ABSTRACT
The John Ingle Letters, which began in Volume 1, resume here. According to notes on the originals, the first letter in this volume was written by John Ingle, Junior (1818–75), at age eighteen, who is later referred to by his father. The next two letters are written by his mother, Martha, and then more letters by John Ingle Senior and Junior. Martha’s letters are quite religious in tone, and she mentions that there are religious revivals (associated with the Second Great Awakening) in many parts of the country, but not in their own area around Saundersville. Perhaps the British immigrants were less open to these arrivals than their American-born neighbours. Yet, she is content with the ‘faithful preaching’ she receives. The letters contain positive remarks about the Ingles’ American neighbours, who provide society as good as in Britain. By July 1831, John writes to his brother that they have a comfortable new house, and that he will soon add a kitchen and smoke house – all of which must have provided a welcome contrast to their earlier, more humble cabin. Furthermore, his crops are thriving and his sons are doing more of the labour. But he also reports of a fellow English immigrant in the settlement who is not satisfied with Indiana, or any part of America for that matter. Perhaps he returned to England. Ingle is also happy to report the many other English immigrants in the area, as well as the growing abolition movement in the country, though he seems to be especially happy about the American Colonization Movement to return freed slaves to Africa. European politics are also interesting to the Ingle family. Details about how other English immigrants are doing in the area provide insight on the use of migration ‘chains’ and what was required to get established on a farm. John Junior’s 1834 letter about his trip to the deep American South is especially fascinating for its colourful observations. (A note to a later letter from 1857, included in Volume 3 of this collection, indicates that John Junior was now ‘at the head of the first railroad in Evansville’.)
