Home Biographies History Places Documents Letters Family Tree Misc. Contact NEW Blog

 

This letter was transcribed thanks to the considerable efforts of Wendy Jack. The footnotes were prepared by myself and then verified (and corrected or amplified) by Wendy. Many of the letters are the property of Betty Whiteside and/or Wendy Jack. Any researchers who wish to make further use of them should check with them first.
Sharon Oddie Brown, modified June 8, 2005

 

                                                           Derryvalley [1] ,
April 28th, 1893.

 

My dear Tom, [2]

          You will be surprised to hear that I am married.  I suppose you have not heard of the minister [3] who came to Derryvalley after Mr. Reid [4] left.  Well he is leaving Derryvalley now and going out to California and I am going with him.  We sail (D.V.) Friday next from Derry in the "Anchoria".  We are going out to Jack [5] till my good man gets a congregation.  I feel it very much leaving the old home where I have been for so many years & have so many ties & friends.  Poor James [6] will only have Miss M.Cready [7] to housekeep for him now, and she, poor body, is getting very old and frail.  I was very glad to have a few lines from your wife [8] a few days ago.  It was very kind of her to write & tell me how you all are and about the wee bairns.  So you have three now, little ones to train & care for  It must make you very thoughtful and earnest.  I am sorry, dear, your health is so far from good.  I often thought of you and wondered how you were. I wish you would write to me to California.  My address will be Mrs. Whiteside

    c/o Mr. John McCullagh [9] Eureka, Humboldt Co., California.  U.S.A. Box 161.

I shall be very lonely leaving the old home.  I do not know what news to tell you about it is so long since I wrote to you.  I was down in Cremore [10] with the Reids [11] saying good bye today.  Mary [12] has had a busy time sick nursing lately.  Two of the children took [Scarletnia] & then when they were better two more took influenza & now Howard [13] is ill with inflammation of the brain.  There are four of Mary's boys in America [14] & one in Hong Kong [15] , all getting on well, & still seven children at home four girls and three boys.  Andy [16] & Maggie [17] are living in Slieveroe [18] and have three daughters now, Sarah [19] , Mary [20] & Elizabeth [21] by name.  James [22] is the only one sticks by the old place.  Home rule is greatly talked about here now but I do hope Ireland may never get it.

Letter from Sarah (McCullagh) Whiteside [23]


[1] Derrivally, Co. Monaghan

[2] Thomas MCCULLAGH was born in Ballybay 1854, married in Melbourne 1885 to Sarah IRWIN, and died 1920 in Mentone, Australia. He was the son of Thomas McCULLAGH and Sarah MCCULLAGH of Derrivalley, Co. Monaghan.

[3] William Sherlock WHITESIDE (1860-1916) and Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH were married April 13 1893 and their first child was born six months later.

[4] Rev. William REID, husband of Mary MCCULLAGH

[5] John MCCULLAGH, brother of Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH

[6] James McCullagh – brother of Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH

[7] Miss Mary MCCREADY  (d. 1896, living at Drumuck Cottage) – their governess, long in the family

[8] Sarah IRWIN (1858-1923 Australia).

[9] John MCCULLAGH, brother to Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH

[10] Cremore, Co. Down

[11] William  REID and Mary REID née MCCULLAGH

[12] Mary REID née MCCULLAGH, sister to Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH

[13] Howard REID son of  William  REID and Mary REID née MCCULLAGH

[14] Presumably these were George, Thomas, Robert and James. Andrew would only have been 14 yrs old at this time. Although the birth dates of Mollie, Frank and Jeannie are not known at present, I assume they were born after the family left Ballibay in 1881, as their baptism were not recorded in the register with those of the other children. This would put Frank out of contention as one of the brothers in America.

[15] The son of William REID and Mary MCCULLAGH who was in Hong Kong was probably Willie. Sarah Whiteside recorded in her Daily Remembrance Book for 4 Apr 1894 that Willie had visited them in California on his way home from China. Another letter mentions that he is in Yokohama. It is possible that he was with HSBC.

[16] Andrew Bradford MCCULLAGH brother of Sarah (McCullagh) Whiteside

[17] Margaret (Jackson) (Reid) McCullagh, wife of above.

[18] Slieveroe, Co. Monaghan. Home of REIDs for some generations and then Margaret JACKSON who married first REID and then MCCULLAGH.

[19] Sarah MCCULLAGH (1889-Abt. 1965)

[20] Mary McCullagh b. July 17, 1890, therefore 3 years old at time of letter. She married Thomas Dare JACKSON and died within days of the birth of her third child.

[21] Elizabeth MCCULLAGH (1892-1972), she married Wilson GRAHAM and lived in Co. Monagahan.

[22] James McCullagh – brother of Sarah (McCullagh) Whiteside Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH

[23] Sarah WHITESIDE née MCCULLAGH (1852-1939)

 

Site Map | Legal Disclaimer | Copyright

© 2006-2023 Sharon Oddie Brown