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[Manuscript Biography of an Irish Immigrant to Ohio]
[Manuscript Biography of an Irish Immigrant to Ohio]
A manuscript journal written in about 1899 by a Robert A. Gamble (1804-1901), looking back on his life with highlights including the story of his immigration from County Cavan, Ireland to The United States in 1821 and his settling and clearing of large swaths of farmland in the Ohio counties of Carroll and Van Wert.
Specific dates aren't continuously noted in the manuscript, but census records suggest he moved to Van Wert County, on the southern edge of the Great Black Swamp, sometime between 1840 and 1850, then travelled between his farmstead in Ridge Township there and family ground in Orange Township, Carroll County before permanently setting in Van Wert in the 1860’s (a quick glimpse at modern maps reveals a “Gamble Road” and “Ireland Road,” each short north-south roads just southeast of Van Wert city).
He relays vivid primary accounts of his journey across the Atlantic and initial passage into Ohio in 1821, his prolific improving and trading of farmland, his time spent mining a coal bank in the 1850’s (seemingly in Carroll County), family histories, including marriages to two women, a Malinda Price (b.1814) in Tuscarawas County on 6 March 1831 and a Mary Wolf (b. 1827) in Carroll County on 17 November 1857.
43 pages contain his scattered, often repetitive narratives and another 28 transcribe various Bible verses (chiefly from Psalms) all in his distinct hand. Peppered through the contents are notes from decsendents on having read the contents.
A transcription of a typical entry on his work with the land:
“Now I will give you an account of all the land that I have cleared in Carroll County and in Vanwert County. I cleared four acres on my first piece of land, and then I trade with my father for the still water quarter and was to give William one hundred dollars when he was of age to boot so I moved to still water quarter, and cleared up a big farm then I sold it for four hundred and forty dollars, then you see I had no made anything on this farm for my father would not make me a deed unless I would give George two hundred dollars too boot, so you [see] I did not make anything on this farm (turn over) Then I bought my brother’s eighty acres so then I was in the woods again but I soon had a fine farm of this land, and then I traded with my brother George for his one hundred and sixty acres in Vanwer[t] all in the woods then I moved to Vanwert County and settle in the woods again. Then I sold this farm to Lewis Hook(?) for sixty four hundred dollars, then I bought two hundred and forty acres from Andrews for seventy two hundred dollars and I cleared eighty acres on that land and built me a good brick house.” [sic all]
A rich surviving manuscript providing original narrative record of early 19th Century Irish immigration to the United States and early white settlement in two distinct places in Ohio.
GAMBLE, Robert A. : [Manuscripts] : [Ohioana]. [Manuscript Biography of an Irish Immigrant to Ohio]. Van Wert, Ohio: [ca. 1899]. Commercial notebook. Approximately 10 1/2" x 8." Illustrated card wraps with an olive green cloth strip over spine. 40 wide-ruled leaves with text in a holograph ink cursive to rectos and versos. Moderate general handling wear and scratch writing to wrappers. Front wrapper panel creased and chipped. Tape reinforcement to first leaf. Overall manuscript legible, volume sound. About good.
A manuscript journal written in about 1899 by a Robert A. Gamble (1804-1901), looking back on his life with highlights including the story of his immigration from County Cavan, Ireland to The United States in 1821 and his settling and clearing of large swaths of farmland in the Ohio counties of Carroll and Van Wert.
Specific dates aren't continuously noted in the manuscript, but census records suggest he moved to Van Wert County, on the southern edge of the Great Black Swamp, sometime between 1840 and 1850, then travelled between his farmstead in Ridge Township there and family ground in Orange Township, Carroll County before permanently setting in Van Wert in the 1860’s (a quick glimpse at modern maps reveals a “Gamble Road” and “Ireland Road,” each short north-south roads just southeast of Van Wert city).
He relays vivid primary accounts of his journey across the Atlantic and initial passage into Ohio in 1821, his prolific improving and trading of farmland, his time spent mining a coal bank in the 1850’s (seemingly in Carroll County), family histories, including marriages to two women, a Malinda Price (b.1814) in Tuscarawas County on 6 March 1831 and a Mary Wolf (b. 1827) in Carroll County on 17 November 1857.
43 pages contain his scattered, often repetitive narratives and another 28 transcribe various Bible verses (chiefly from Psalms) all in his distinct hand. Peppered through the contents are notes from decsendents on having read the contents.
A transcription of a typical entry on his work with the land:
“Now I will give you an account of all the land that I have cleared in Carroll County and in Vanwert County. I cleared four acres on my first piece of land, and then I trade with my father for the still water quarter and was to give William one hundred dollars when he was of age to boot so I moved to still water quarter, and cleared up a big farm then I sold it for four hundred and forty dollars, then you see I had no made anything on this farm for my father would not make me a deed unless I would give George two hundred dollars too boot, so you [see] I did not make anything on this farm (turn over) Then I bought my brother’s eighty acres so then I was in the woods again but I soon had a fine farm of this land, and then I traded with my brother George for his one hundred and sixty acres in Vanwer[t] all in the woods then I moved to Vanwert County and settle in the woods again. Then I sold this farm to Lewis Hook(?) for sixty four hundred dollars, then I bought two hundred and forty acres from Andrews for seventy two hundred dollars and I cleared eighty acres on that land and built me a good brick house.” [sic all]
A rich surviving manuscript providing original narrative record of early 19th Century Irish immigration to the United States and early white settlement in two distinct places in Ohio.
GAMBLE, Robert A. : [Manuscripts] : [Ohioana]. [Manuscript Biography of an Irish Immigrant to Ohio]. Van Wert, Ohio: [ca. 1899]. Commercial notebook. Approximately 10 1/2" x 8." Illustrated card wraps with an olive green cloth strip over spine. 40 wide-ruled leaves with text in a holograph ink cursive to rectos and versos. Moderate general handling wear and scratch writing to wrappers. Front wrapper panel creased and chipped. Tape reinforcement to first leaf. Overall manuscript legible, volume sound. About good.