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This Letter was written in 1903 by Ballymahon, County Longford native John Eustace (1833-1916) to his first cousin Thomas Eustace c1823-1905 of Townland Collum, Newtowncashel Parish. Janesville, Minn. Sep 30, 03

Contributed by Ron Eustice <ron at mnbeef.org>


Dear Cousin1:-

You may be sure I was delighted to get a letter from you it was so unexpected as I had written so many letters + didn’t get an answer. I gave up writing till I met this lady + she came from the same place2 + could tell me so much about the people I asked her to write + she did3. I was so glad I cried. If I live + nothing happens I will come and see you next yr, 43 years4 is a long time + I have not seen any of my people in that length of time. My dear father5 was killed by a tree falling on him soon after I got to him in Wis, at that time they used to have chopping bees + I was invited to go but he was afraid I would get hurt so he went  + got killed but he didn’t die till he had the priest. I was left alone then + what he left I soon went through6. I got married in 18637 + have 6 sons + 1 daughter all living near me. We lost one boy when a baby, but have 6 living. My daughter8 is the oldest she is 38 yrs. She married a man by the name of Dennis Hogan + lives near us he is a cattle buyer they are in good circumstances she has 3 children living + 3 dead My oldest son James9 is a farmer he rents but owns 40 acres of his own cattle, horses etc. he is a good Christian + a good son. John10 is living in town he runs an engine + has some money at int. Chris11 runs a farm of his wife’s fathers. Tom12 runs a creamery in Janesville + get 80 per mo. Will13 is a butter maker + runs a creamery too + the baby14 was married in Sep. he stays at home + works the farm. They are all married and living near me + doing well. I own 80 acres of land15, a good home in it + lots of cows pigs etc. Everything I have worked hard for I never earnt a nickel only by hard work but with God’s help I will see you before I die I am sorry your health is so poor. I do hope to see you once more. Was sorry to hear your wife16 died am glad your son takes care of you. I want to know where Aunt Bridget17 is + Mrs. Flood18 or Mary Carroll19. Where is Mary20 (,) Patrick21 + Annn22 + all the rest write + tell me about them + Bob Cooney23 + Uncle John24 I suppose he is dead long ago. My health is quite good but I can’t do any hard work now25—I am pretty well broke down I am going to send you a family picture taken 3 years ago. My sons are all big strong men + my daughter is 5 ft 8 in. I have 14 grandchildren living + several dead. My wife26 was a good hard working woman she is younger than I am she will be 57 in January. My farm is 3 miles from Janesville, Minn, a town of 1400 inhabitants. How I wish you could come + see me you would be very welcome. Write soon + often to your long lost cousin.

 

Signed

John Eustis Sr.27

Janesville, Waseca Co. Minn.


