Frye Village Stories: John Smith's travel journal (part 2)
A Shawsheen Village 100 Story by Angela McBrien
Before Shawsheen Village Frye Village Stories: John Smith’s travel journal
This is our second post looking at the travel diary of John Smith. Written in 1826 and 1827, Smith wrote about his trip back to his hometown of Brechin, Scotland, where his mother Jannett Middleton Smith was still living.
Jannett Middleton was born in Brechin 1762. She married Peter Smith, a carpenter, who died suddenly in 1810 leaving Jannett and her four children to support themselves. James, the eldest, was already working as an apprentice weaver. John, 11, was apprenticed to a wheelwright and Peter, at 9 too young for an apprenticeship, was sent to work on a farm. The youngest, Mary, stayed home to look after their mother. Later, both James and John would find work in Glasgow.
One by one, Jannette saw her children leave for America.
John was the first to leave and now 12 years later in 1826, he was returning for the first time.
ACHC #2013.056.1, Jannette Middleton Smith, John Smith's mother
In his diary, John wrote about his unease as he approached his hometown. He described his mind as being in “an unsettled state” and had a sleepless night. He was obviously worried about what awaited him in Brechin.
Why this unease? Perhaps it is because when John left for America in 1816, he did not return to his hometown to say his farewell to his mother.
ACHC #1992.659.48, John Smith
In August of 1816, aged 17, John wrote to his mother from Glasgow that trade is bad, his wages had been reduced, and he expected to be laid off:
“I have been intending for some time past to make it better by going to another country which has been in my mind this six months past, and, after having my wages broken, and expecting to be paid off altogether, I have engaged myself to go away on the fifteenth of this month to Halifax, in the British settlements in North America” adding that “some of my comrades went there long ago and are doing well”
He added “I would liked to have seen you before I went away, but I think now it is far better that I have not seen you for it would have added a greater grief to us both." He had “but ten guineas to pay for my passage."
His mother replied to his letter:
“...the contents of which have made such an expression on me I can hardly describe.” She went on, “it appears you are now resolved to leave your native land for a foreign shore, without being permitted to see each other once more."
ACHC Ms#420
12 years later, John was anxious about seeing his mother again. Unsure how to approach his mother, he walked past her house several times.
On arrival in Brechin he booked a room in an inn and walked a number of times past the house “that I supposed mother lived in."
The next day he was “within sight of the house where my mother lives,” but turned back again.
After all that hesitating and unease, John played a joke on his mother.
He finally enlisted the help of a family friend, who took him to see his mother, and introduced him as a “gentleman from America."
John wrote that he
"carried on the joke for some time before I made myself known to her. Upon letting her know who I was, it almost overcame her. Our feelings cannot be described or realized by any but those who have passed through similar scenes”.
ACHC #1987.5650.1, Peter Smith
Peter was the next brother to leave Brechin and his mother. Brother John invited him to come and join him America in 1822.
Peter returned to Scotland in 1829 to visit his mother and to accompany back to Andover Agnes Ferguson of Glasgow.
John had met Agnes while living in Glasgow and had courted her via letters. They were married in West Parish Church.
ACHC #2016.23.1, John & Agnes Smith
The eldest of the Smith sons, brother James Smith, married Margaret Crawford in 1820. At the time of John’s visit in 1826 they were living in Glasgow and just opened a general store.
John Smith noted in his diary that
“James, it appears, is very desirous that he may be able to get a living in Glasgow without coming to America, and his wife is also."
However, at some time between the birth of their daughter Jeannette in 1831 and their daughter Agnes in 1833, James and Margaret were the next to emigrate to America, settling in a house on Haverhill Street in Frye Village.
ACHC #1947.068.8, Margaret Smith and ACHC #1947.068.9, James Smith
In 1834, with all three of her sons now living in Andover, Jannett, then aged 72, decided to join them. John’s wife Agnes was dispatched to back Brechin along with her 2 ½ year old son, Joseph, to bring her mother-in-law to America.
John Smith said that,
“it was the proudest moment of my life when I walked up the aisle of West Parish Church with my mother on my arm."
Jannett lived in Andover until her death in 1839, and is buried with the rest of her family in West Parish Cemetery.
Jannett’s daughter Mary was the last of the siblings to move to Andover.
In 1816, John had written to his sister Mary concerned about their mother, asking her
“to make her house your home, that you may never cause fresh troubles to distract her peace of mind, which has already suffered so much on our account” he adds “I have formed no connection myself respecting a partner for life, nor have any expectations of it, and I hope you are likewise so minded."
But Mary ignored her brother’s advice, and in 1826 she married James Byers. John described James Byers in the diary as a “very intelligent and industrious man, of industrious habits."
When Mary and John moved to Andover in 1836 or 1837 John Byers worked for Smith and Dove.
ACHC #1987.551.9, Mary Smith Byers
John Smith spent the rest of his 1826-1827 trip in Brechin visiting friends and relations. He then traveled with his mother to Glasgow, staying with his brother James.While in Glasgow, John visited many cotton mills, which will be the subject of next week’s post.
Many thanks toACHC Collections Manager Angela McBrien for researching, compiling, and writing this series on John Smith's travel diary. You can learn more about Frye and Shawsheen Villages on our website.