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Messages - Kendra71

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19
Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / 1830s diary entries, Cumberland
« on: Friday 02 December 22 14:58 GMT (UK)  »
Hello, I am trying to decipher a few more words from the following diary entries, dating to 1830s England. You've all helped me make sense of words before, and I'm mostly left now with some indistinct names. The name bracketed here as [Jimmy] appears in both first and last entries as Miss and Mr. The author is a shipbuilder in Cumberland. Many thanks.

Jan 2. Wind from the Southward, very little, remarkably fine day for the season. Various called on my wife, viz, Mrs J. Walker, Miss Allenby, Miss [Jimmy], Miss Charles [Ludi]. Received 2 doz scotch ale for Mary (towards night dark & [florn] weather). John and his wife at tea with Mrs. A. Wood after safe arrival of the Darling in Liverpool.

Jan Friday 10. Fair morning, wind at SE, very light. My wife came in the coach from Flimby Lodge. A letter from Mr. Clerk. Newspapers from the shipping association the [Florets]

Jan Saturday 25. A dark morning, wind at WSW. Captain Fisher arrived from Liverpool. Mr [Jimmy] measured new ship No. 37, Keel 107-1 ½, Beam 26.11 ¾. Depth 18/7 [?] Dimensions. 352 12/94 tons. Fine afternoon, weather apparently [?].


20
Cumberland / Re: Juliana and John Dawson of Whitehaven - Siblings?
« on: Saturday 26 November 22 13:38 GMT (UK)  »
Thanks Ciderdrinker, for your excellent reply. I noticed the mass christening. It’s funny - seems like they baptised the boys one by one but then the girls en made. I think my mistake partly has been trying to make sense of this with a headache! Marrying cousins seems quite common so the names weave in and out unhelpfully as you’ve seen AlanBoyd.
Thanks again

21
Cumberland / Juliana and John Dawson of Whitehaven - Siblings?
« on: Saturday 26 November 22 09:45 GMT (UK)  »
I hope you can help me. I am trying to establish the relationship between two members of the Dawson family in Cumberland, both born early 1800s.
* Juliana Dawson (24 Apr 1808 - 29 Dec 1863)
* John Dawson (20 Nov 1803 - Oct 1874)

Juliana married James McMinn (1804-1848, merchant mariner and Campbell clan member through his mother Mary) at St Nicholas, Whitehaven on 11 Dec 1835.
James McMinn then carried sugar regularly between Antigua and Whitehaven on his brig the Campbell for merchant George Dawson (1774-1838). George Dawson was childless, and left his Whitehaven merchant business to his nephew, John Dawson (1803-1874), son of his brother Robert and Mary Barwise.

I suspect that Juliana Dawson was John Dawson's sister. Both appear to have parents Robert Dawson and Mary (possibly Barwise), but I'm struggling to get further than that.
Many thanks.

22
Economics quickly make my head spin. Playing with dates - Dawson is buying wholesale in February in Antigua, hoping that the Whitehaven sale price in June will be give him a profit. He’s then giving buyers 90 days (September) to settle their bill. If he hits a bad six months, he could find himself with no profit at the time of sale, and then even worse off if his buyers default. Right?

The Bank of Whitehaven had extended him a loan facility of £25,000 during these years. He had mortgaged Blennerhassett Manor already, and the bank eventually withdrew support in 1858, when his assets no longer covered his debts.

23
So in that 20 year period, consumption almost doubles and the price almost halves. I’m not great on the economics of this but I assume that the volatility means that a trader buying at source in Antigua could find themselves out of pocket in a nervous market.

I know he had problems in 1857, the year before his bankruptcy, when a buyer called Askew sold his sugar on and then went bust, leaving Dawson forced to deliver his sugar for free. I imagine that failure quickly becomes contagious.

24
Thanks Rena, that’s a good one. I know he was in trouble or borrowing and taking out mortgages before then, but it may have been a factor in his downfall. I think I’m going to have to research sugar prices!

25
Thanks amondg. I’ve got a subscription and have been looking at these. He was busy from the early 1830s to mid-1858, when the papers declare that “John Dawson of Whitehaven has failed”. The next ten years are about selling off the estate, and then his widow in court.

26
Hi sugarbakers, I have some work to do first but I can confirm that John Dawson owned several brigs and received several cargo loads of sugar each year from Antigua. I haven’t seen his name mentioned next to refining (not in the UK at least) and had assumed the refining had been done before loading. That would fit actually, as the cargo lists tend to be refined products. I think he inherited the business and the Manor House, expanded the business and ended up mortgaging the houses to the hilt, and eventually defaulting.

27
Hi Amondg, thanks for looking at this. So there is early money through his wife Elizabeth and then a convenient inheritance from his uncle George, which gave him Blennerhassett Manor and (I think) a ready-made sugar trading business and infrastructure in Antigua.

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