ABSTRACT
The Darnley Family letters begin here but are mostly in the next volume. The Darnleys were building trades workers. Letters from their brief sojourn in York (Toronto) are included for the context they provide for their subsequent migration to New York – as so many other British immigrants also went first to Canada because the voyage was cheaper. The 1843 letter from Hannah Seel begins with an intriguing question if a Mrs Travers has her baby with her in Knutsford Jail, in Cheshire, or if she must give the child up. The later letters are written mostly by William Darnley, who observes that other people were leaving York for the United States because of greater opportunities there, but Darnley was also cheated in York by his employer, which was probably another reason for his move to the United States. The letter of 6 September 1857, included in Volume 3, was written from New York, and indicates their improved employment situation, and the fact that they too used migration ‘chains’ to succeed there.
