John Pratt Nugent: "Should a boat come..."

One of the oldest letters I've discovered in the hundreds of my husband's family letters is one written by John Pratt Nugent, the Irish immigrant from Ireland who married Anne Lavinia Lewis, daughter of Seth Lewis, prominent judge in Opelousas, Louisiana. John Pratt Nugent is my husband's great-great-great grandfather. The children of John Pratt Nugent and Anne Lavinia Lewis Nugent were:

• Aphra Nugent
• Perry Nugent
• William Nugent
• Richard Nugent
• Thomas Nugent
• Amelia Nugent
• John Nugent
• Anne Nugent
• Clarence Nugent.

The letter reproduced here in these images was written to John Pratt Nugent's son Perry, my husband's great-great grandfather. [Click on the image for a larger version.] Many of the envelopes to these family letters are missing--or the letters were separated from their envelopes by an uncle who had hoped to make money from the stamps. This is one of those free-floating letters, divorced from its envelope and stored with letters unrelated in time.

Some of the handwriting is difficult for me to read, but I have translated the handwriting as best I can below. I have regularized some of the punctuation.

Atchafalaya, October 3rd, 1856

Dear Perry,

Your letter of 20th [undecipherable] came to hand yesterday since, and as I expect to take Tom to Bayou Sara tomorrow I thought it best to drop you a few lines--I am sorry to say that your uncle William has failed to sell his place. Mr. Norwood is sick. I believe he wished to buy the place for himself & a Brother in law by the name, I think, of [Hutchens?], or some such name. The latter lives at or near Clinton, east Feliciana. Tom was sent over there by his Father but Mr. H back (sic) out by saying the place was too [small?] for the hands Mr. Norwood wished to add to his force. It will be proper for you to write to President Miller. Tom wishes to board in the college or with Miller. I have very little money to give him. I had bought some cattle from Harry Juvell last year. I had to pay him & I bought another cow out of a drove and a [undecipherable]. It all put together swept my money. The Captain of the Effort was to bring me a barrel of pork and take pay in wood but he did not return. I have heard he has gone to Red River, the Atchafalaya has risen three feet, and the snag boat is pulling out the snags--and has got up to Bayou Boeuf or higher--inform some of the officers of the Opelousas or get Dick to do it. I am on my last barrel pork. Should a boat come, send me a barrel best [undecipherable] or should no boat come send one [to] Morganza care [of] Mr. Josep Strother (or Strawther) by Bella Donna or Capitol and write by mail to me. You know I only get letters once a week, the state owes me $44--When Caldwell comes along I will get a check and sent it to you. They are going to make a new [undecipherable] Cowhead [Bayou?] on the upper side of the old one. I will not bid. The others were bought 21 cents the cubic yard--it is thought nothing will be made at those works. The earth is to be carried [undecipherable]. I deadened nearly one hundred acres over Cowhead & mean to do more this dark moon. I am gathering my corn now over the River, when that is done I will go at cutting woods--the deadening will only take a few days--Your mother will write to Richard--Say to him he must not think hard of me for not writing--best to him and all and kisses to your Lady love [undecipherable]. I find it hard to get at writing--
as ever your
affectionate
Father
John Nugent

P. S. You had better burn my scrawls of letters--J. N.

The letter is rather disjointed, as the infrequent letter-writer--by his own admission--hits the high spots of news for his son, who will understand the references to place names and steamboats. I was stumped for a while by the references to "Bella Donna and Capitol" until I thought to do a Google search on boats on the Mississippi and found in Google Books a text titled "Fifty Years on the Mississippi: or, Gould's History of River Navigation, by Emerson W. Gould. The book includes the names of steamboats and their captains. In the section titled "Steamboats on the Bayou Sara Trade," the steamer Bella Donna is listed for 1853, along with her captain, Captain I. H. Morrison. The steamer Capital is listed for 1856, and her captain, Captain Baranco. Also, I puzzled over the word "deadened" for a while until I guessed that it had something to do with killing trees in preparation for clearing land for cultivation. Another search in Google Books provided support for my guess in "Southern Cultivator, vol. 5 (p. 319), in which the editors answer a query about the best time for "deadening" timber for bringing land into cultivation. John Nugent's letter does give the reader a pretty good idea of what was most on the man's mind as he wrote his son, and I am glad that son did not follow his father's advice to burn the letters.