FAMILY HISTORY: Letter from Mary Ann DEPUTIE, 1854, formerly of Hollidaysburg, Blair County, PA

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Jeannette L. Molson JLMolson@aol.com January 10, 2005, 11:08 am

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[Verbatim copy of a letter from Mrs. Deputie, formerly of this place, to a 
friend--the original of which is in my possession, and can be seen by anyone 
desiring it. (Wm. Nesbit)]
                          Marshall, Liberia, Dec. 6th, '54
My Dear Friend:  I take my pen in hand to drop you these lines to inform you 
that we are alive; but alas,! none but God and Him alone knows what we have 
suffered since we have been here.  We have not only suffered constant sickness, 
but we have suffered for provisions.  Since we have been off the public, we 
have had little to eat but rice and cassada--not due mouthful of bread have we 
had for three months; a little coffee now and then--sometimes a little tea and 
sugar--is all we get; so you may judge that times are hard on us.  The saw mill 
is our dependence, and I do not believe that they will succeed with it.  They 
do not get to work till nine or ten o'clock, for the want of steam--they can't 
get the wood to burn well.  I wish you could see how they work--see if it is 
like the saw mills in the States.--But, O Lord, I do not want you, or anybody 
else to come to this place of torment.  O, my friend, I can't describe my 
feelings when I hear my children, every day that they are able to eat anything, 
crying for bread, and there is none to give them.  Deputie's health is very 
bad; and I don't know how he can expect to be well or do well after deceiving 
his family so.  I did not think that he would have treated me so.  O, if I had 
never come here.  We are now living at Marshall, a little town about sixty 
miles from Monrovia--We moved on the first of October.  Deputie tells people 
that the reason we moved so soon was that the insects were so bad there that we 
could not stay--and it is true, if insects they can be called.  We saw a snake 
in our cupboard four feet long, one under our bureau six feet long, and one 
night one got in my bed--I can't tell how long it was;  by the time I got a 
light it was gone.  I never saw such rats as were in that place--some almost as 
large as cats; they bit me several times in bed, eat the bed clothes on the 
beds which we were sleeping on.  You, nor any other person but those who have 
been here, ever saw such lizards, drivers, roaches, bugs, ants, &c., &c.  I 
can't call half the names of the destroyers that infest the houses here--All 
our family have very bad health--all sick nearly every day.  I don't know when 
I will be able to get home, but I hope to come before long.  Pray for me, that 
the Lord may so prosper me as to bring me once more to my native land.
                                     MARY ANN DEPUTIE
(Printed in FREDERICK DOUGLASS' Paper, Mar. 30, 1855)


Additional Comments:
Mrs. Mary Ann (Molson) Deputie emigrated to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa on 10 Nov 
1853 with her husband and children.  She was from Lewistown, Mifflin County and 
was living in Hollidaysburg, Blair County at the time she emigrated. 

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