘pronged (?)’ in the margin.
our respected mothers: Sarah Tyndall (see letter 0916, n. 4). William Wright’s mother is not identified.
Ballyknockan Moat: Ballyknockan was a village located in County Wicklow, in northern Ireland. Likely a reference to Maudlin Moat, near Ballyknockan, which was a rath or ‘enclosure of roughly circular form made with a strong earthen wall, and originally serving as a fort and place of residence’ (S. Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate, Market, and Post Towns. Parishes, and Villages, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions, 2 vols [London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837], vol. 2, p. 695).
Maudlin Lug: misspelling of lough, or lake. Maudlin Lough was likely a lake or water feature near Ballyknockan that later became part of the Poulaphouca Reservoir, or Blessington Lakes.
Burgage: Burgage Castle, located in County Wicklow, in northern Ireland.
Miss Emma: Emma Tyndall (1817–1904), Tyndall’s sister, whose education he encouraged. She does not appear to have married and later in life suffered from a mental illness, which was manifested as an extreme form of religiosity.
J.B. Morris Esq.: John B. Morris.
the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Com.: The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Company was a major railway company in Ohio from 1832 until 1881; it was renamed the Sandusky, Dayton and Cincinnati Railroad Company in 1858 (Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads & Telegraphs of Ohio, For the Year Ending June 30, 1880 [Columbus: G. J. Brand & Co., 1881], p. 496–99).
[firm]: in the typescript LT inserted ‘firm(?)’ here.
eclat: reputation, social distinction, or renown; often used in a disparaging manner during the nineteenth century (OED).
Mother: see n. 9.
Wife: Sarah Wright, née Neale/Neill (1815–88), who was from a prosperous family in Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. She and William Wright married on 7 February 1841 and emigrated to America in early March 1841.
Please cite as “Tyndall0921,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on