The following letter is one of the documents belonging to the Quakers of the Yealand Meeting.
Thomas Cummings went to America in 1728 and settled in Chester, Pennsylvania, a few miles south of Philadelphia on the Delaware River. He is writing to his cousin Edward Cummings of ’Hilderstone nr Yealand’. (The original letter was almost entirely without punctuation. I have punctuated this transcript to make it easier to read and, I hope, grasp the sense of the letter. The last three paragraphs here were one paragraph in the original. Some explanatory notes follow.)
Chester on Delawar 1st mo, the 23d, 1747/8
‘Dear & Loving Cousin I Could not well Omitt this Opportunity by our Dear Friend & Neighbour Jane Hoskins (who is Comeing to visit you in these troublesom times) of Aquainting thee that I and my Family is in a good State of health at present, I hopeing she may finde thee and thine In the Same Enjoyment tho I must own & I doubt not but thou findes it that Age Creeps on apace & brings its Common Attendants along with it, yeat I have been & Still am favoured beyond most Considering my Weakly Constitution. My wife has been often ayling but I hope is now Growing more harty, tho fatt & heavy. I Question not but Ere now thou must have heard that Brother Enoch & Sister Ann is both dead Sometime agoe so that I have none on this Side of the water but the young offspring of my Brothers & Sisters who tho Near & Dear to me yeat Seems Somewhat removed from that Nearness that Appeared amongst us of the Elder Stock; & when I look over the Seas towards you I finde my Self much In the Same Circumstances & I seem like one left after the Vintage to be Gleaned up in time, for which I hope to wait with patience. May those favours Conduce to the leading me on into a more & Intimate Union in Spirrit with the Divine Goodness which is the Center of all our happyness.
Benjamin Bispham & his Good wife is Removed to Mount Holly1 at a Greater Distance from us then formerly So that we Can Seldom hear from them, but I know not but they are both well. I believe he has Got a Considerable Estate, tho I Can hardly be perswaded he is got to a better place for Getting money then where he was. He thinks he is and I wish it may prove So.
Cousin John Cumming is out of his time2, is a good workman I hope likely to Do well. At present he has taken a tour towards New York. His Brother Thomas is not yeat free but is in health So far as I know. We In this part of the world have hitherto been very much favoured with peace dureing this Jangling Warr3. What this Summer may prove I Cannot foresee. We are very much Threatened with an Invasion, tho for what I Can hardly tell. Here is no Great Stock of plunder to Invite them Excepting provision that is plenty here & Scarce with them, but then they have the Oppertunity of taking our Bread & flower at Sea, & that they do not let Slipp, for our Merchants has Suffered a pretty deal; & If they Should undertake to Ruin the Countery & Render us Incapable to Raise it for them or Carry it out, that would be to their Detriment & they must Suffer want, for if they had the Country they Could not raise it themselves So that I am In hopes they will let us alone, Except Some Stragleing Privateers that may do Some Damage here and there where the(y) fall upon the Ihabitants about the Borders of the Sea & River.
Our People (many of them) Seems Uneasie for the Citty of Philadelphia & has proposed to Raise forts & Batterys (tho I think friends keep Clear) but nothing yeat I think is done towards it, at least of any Consequence, and In Order to Strengthen themselves Many have Entered into an Association for mutual defence & Exercises themselves at Sell times4 and has Chosen Captains & Other Officers who has Got Commisions. But I think very few under the Notis of friends has Signed the Association & None that I know of undertakes to Exercise themselves, but the rest has formed themselves Into Companys to a Considerable Nomber, and tho I think they Can do no Good, from the manner of their Establishment, yeat I fear they may do hurt from the knowledge & union of their Strength, in Altering our Assembly by Governing in Elections. I believe heretofore by all that knew us we were looked on as a peaceble harmles people, but If this Go on we are likely to make another Sort of figure &, like Swizerland, become a Colony of Souldiers, without peace; or Some Other Event hapen .(to?). Stop our Career. I pray God may defend us from our Enemy & from (our?)Selves & When I Consider how for a few Righteous persons he would (have?), spared Sodom, I have Some hopes he will Spare us for his Peoples Sa(ke?). If not it is our duty patiently to Endure, knowing this, that tho no afliction be Joyous for the present, yeat there may be in it an Exeeding Weight of Glory. I hope.
Thomas Gawthorp is arrived Ere this. Pray remember my & my wives kinde Love to him & to John Griffeths & his Companion, honest Old Peter, when they Come your way, & If Ebenezer Large Should be your way after this Comes to hand, Give my Dear Love to him. Likewise Remember mine & my wives Kinde Love to William Backhouse, John Lancaster, Sister Jennet Barrow & Sister Eiling Cummings & all their familys. To her that was Ruth Robinson and Sibball Russel, if Living, to Thomas. Beakbain & family and to all our Other Friends, Relations & Aquaintence as If Named & Especially to thy Self, thy wife & Sone, a Large Share of the Best Respects of thy Assured Loving & Wellwishing Friends
Thomas Cunnings & Alice Cummings’
- Mount Holly’, about 100 miles west of Chester. ↩︎
- ‘out of his time’, finished his apprenticeship, unlike his brother who is ‘not yet free’ ↩︎
- his Jangling Warr*, ‘King George’s War’(1745-8), the Colonial arm of Europe’s War of the Austrian Succession. The French did not invade and the Treaty of
Aachen ended hostilities until 1754. ↩︎ - ‘Sell times’, favourable or proper times. ↩︎
Published in Mourholme Magazines Issue 6 Winter 1983