Transcription

Home Castle
Stewart Town P. O.
Decbr 2nd 1877

My dear Son

Very many happy returns of this day to you. I addressed a letter to you this day last year but I have received no reply to it, however I am resolved to try again this year in the hope that I may be honored (?) with a reply. On the twenty seventh of last month I completed my 77th year, and it is not at all unlikely but that this is the last time I may ever be able to write you, but most sincerely do I pray that God will bless you and your family and grant that you and your dear wife may never have (?) all the troubles and anxieties that I have known, but still, I have many mercies to be thankful for.

My dear daughters are all good to me, and I have many kind friends besides who love and respect me, and above all my God has given me health and strength most wonderful for my age, and I feel that I am not yet a burden on my Children. For all these mercies the Lord's holy name be praised. Now I have done with self and must tell you something of all my dear ones.

Hannah has just parted with her youngest Child, Emily Jane who was married on the 14th of last month to a Mr. Grant, in the Colonial Bank in Kingston. Hannah is at present staying with her eldest daughter "Fanny Sanguinetti" in Kingston, but I think she will most likely divide her time between her two married daughters in Kingston and her son Roger in Bowden in St. Thomas in the East.

Fashy is in Scotland with two married daughters there and her eldest son who is Master of a fine ship trading from Greenock to the East Indies.

Emily Brymer is daily (?) Governess in a school in Kingston. Her four unmarried daughters live with her and keep a day school there. Her eldest Son is 2nd mate of a ship trading to the East Indies but he allows his Mother twenty five (?) pounds a year.

Mamie Plues I have not heard from for more than a year.

Lucy I heard from yesterday. She and her Boys were well.

Lizzie her husband and four Children 2 Pages and 2 Ruttys, are well, she sends lots of love for you and best wishes on your birthday. Her eldest son "Robert Page" will leave school on the 14th of this month, and will then go to work for himself. He is now 16, and I hope will be a steady industrious lad. Her eldest daughter is a very pretty and nice girl. She will leave school next year, and will I hope prove a great help and comfort (to her Mother ?) who is expecting her confinement next month pray God grant her as good a time as she has had with the four others I hine! or Thine! (?)

I have given you a regular family history, and I hope to receive a like long letter from you shortly, giving me a full account of yourself and dear ones. I have heard nothing from Christina since her daughters marriage and am longing for some tidings from her. I believe Roger Swire is now living in Dubuque Iowa with his Stepmother but I never hear of or from him. He sometimes writes to his Alice, now married to her cousin Roger Haughton. They have a little Son now. She has just come to see her uncle, The Rev. George Hall who lives only six miles from this place so I hope to see her in a few days. You must give all our love to your dear Wife and all your Children, and with much of the same for yourself.

Believe me
dear Phil always
your loving
Mother
F. L. Swire

Notes:

Frances Lydia (Cox) Swire states she was born 27 November 1800.

Hannah is Hannah Jane (Swire) Haughton, widow of William Haughton and sister of Philip.

Emily Jane is Emily Jane Haughton, niece of Philip Swire, and daughter of Hannah (Swire) Haughton.

Mr. Grant is Francis Bell Grant, who married Emily Jane Haughton on 14 November 1877 in Jamaica.

Fanny Sanguinetti is Frances Anne Haughton, niece of Philip Swire, and daughter of Hannah (Swire) Haughton. Her husband is believed to be Edmund S. Sanguinetti.

Roger is Roger Swire Haugton, nephew of Philip, and son of Hannah (Swire) Haughton.

Fashy is Frances Anne (Swire) Spalding, widow of Robert Spalding and sister to Philip.

Fashy's eldest son is Hinton Spalding.

Emily Brymer is Emily Elizabeth (Swire) Brymer, widow of Alexander James Brymer, and sister to Philip.

Emily's four unmarried daughters are: Frances Elizabeth "Fanny" Brymer, Emily Mary "May" Brymer, Helen Gordon Brymer, and Amy Agnes Brymer.

Emily's eldest son is James Arthur Brymer.

Mamie Plues is Marianne (Swire) Plues, also known as Mamie; widow of Mark Plues and sister to Philip.

Lucy is Lucy (Swire) Littlejohn, widow of Rev. D. R. Littlejohn and sister to Philip.

Lucy's boys are: Henry Cyril Littlejohn, Herbert Melville Littlejohn, and Aubrey Littlejohn.

Lizzie is Elizabeth Anne Coy (Swire) Page Rutty, sister of Philip Swire.

Lizzie's second husband is Joseph Waterhouse Rutty. Her first husband was Henry Constantine "Harry" Page.

Lizzie's four children are: Robert Andrew Page, Henrietta Constance Page, Mary Josephine "Maimie" Rutty, and Frank Swire Rutty.

Christina is Christina Octavia (Swire) Seymour Woods, widow of Charles Seymour and James Coatsworth Woods, and sister of Philip Swire.

Roger Swire is a nephew of Philip Swire, son of his brother John Henry Dalzell Swire.

Roger Swire's stepmother is Caroline (Page) Barclay Swire, widow of John Henry Dalzell Swire.

Alice is Alice Catherine Swire, sister to Roger Swire, and niece to Philip.

Roger Haughton is Roger Swire Haughton, nephew of Philip Swire, and son of Hannah (Swire) Haughton.

Rev. George Hall is named as an uncle to Alice Swire, so he is likely brother to her mother, Letitia Anne Hall, first wife of John Henry Dalzell Swire.