Item 8 - William Brown Letter, Belfast/New Orleans

c.75pp

Folder of research material by Kerby Miller. Includes transcript from Grimshaw Letters, held in PRONI (T1116) (10pp). Kerby transcript, 1 letter (3pp), and folder of research on possible William Browns in New Orleans at that time. William Brown, New Orleans, writes to Robert Grimshaw, Belfast, of his desire to be again in his company (and that of "the ladies") in Belfast and looking forward to returning home, in a few years from a "swamp in the very head quarters of disease and dissipation" once he has made enough money. Brown has entered into a valuable business with their mutual friend Hugh Cading, establishing a "general Commission house" in a "fertile territory" with a rapidly increasing population as the "vast forests of the west" are being quickly cleared for agriculture and urban settlement. He notes the importance of steam-boats in this endeavour and the rapid increase in trade of cotton and sugar from the state. However, Brown deplores that "Slavery, detested Slavery prevails [...] in this land of freedom where equal rights and emancipation are the theme of every tongue" and concludes with news of other friends in Nashville and Florence, while entrusting this letter to a "true Irishman" James Hopkins, visiting home after amassing a huge fortune here of £3000 per annum. See https://imirce.universityofgalway.ie/p/ms/iiif/17479/view#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-1722%2C-182%2C5987%2C3635

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21/11/2024
18/07/2025