ABSTRACT
The letter of James Stott to his wife and children in Bolton, Lancashire, is important because it includes a rare reference to an emigrant's use of a guidebook, as he intends to write up his experience, 'which would render Knight's Emigrants' Guide more than double its present value'. His night-time thoughts of his children are touching, as he addresses them directly in the letter. Also, Stott liked Americans, noting that they were not haughty but of the 'greatest civility'. His reference to the slack trade is attributable to the Panic of 1819, and his comments that American workers are overpaid, and that there are many skilled workers from England, indicate the rich opportunities available to immigrants like himself, though he was a merchant.
