| After leaving Nancy we came
to Chalons, then already a big town. After this we came by the edge of Paris, from there
along the Seine river to Rouen. Here we saw our first ships and crossed the Seine on a
bridge. The ships we saw there were all sizes up to three-masted schooners. As we neared
the mouth of the Seine, the road went along the top of a hill; we could look down the hill
and see the ships going up and down the river. Even a few small steamboats were there. Embarked at Le Havre
We got on the ship at Havre de
Grace [Le Havre]. We embarked on a three-masted ship belonging to Boston. All American
ships had a stripe of red, white and blue about the width of your hand painted around
them.
We were 55 days on the sea. Each one had to have a specified amount to eat with him or
he couldn’t come. Sea biscuit, rice, and potatoes were main articles. Sea sickness
bothered a great many, some only a day while others the whole trip. We were on the verge
of starvation. Many ate their provisions before getting very far. As the captain would not
leave them starve, he divided. The rations got so low that each one was only allowed one
quart of water a day, and a sea biscuit the size of a dinner plate. These biscuits were as
hard as can be, and we had to grate them so as to be able to eat them.
Some days we would sail right along,
then the next day we would be carried back again. We went through one storm, and finally
reached Chesapeake Bay. We were between eight days and two weeks going up Chesapeake Bay,
and then had to anchor in the middle of the stream at Baltimore and were quarantined.
There was only one young man sick who was about 21 years old. The captain was permitted to
let us land after 12 o’clock the next day.
Walked from Baltimore
After being in Baltimore one day we
left on foot for Hagerstown which is 72 miles west of Baltimore. Here my brother Philip
had come before. One mile from Hagerstown there lived a family by the name of Middlecoffs.
I worked for them for seven months at $2.00 per month, and brother Dan worked for the
renter of the farm for $5.00 a month. He was three years older than me and could do more.
These people treated us very nice and were very kind, except for an orphan whom they
had taken to raise treated us rather rough. Margaret Grimes was her name and outside of
her I never received a cross word. I then worked for a doctor as errand boy for $3.00 a
month. I had enough of it in six weeks and told my father I would not stay there. The
doctor heard that I intended to leave and tried to coax my father to bind me to him until
I would be twenty-one years old, but father would not do it at all. After that I worked on
a farm here and there for 50 to 75 cents a day.
[ Back
] [ Next ] [ Up ] [ New Search
] |