A Transcription of the Letters Written by Alexander Hopkirk to His Various Relations, Mainly
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A TRANSCRIPTION OF THE LETTERS WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER HOPKIRK TO HIS VARIOUS RELATIONS, MAINLY IN AMERICA
Transcribed from copies and annotated by Graeme Glass, Havelock North, New Zealand May 2007.
INTRODUCTION.
Alexander Hopkirk was the youngest son of William Hopkirk (1781 – 1854) a shoemaker of Gattonside, Roxburghshire and his wife Isabella Home.(1783 – 1857).
William and Isabella’s family comprised one daughter and seven sons namely:
ElizabethBorn 1804Died at sea in North Atlantic abt 1843
JamesBorn 1806Died of Smallpox, Scotland 1841
JohnBorn 1809Died Lockridge, Iowa. USA 1879
WilliamBorn 1811Died Lockridge ???
DavidBorn 1814Died New York USA 1851
Robert.Born 1816Died Wellington. NZ 1900
Walter. Born 1821Died Colorado Abt1895Alexander. Born 1823 Died Wellington. NZ 1907.
John and William left home in the 1830s and emigrated to the United States eventually settling on homestead blocks in the then frontier state of Iowa where they were among the founders of Lockridge town in JeffersonCounty. They maintained a correspondence with their mother, Isabella and although none of their letters have survived we are fortunate in that four of Isabella’s have been preserved. They are dealt with elsewhere.
When Isabella died in 1857 Alexander and to a lesser extent, Robert, kept up the letter writing and again we are indebted to our American cousins for preserving these letters which give us an insight into the lives and characters of our own forebears.
Alexander was a schoolmaster by calling and his writing style contrasts strangely with Robert’s. Alexander was an observant man and his writings give much factual information whereas, Robert, and to some extent Isabella, sounded a little like Old Testament prophets. Nevertheless, these letters make interesting reading and we are fortunate to have them.
Because mention is made of some of the Home relations I will list the brothers and sisters of Isabella.
They were the children of JohnHome (1753 – 1832) a carpenter/joiner/farmer and his wife Elisabeth Millar (1746 – 1823).
Alison. (Alice)Born 1771? Married Thomas Scott at Melrose
JohnBorn 1776, Died 1786
George.Born 1781 Died 1786.
IsabellaBorn 1783 Died 1857) Lived at Gattonside.
Helen (Nellie).Born 1779? Died 1863? Married James Hardie.
Mary.Born 1790? Died pre 1842. Married Alexander Home.(cousin).
Robert.Born 1792 Died 1867. Lived at Berwick. Solicitor
AlexanderHave no details except that he died as a child.
LETTER NO 1. From Alexander to William. Not dated but believed to be after April 1856.
Dear Brother,
I suppose you will have known by my mother’s letters that I am married so this is no news. I may however tell you how I feel in the married state. I am very happy, enjoying the society of a wife, pious, even tempered, self denying and of industrious habits, nothing of the “Gaukie” about her, but at the same time of cheery disposition
I can hardly say that I am fully engaged in the cares of a family as we are staying all in one house, yet my own house being let for 14 pounds before we had decided on the time of our marriage. Next year we intend to take up house as we say here, if the Lord wills..
Before and after school hours I work and help Robert. I might study instead but I find that much study would kill me so I have to work to keep myself employed on something or I would be miserable, as I cannot be idle
I have been engaged in a good deal of harassing business of a public nature for which I have got no benefit as yet in a pecuniary way, but I hope in the course of a short time to derive considerable benefit from it. I have got the school raised another two feet in the roof (now 14 feet high) and several other improvements in order to obtain a grant of 123 pounds from Government for the purpose of clearing the debt on the new house for the schoolmaster.
We had a letter from Walter today and we all rejoice in his safe return. He does not seem to have been very successful in California.[1] He does not say how much he has made but he speaks as if it were of little account.
I ought to apologise for not taking notice of my namesake, Alexander. I hope he will grow up to be a much better and more useful man than his uncle has been after whom he is named.
Give my best wishes to Elizabeth. I hope she will enjoy much happiness in her married life. I trust she will get wisdom and strength to enable her to fulfil all her duties. Remember me to all your family , especially to Alexander.
I think I would not like to stay in America,, it is so dreadfully warm. I would rather have a poorer lot in this country and live without being either frozen or scorched. I felt it hot enough here with the thermometer at 100 in the sun. I don’t know how I could endure under the heat with you. The summer with us has been rather wet and crops are later than they used to be but I hope they will get all ripened well enough for all that. I never saw the crops about Gattonside look better than they do this season.
Remember me to John and his family. Excuse the scrawl for I have little time for letter writing.
