My dear Josephine,

Thank you very much for your great interesting letter; when it came the place here was much upset with the presence of workmen and when we got rid of them we immediately went for a month to Portrush; so the time easily passed. I am sorry of the delay and hasten to make good. What you tell us of yourself and your family—for it is now an extensive one—most interesting. It is rather belated now perhaps to say how grieved were for you at the time you lost your husband;[1] but mind you fifty years happy companionship was a good “innings”, albeit it did not extend into extreme old age for either of you. Then there was the untimely accidental passing of Adelaide’s husband—not of course referred to in your letter—Please do not think because we did not express our feeling to the sufferers on these occasions that our minds were undistressed.

The great Texas disaster [2] caused us mental uneasiness, it occurred about the time you had said in your letter that Fred and Betty were planning to go there for the completion of Fred’s university course in Engineering. We hope the arrangements were successfully made and that that he is well lanched in the final studies for his degree.

You enquire about Alexandra;[3] she was always a gentle creature, she has not, I fear, enjoyed, in her married life, all the happiness and tranquility her friends could wish for her. We have not heard from her for a long time. Isa wrote to her last from Co. Down but no reply came; her address then was—Mrs. W. Elliott, 15 Colenso Place,[4] Eastbourne Rd., St. Austell, Cornwall.

Yes dear Josephine when we had had our fill of farming experiences in Co. Down, before they had carried us altogether beyond our financial depth, and while the going was still fairly good we sold up,[5] came here and are satisfied; we did not, to be sure, find a place ready to sit down in; we stored our furniture in Belfast, put workmen into the house, went into “digs” for a couple of months; have had something going on much of the time since; now, I am happy to say, there seems to be not much that I can’t myself attend to at leisure.

We have made quite a lot of friends here many of whom Isa knew, or their connections in her earlier years, and through them, others; Isa is of course quite capable of making friends on her own merits (and of course all her friends are mine too)! As for me I have always been somewhat of an _____,[6] made not many friends or lasting acquaintances; however you will be interested when I tell you I seem to have made a friend here on my own, Mr. William Forgrave, at eighty married a Derry girl, thirty-eight; well with regard to the friendship between Mr. Forgrave and me, if the course of nature runs true, unhappily, he is likely to quit the duet first. He tells me that as a boy he was taught by our Aunt Whiteside.[7] Well this friend the first time we met, said, do you know Garvagh? I said I knew people who lived there; did you know anyone named Sharkey?

Yes that was my Mother’s maiden name and Alexander Sharkey was her father; he then said have you ever been to Garvagh? No; well you and I will go there one day. That’s six months ago; well he and I were in Garvagh yesterday; a most delightful, great big, shaggy, virile, informative old fellow Forgrave is; and what a perfect Irish Summer day. We met the man who now owns the house where mother was born, he knew grandfather [8] well, used to buy milk and butter in his shop.

We looked at the old house; you may perhaps remember what it was like; it is much the same now—but converted into two cottages—a little long two storey house with an arched gateway under the last upstairs window and as my companion said, nothing to be ashamed of! No, I replied I don’t feel I would be so anyway. I went down beside the river that flows by the foot of the garden and saw children tickling trout, as mother once told me she used to.[10] Water was low in the river, and I crossed it on the big stepping stones. Garvagh is a very much nicer village than I had in imagination pictured it; no squalor anywhere, clean, good houses, and surrounded by really lovely country.

Samuel Elder[11] of Ballyness called one day when we were at Portrush, left a message with our next door neighbour; we wrote and made an appointment to go and see him one day; he met us at Limavady and took us to his place in his car; perhaps you remember uncle Joseph’s house [12]—it has now an upper storey, otherwise the place is very much as you perhaps remember it; Samuel and the daughter still with him [13] we like very much indeed, he has become quite a big well looking, I might say, aristocratic looking man and a very good host, with a great fund of interesting and amusing stories; he seems to be prosperous; his daughter is very capable and amiable, Samuel is fortunate to have her, and I should think she intends to with him.


Willie Whiteside [14] and his wife have been here several times he is another of the prosperous ones and has several sons in good way of business.

Wil’mina has been here a couple of times, we expect to see her again before she goes on holiday to Inverness. We see quite a lot of Isa’s sisters, they have been here many times; they are great travellers and we sometimes see them at the railway station here passing through.

We hear occasionally from Robert he seems to be happy and content.[15]

Isa and I are well and happy and enjoy life in our own quiet way.

With love and good wishes to your and your vast family, from us both, and hope you will write again.

Your affectionate brother
Samuel

NOTES:

1. Just a tad late! Charles George Brandon died in 1944! [Return to Letter]
   
   
2. The Texas City Disaster, 1947, ISBN 0-292-77723-X, By Hugh W. Stephens: "This is the best documented look at the Texas City disaster ever done." —Robert B. Fairbanks, Associate Professor of History, University of Texas at Arlington.
   
   “On April 16, 1947, a small fire broke out among bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in the hold of the ship Grandcamp as it lay docked at Texas City, Texas. Despite immediate attempts to extinguish the fire, it rapidly intensified until the Grandcamp exploded in a blast that caused massive loss of life and property. In the ensuing chaos, no one gave much thought to the ship in the next slip, the High Flyer. It exploded sixteen hours later. The story of the Texas City explosions—America's worst industrial disaster in terms of casualties—has never been fully told until now. In this book, Hugh W. Stephens draws on official reports, newspaper and magazine articles, personal letters, and interviews with several dozen survivors to provide the first full account of the disaster at Texas City.
   
