Posted by Richard N. Heywood, great grandson of Martha Spence
Robert Spence, Extracted verbatim from the Journal of Martha
Spence entitled,
Martha Spence & J. N. Heywood Diaries and Poems
Book 3 which is in possession of
Richard N. Heywood. The Diary is written
in the first person handwritten by Martha Spence, Robert’s sister.
Was born in the city of Dublin on the 8th of March 1812. My father married my mother September
1806. I believe I was their fourth child. My mother’s first child named
Godfrey, died in infancy. Second child named Mary and third Robert who were
older than myself.
. . .
When my sister Mary was about
18 months old (when my mother was in her confinement of my brother Robert) the
first part of March . . .
. . .
My brother Robert was born
Feb 25, 1811 and my mother’s health being such that she could not nurse or have
the care of him he was given to nurse to a woman of the name of Gregg, an
uncultivated mind & vulgar habits, my brother when an infant was of such a
sober cast that this nurse of his used to remark to my mother “What a
sensible lad mam”. I was born one year the following March on the eighth
day & was handed over to this same woman . . .
. . .
The first duties I entered
upon, was to wait on others in the store and as my brother Robert commenced at
the same time we made quite an appearance and were commonly termed Lilipution
Shop Keepers. When we commenced selling goods we had to stand on stools to be
high enough with the counter to wait on customers.
. . .
They (Martha’s sister, Hannah
and Anna Maria) were put to a boarding school in a town called Baldriggan whose
proprietor was “Mrs. Steward” there was also in this town a School for Young
Gentleman whose Proprietor was the Rev Mr Fenton where my brother Robert had
spent one year.
. . .
In the year 1830 my sister
Mary died in the town of Lusk 11 miles north of the city of Dublin, where she
had been placed a few years previous under the care of an Aunt of my fathers
whose husbands name was Molony. As this was the first material break in our
family we felt it most severely tho considered a blessing to her who died and
us who lived She had numbered 23 years in idiocy and died as if going to sleep.
At this time my father and brother Robert were in London where my brother spent
a year to perfect himself in the Ivory turning business and after he returned
he commenced business for himself and my brother Andrew was apprenticed to him.
Shortly after made acquaintance with Mary Jane Cook whose father was in the
same guild as my brother the result of the acquaintance was marriage. We
considered her good looking, a good singer, played a little on the piano but
decidedly unsociable as she visited to our house for a week or two on purpose
to get acquainted.
. . .
When
my brother Robert married his wife her father passed some notes to him as
security for a share of property due to her as a marriage portion. Which notes
he used in his business but when due were not met by his father in --- in which
threw him in apparent difficulties. In having an interview with father to
counsel as to what course he had better take to avoid the said difficulty. I
broke in upon their conversation and suggested to my brother the plan of
starting for the New World as it was commonly called in that day. “Why not go
to America while young and your family small and commence your living in a New
Country where everything is so much more desirable than here?”
My
brother acceded at once to my proposition and never thought otherwise from that
moment and in a subsequent consultation meeting with my father I made the
second move towards the accomplishment of my favorite object Poor Mary Jane
said my brother in allusion to his wife’s trial in being separated as it was
decided that he best go first alone and either come or send for his wife and
child. Poor Mary Jane said I, “I wish it was my case to have a husband to send
for me from America.”
Why not go to America,
husband or not rejoined my brother Father will not let me go, said I. My father
looked up at me over his spectacles (as he was sitting and I was standing
before him) in one of his sternest moods saying If you want to leave your poor
old father in the name of God go!! emphasizing his speech very strongly. I at
once answered You say so now but when the time of my going is at hand you will
not let me go He then repeated what he had said. & from that time resolved
to go.
. . .
In
due time my brother left her and I having arranged that I would accompany his
wife if he sent for her, he left his wife under our care but not to live with
us, as my mother would not consent to her taking her abode permanently as a
member of the family. fearing some little family difficulty may arise and it
wisdom to avoid at once the possibility of such an event by not running in the
way of it she having her parents to look to. I remember well mother arguing the
point with my father and wound up the argument by saying she would extend all
the kindness and care to her in every other way and that she could visit us as
often and as long as she pleased Their little daughter “Elizabeth” was six
weeks old a very beautiful child favoring its mother in this respect
In due time letters arrived
from the other world and as my brother was naturally a ready writer we had many
of them, all very lengthy and enthusiastically in favor of the country and in
due time sent means to pay the expenses of his wife’s trip across the Atlantic,
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Event
Birth: 25 Feb
1812, born about 18 months after his sister Mary
Work with
sister, Martha, in their father’s store
School in
Badriggan, Mrs. Stewards: Spent one
year
Robert in
London—Ivory turning business, London. Brother, Andrew his apprentice after he
returned from London.
Death of
sister, Mary, 1830 (23 years in idiocy) Lusk, Ireland.
Business in
Dublin— Brother, Andrew his apprentice “after he returned” from London.
Married
Mary Jane Cook
Dauther,
Elizabeth—apparently born about 6 week before Robert’s emigration.
Robert,
Emigrated to America
Wife, Mary
Jane, followed a year later
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