Believe me as ever, your affectionate brother.
Alex Hopkirk.
Agnes sends her love to you all. Robert and Annie are both well.
LETTER NO 2 - A FRAGMENT. ( UNDATED but it must have been written prior to 1/7/1862 because Uncle Robert died then at Melrose).
……………………may get strong again. I suppose you will have heard of Aunt Nelly’s death before now[2]. James Hardy went to Australia but returned without ever doing anything there. He has “gone to the dogs” as the saying is. He is a slave to strong drink. Hector Aitchison and his wife are as bad I understand. They are all away from Lauder, about Edinburgh or Glasgow, I am not sure which. Uncle Sandy at Lyne Mill[3] is still a fresh looking man. Uncle David and Uncle Walter are both dead. Uncle James at Jedburgh is still holding out,[4] and Uncle Robert and Aunt Mary at Melrose are still comparatively stout. My brother Robert has been unwell for a fortnight but………
NOTE BY AN UNKNOWN CONTRIBUTOR.
On the reverse of the extract is a steel engraving of the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey. This may , or may not give some indication of the whereabouts of Alexander at the time.
LETTER NO. 3 TO WILLIAM DFATED 3RD January 1863, datelined Gattonside.
I ought to have written to you long before this but I have been put off from time to time in the expectation that some word would reach us about Walter.[5] You will perhaps remember that when you last wrote to Robert you had nothing certain to tell us about him or his family, but you were apprehensive of his safety. Have you heard of him? Is he dead or alive? If living, where is he? Of course, when I ask of him I also mean his wife and family.
This weary war is causing many sad heartaches on both sides of the Atlantic. Oh, when will it terminate. We see that another great battle has been fought at Fredericksburg[6] with little success and such loss of life. We often think will any of our friends[7] have been in these battles and if so will they have escaped the dreadful carnage. I observe from your last letter that you seem to think Britain sympathises with the South. Now it is all true that some do out and out and others sympathise with the South on account of the determination which they show in contending against overwhelming power but there are few who wish them success in the war against the Northern States. Some of the American newspapers do much in disgusting the British public with their braggard mode of speaking but we look upon them as enemies of both Britain and America. Certainly it is in the interests of both countries to be at peace with one another.
But it is time I was telling you about ourselves here.
I am still keeping school here and like the work well enough although it is a little trying on the temper. As a general rule my wife and I enjoy excellent health. I generally work on her father’s farm during harvest and I feel a great deal better of it. We have three children, all boys. William, the eldest will be six years of age on the 24th of this month. He is a tall, strong rumbling fellow, very affectionate and bearing some resemblance to our brother David in the features of his face and the shape of his head. He is very intelligent, quick at his lessons and intensely fond of stories, especially Bible ones. He had a very severe illness during last Summer and we had almost given up all hope of him, but the Lord had mercy and spared him to us still. He is now quite strong again. Our second boy isd called Joseph, now four years of age, he is fair in complexion, bearing some resemblance to John. He is a very quiet bay, his mother’s constant companion. He seldom leaves the house when she is in it. He helps greatly to keep her from wearying. The younger is two years of age, a wiry little chap and a real Turk. Joseph can hardly hild his own with him, We call him Alexander. We are very comfortable on the little we have. We have food and clothing and a comfortable house at present and for the future we trust him who says “I will never laeve you or forsake you”. The school alone would be bare living for us but we let the house, furnished during the harvest time to visitors who come to the country at that time and by the help of what we can get for it we continue to live very comfortably.
Robert and his daughter[8] still keep house by themselves and get along wonderfully well. He is getting very stout again but he dare not sit so close at his work as he did at one time as the pain in his head returns whenever he works very hard and long.
Uncle Robert at Melrose died last summer after a lingering illness. His death came on suddenly at the end. He left all that he had to Aunt Mary. She is still living at Melrose. She has let half of her house to a respectable shoemaker who has got a good deal of my Uncle’s business. Uncle Sandy is still at Lyne Mill. His daughter married to a cousin of her own from Fife.[9] A very fair match as concerns worldly matters and I hear he is a very steady and respectable man. Bessie Easton died last summer by consumption. Her family are all grown up.
Uncle and Aunt at Berwick [10]are both getting frail. Their eldest daughter Mary was married not long ago to Professor Eadie of Glasgow. He is a widower whose family are all grown up and married
Gattonside in outward appearance is much the same as it was when you left here, but there is hardly anyone in it you would know. Gattonside House has again been sold and bought by a son-in-law of Mr. John Tod who once stayed at Friars Hall. He was Chairman of our annual Soiree and conducted himself to the satisfaction of everyone present. Dr. Turner is dead some time since. His heir has sold his property to a man called Parnell, one I fear who will not do a lot of good in the village.