   Stephens describes the two explosions and the heroic efforts of Southeast Texans to rescue survivors and cope with extensive property damage. At the same time, he explores the disaster occurred, showing how a chain of indifference and negligence made a serious industrial accident almost inevitable, while a lack of emergency planning allowed it to escalate into a major catastrophe. This gripping, cautionary tale holds important lessons for a wide reading public.”
   
   Hugh W. Stephens is a member of the Political Science Department and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Houston.
   
   An interesting and detailed account of the Texas City Disaster, including photographs, may be found at http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html. [Return to Letter]
   
   
3. Alexandra is Alexandria Elder Elliott, generally called Daisy. Robert Elder Elliott was disowned by her father for marrying Will Elliott. I was never clear on exactly why this was but got the impression that it was because Will Elliott was career army. The name Elliott is associated with several army rolls in N. Ireland and after they were wed Daisy and Will lived in England. Their father’s disapproval of Daisy’s spouse does not seem to have prevented the siblings from staying in touch with their sister, although, at the time this letter was written it is obvious that frequent communication was not the rule of the day. [Return to Letter]
   
   
4. This address is not at all clear and could be 15 Colmso Place or possibly Colenro Place. [Return to Letter]
   
   
5. This would seem to indicate that Isabel Hill Elder and Samuel owned a farm somewhere in Co. Down for a time. I got the impression that Samuel Elder was a surveyor, which means that he had a good technical education. Isabel was and is well know in the Culdee movement as a prolific author. She was a literary and well educated lady. It is a mystery to me why they would attempt farming when it is fairly apparent that neither of them had any talent or vocation in that direction. [Return to Letter]
   
   
6. This is very difficult to make out, the original word appears to be Isliaelmite OR Ishaelmite. The second ‘i’ was struck out and an arrow indicates that the ‘m’ belongs after the first ‘i’—which would make the word either Islimael OR Ishmaelite. As Islimael makes no sense at all, I think that it is Ishmaelite. The Ishmaelites were nomadic people living in the Nabatean peninsula. According to the Bible they were descended from Ishmael the son of Hagar and Abraham. Ishmael was Isaac’s half-brother. Hagar and Ishmael were abandoned in the desert on Sarah’s urging after the birth of Isaac. Ishmael is also a character in the novel Moby Dick. How this relates to not making many friends or lasting acquaintances I don’t know but the allusion was evidently clear enough that Samuel did not feel it needed explanation. [Return to Letter]
   
   
7. This Aunt Whiteside is most probably the daughter of Maria Sharkey and William Alexander Sharkey. Or she may be the wife of their son. Alternatively, Aunt Whiteside may be Maria Sharkey herself, and therefore Samuel and Josephine’s great-aunt, sister of their Grandfather Alexander Sharkey. Maria Sharkey Whiteside was daughter of Unknown Sharkey and Betty (or Elizabeth) Craig. Maria Sharkey was born abt. 1842 and died 1916. She married William Alexander Whiteside 26 Feb 1877. The marriage took place in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. Maria and William are buried beside her brother, Alexander Sharkey, and his wife Jane Marshall, in the burying ground of the Main Street Pres. Church, Garvagh, Co. Londonderry. [Return to Letter]
   
   
8. Alexander Sharkey. [Return to Letter]
   
   
9. The picture of the grocer’s on the main street of Garvagh was taken by Tira Brandon-Evans when she visited in 2000. There is no reason to believe that this is the same shop kept by Alexander Sharkey, but it is typical of grocer’s shops one finds in small towns all over rural Ireland and serves as a good illustration of Alexander Sharkey’s shop where he sold milk and butter. [Return to Letter]
   
   
10. From this it is clear that the home was located on the Agivey River which flows through Garvagh. [Return to Letter]
    
    
11. Samuel Alexander Elder, b. 1883, Ballyness, Dungiven, Co. Londonderry, d. 1962 Ballyness, m. Jeannie Lane Swan. Samuel Alexander is the father of the Wilson cousins I visited while in N. Ireland in 2000. [Return to Letter]
    
    
12. Joseph Elder, b. Drumagosker, Co. Londonderry, later moved to Ballyness. Married Rebecca Steel in 1861. Joseph and Rebecca are Samuel Alexander’s parents. Joseph Elder is the brother of Robert Elder of Inch. [Return to Letter]
    
    
13. The daughter referred to is Lil Elder. She remained at Ballyness until her older brother married and took over at the farm. This made it possible for Lil to emigrate to America where she met and married George Horton. They returned later to N. Ireland and lived in Limavady. Lil Horton and Josephine Adelaide Cross (Dozier) Kelly maintained a correspondence over several years. I visited with Lil briefly in 2000. She was, at that time, widowed and living in a retirement home. She is a lively and cheerful lady and I liked her very much, as did Uncle Samuel. [Return to Letter]
    
    
14. This is probably William Alexander Whiteside b. abt. 1877. Son of William Alexander Whiteside and Maria Sharkey. William the younger married Martha Wright abt. 1904. They had three sons: William Alexander Whiteside, Robert Marshall Whiteside, and Samuel Sharkey Whiteside. [Return to Letter]
    
    
15. Robert Elder, b. 18 Apr 1871, Inch Island, Donegal, Ireland; d. 22 Oct 1948, Driver, Sasketchewan, Canada. Robert is brother of Samuel and Josephine. He married twice and had three children—one son and two daughters: Robert Elder, Alice Earnestine Elder, and Kathleen Elder. Since Alice Earnestine is the name of a sister and since there are no Kathleens among the Elders it is possible that the she is named for her mother or grandmother. [Return to Letter]