Footnotes (Comments by Ronald F. Eustice):
  1. The letter is addressed to Thomas Eustis (c1823-1905) of Victory Mills, NY. Thomas was John’s first cousin. Thomas Eustis was the son of Patrick Eustace of Townland Collum, Parish Cashel, Ireland. Patrick was a brother to James Eustace, Bridget Eustace and John Eustace who are mentioned later in the letter. Patrick married Catherine Cunningham (c1802-1885) during the 1820s.
  2. The “same place” could be Schuylerville/Victory Mills, Saratoga, NY or the Parishes of Cashel and Shrule in County Longford, Ireland. Many natives of Cashel and Shrule settled at Schuylerville after the Great Famine of 1846-1849.
  3. I believe that the letter actually was written by John Eustis and that a separate letter was written by the unidentified lady encouraging Thomas to respond to John’s previously unanswered letters.
  4. This statement is confusing. John arrived in Schuylerville from Ireland in 1850. Had the last contact been made 43 years previously as John indicates, that would have been in 1860. Aunt Bridget referred to late in the letter died in 1854 and John did not know of her death. John also writes about his own father’s accidental death which occurred in March 1855. Had previous contact been made about 1860, John would not have needed to inform Thomas of his father’s death, he would have known about it.
  5. John’s father was James Eustace born about 1797. He was killed on March 27, 1855 and is buried in St. Catherine’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in rural Mapleton, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. James was married on 1829 at Longford to Bridget Kennedy.
  6. James died intestate leaving possessions of the probable value of $200 to his son John, who had been appointed administrator of the estate. No other heirs are mentioned in the Petition for Administration which was filed January 5, 1857, and published in the Waukesha County Plain Dealer. The hearing was held in Oconomowoc on March 2, 1857 at 1:00 P.M by Waukesha County Judge Martin Field.
  7. John Eustis married Ann Jewison at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Mapleton on March 19, 1863. Ann was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire and was the daughter of Christopher Jewison and Mary White.
  8. Mary Eustice was born at Mapleton on October 24, 1865. She married Dennis Hogan at Janesville, Minnesota on October 26, 1885.
  9. James Eustice (1867-1950) farmed in Alton Township, Waseca County, Minnesota. He married Cathrine Hogan on November 10, 1891.
  10. John Daniel Eustice was born at Janesville, Minnesota in 1869. He married Florence Mae Sill on April 13, 1898. John died March 10, 1963 in Farmington, Michigan at the age of 94.
  11. Christopher Eustice was born in 1872 and died at Faribault, Minnesota on January 29, 1951. He married Winifred Ford on June 1, 1903.
  12. Thomas Eustice was born September 25, 1874 and died June 15, 1966. He married Ellen Caahill on November 20, 1900.
  13. William eustice was born October 10, 1876 and died March 7, 1952. He married Mary Wheelock on August 17, 1898.
  14. George Eustice was born May 11, 1882 and died October 2, 1949. He married Bertha Sill on September 1, 1903.
  15. John purchased 80 acres in Section 14 of Janesville Township. Additional 80 acres in Section 23 were added later.
  16. Thomas Eustis was married to Brigid FitzPatrick (1831-1897) a native of County Tipperary. She died at Victory Mills, New York on December 28, 1897.
  17. Aunt Bridget was Bridget Eustace (c1802-c1854), sister of Patrick, James and John. Aunt Bridget may have been the first member of the immediate family to emigrate. In 1850 she was married to William Carle/Carroll and living in Schuylerville, NY. Bridget apparently died in 1853/54 shortly after John left Schuylerville to join his father in Wisconsin. William Carroll re-married to a second Bridget Eustace/Eustis very soon after the first Bridget’s death. They had a child Catherine Carroll born in 1855.
  18. I am uncertain who “Mrs. Flood” is or of her significance. In 1860 there's a "Mrs. Flood, age 40" in the Town of White Creek in Washington County (across the Hudson River from Schuylerville).  She was born in Ireland. In 1870 Maggie Flood, age 40, lived in a boarding house in Quaker Springs and worked in the woolen mill. I cannot be certain if either is the Mrs. Flood that John referred to in the letter.
  19. Mary Carroll was John’s first cousin. Mary was the daughter of William Carroll and Aunt Bridget. She was born about 1846 in New York and is listed on the 1850 census together with her parents, Bridget Eustice and John Eustice, her cousins.
  20. Mary Eustace, daughter of Patrick and Catherine (Cunningham) Eustace was baptized 1834 at Newtowncashel, County Longford.
  21. Patrick Eustace, son of Patrick and Catherine (Cunningham) Eustace was baptized 1832 at Newtowncashel, County Longford. He died unmarried at Schuylerville 1887.
  22. Ann Eustace, daughter of Patrick and Catherine (Cunningham) Eustace was baptized 1836 at Newtowncashel, County Longford. She died unmarried at Schuylerville, NY 1880.
  23. Bob Cooney was probably the son of one of the first Irish families to settle in Victory Mills. Patrick, James and Lawrence Cooney together with William Carroll are listed among the earliest settlers in Victory Mills.
  24. “Uncle John” is John Eustace, brother to Patrick, Bridget and James. John is identified as an uncle to Mary Caroll on  custodian ship papers for Mary and Catherine Carroll ((1858) which confirms that he was a brother “Aunt Bridget” mother of Mary. He is listed on several early census records of Schuylerville including 1855 with Bridget and William Carroll (spelled Ustest), 1870 with Thomas Quigley and 1875 with Patrick Eustis. The spelling of John’s last name includes the usual variations. I am not sure when John died, but have requested a death certidicate from the State of New York.
  25. Two of my aunts, Ann Donelan (Mrs. Andrew Eustice) and Agnes Donelan (Sister Bede) boarded with John and Ann Eustis while they attended high school in Janesville. Aunt Ann told me that on occasion John Eustis would do “handstands” in his garden to amuse them when they arrived home from school demonstrating his sense of humor as well as his apparent good health.
  26. John’s wife was Annie Jewison who was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire on January 27, 1847. She was the daughter of Christopher Jewison and Mary White and came to the United States with her parents and older brother William about 1848. Annie died January 4, 1930 at Janesville, Minnesota.
  27. John Eustis (Eustice) died at Janesville, Minnesota on June 29, 1916. He is buried in St. Ann’s Cemetery in rural Janesville.