Give my kindest love to your wife and family, in which my wife affectionately joins me and believe me as ever, your affectionate brother.
Alex Hopkirk.
Mr. William Hopkirk
Lockridge,
JeffersonCounty.
IOWA, USA
LETTER NO. 4 To William Hopkirk datelined, Gattonside, Scotland21st June 1865.
I hope now the war is ended there will be no interruption to our intercourse. I am wearying to hear how you are all getting along. I had a newspaper from you give an account of the murder of the good President Lincoln whom we all mourn. I do not think any news conveyed to Britain ever caused such a general feeling of sorrow Everybody here liked him. I earnestly trust that your country may soon be healed. Be so good as to send an account of how you and your family are getting on. Also, John and his family, if they are yet living. We have had news of him since long before you wrote, except the very uncertain intelligence you sent. I suppose Robert told you about his marriage and also that he has another daughter. Himself, his wife and his two daughters are all well.
My wife has presented me with another fine son which makes five. She did not get quickly better or I would have written sooner, for I wished her to be better before I wrote, which she is, that you might not be left in anxiety about her. We call the baby James. The others are William, Joseph, Alexander, and Robert. William and Joseph are both at school and very good learners for their age. Alexander is so taken up with flowers that we cannot get him to fasten on a book at all. They are all strong and healthy boys with enough frolic and mischief to serve their turn.
Uncle and Aunt at Berwick are both well but failing. Both their daughters are married. Mary, the elder to Dr. Eadie, one of the chief minister of the United Presbyterian Church. Elisabeth., the younger to an Irish gentleman named Captain Roper. She has a fine boy, about six years of age. Mary has no children as yet and no appearance of any.. Aunt Mary at Melrose keeps wonderfully well. SandyHome is still at Lyne Mill. His daughter is married to a man, a cousin of her own returned from Australia with a fortune,
Uncle James at Jedburgh is dead. His family is all scattered from the old woman except James and Mary.
I am sorry to say that Gattonside is falling away from what it has ever been. The land is getting into the hands of large proprietors and people with families don’t come to it, or if they they leave it very soon
My school has been less this year than it has ever been. This with a growing and increasing family has determined me to emigrate. For various causes I have chosen New Zealand as my destination, chiefly from the the facts that the climate is salubrious and that acquaintances that I have here give me great encouragement as a teacher. I am only sorry that I did not take your plan, viz, make the voyage my marriage trip. However, it is no use thinking of that now.
Robert had determined to go to the same place. I am not so sure yet whether.we may be able to go on the same ship. If we can manage we will try. I hear he has just sold the Melrose property to the person who has been the tenant since he got it. He has not said anything to me about it. Since he got married[11] he does not tell me any of his affairs. We think of selling the property here if we can get a good offer. My wife feels a good deal to leave her parents who are well advanced in years. I have few to leave behind me but still feel grievously the leaving of the old place where I have spent so many happy days, the home of my childhood and my riper years. I feel however, that I have a duty to my young familyto provide for them, if possible, a comfortable sustenance which I cannot do here. I am willing to strive hard if need be to get them up and then they may look after me.
You must write soon that we may have your letters before we go away. We expect to sail in August although not yet certain. We would like to get away from British shores before the rough weather sets in. I will write again before we sail to give you the name of the vessel and what port we sail from and where to etc.
My love to your wife and family. Kindly remember me to John and his family and pray for us that we may have a prosperous journey and voyage. I suppose that my last letter has never reached you or that yours in return has been lost.
I am dear brother,
Yours affectionately,
Alex Hopkirk.
LETTER NO. 5 To John. Datelined Markinch, Fifeshire, ScotlandN. Britain 27th March 1867.
My dear brother,
You will have learned from Robert’s letter that I also have removed from Gattonside. I came here on the 31st of October last employed as teacher of the Blind for the Society of Fife and Kinross. I have now had sufficient trial of the work to be able to say whether I like it or not. I like the teaching very well although the travel involved is rather hard work, but I have also to collect funds for the Society, which I do not at all like. There is however in every profession something not pleasing and I need not expect to get clear any more than other. My salary is 80 pounds a year and all my trains (fares) paid in addition. This is much better than I had in Gattonside.
You will know something of the feelings with which I left the Old Place in the distance, sad enough they were, but not without their use. The only representative of the Hopkirk race once so numerous there is Aunt Mary at Melrose. So names and even nations pass away and the place that once knew them knows them no more. Since you left how many of our friends have passed away and we ourselves are also marching to the tomb and the judgment seat. I would feel lonely were I not surrounded by my family.