November 1, 1951—“101 Year Old Diary”. Below is a printed part of a diary that was written by Thomas Pendleton, a brother of Mrs. Francis Coburn’s great-grandfather. Mrs. Coburn received the diary last March while she and Mr. Coburn were visiting their daughter and family, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dierking, at Kirkland, Ill., and with Mrs. Eva Webster and son, Kenneth, at Kenosha, Wis. The diary was given to her by Mrs. Webster.
The diary starts on March 15, 1849, and was written on the ocean as they were en route to America. It is as follows:
March 15, Thursday: We were tugged out of Victoria dock into the Bisin Bupeese dock.
Friday, 16: We were tugged into the river about five miles and cast anchor till about four o’clock on Saturday morning when the steam took us out about twenty miles farther and then left us there: We were becalmed about three hours Sunday morning. A stiff breeze was blowing ahead and continued till Monday night. We were all sick that time and some did not get better of it on Tuesday. We did not see the Coast of Ireland till this day the 20th. We were making very little progress on this day.
Wednesday, 21: A good said, left the Coast of Ireland.
Thursday, 22: The same.
Friday, 23: Very rough, wind favorable. A woman fell off a box today and killed herself; she was buried at sea the same night.
Saturday, 24: Still very rough, waves running high.
Sunday, 25: Still a good sail. My wife and our John have been sick all week. The last three days we have been running about eight knots an hour.
Monday night, 26: Began to be very blusterous and continued until Wednesday night. On this day we saw sea pigs. (Monday, the 19th, we had liked to been run down as the tiller rope broke just as another ship was passing the first time.) Some times we seemed to be on a mountain and others down in a valley. We were going at the rate of about 10 knots an hour.
Thursday, 29: Rather milder.
Friday, 30: The same wind, still pretty favorable. My wife still sick.
Saturday, 31: Still mild and my wife still sick, four whales seen this morning. It begins to be rather warm. We were becalmed from this forenoon till Sunday afternoon.
Monday, April 2: A head wind all day.
Tuesday, 3: Half past two morning, a son was born in Latitude 34 16’, longitude 42 degrees 50’. Towards night a favorable breeze.
Wednesday, 4: Still the same.
Thursday, 5: The same till about four o’clock when it began to be calm, the wind veering about and the rain fell heavily for about half an hour and then the wind sent us through the water quickly, though most of the sail had been in before the storm came on. The vessel rocked till it seemed to be going over.
Good Friday, 6: Pretty calm, going very slow. I wonder what you are doing now. Half past two o’clock, going rather fast this afternoon. We bespoke a vessel about four o’clock from Baltimore bound for California. My wife and child are doing very well at present. The name of the vessel we bespoke was John Mays. Longitude 50 degrees 33’.
Saturday, 7: A beautiful day.
Sunday, 8: A rather rough night and morning of it. A brisk breeze all day ahead saw several flying fish today.
Monday, 9: Still a good breeze; going rather southeast on account of the wind.
Tuesday, 10: A very fine day; it begins to be warm today. My mother is very ill and has been for several days. My wife is pretty stout. She is on deck at the present time.
Wednesday, 11: The same. This morning one of the sailors was tied to be flogged for something said to the first mate and some anties he made about the steward, but he got off with being put in irons. He and the mate had a row the day we came into the river and they have never been friendly since. Another child was born this afternoon. A storm came on at dusk.
Thursday, 12: Wind still ahead. Another child born in the steerage (a section in a ship for the passengers paying the lowest fare).
Friday, 13: Still fine and wind ahead. We are farther on today than we were last Friday, though the wind being ahead all week and storms driving us back. A pretty brisk breeze sprung up tonight but still ahead.
Saturday, 14: Pretty calm all day.
Sunday, 15: Got into the trade wind going at the rate of six knots an hour. My father had a pain come in his side this morning. He was very ill all day; my mother too continues to be ill.
Monday, 16: The same.
Tuesday, 17: A good shower this morning. Rain is now looked for awhile.
Wednesday, 18: Still a favorable wind, going about six knots an hour; beautiful weather. My father and mother are both getting better.
Thursday, 19, Friday, 20, Saturday, 21: Still the same. Sometimes rather faster and sometimes slower. Another child born in the steerage this afternoon—all that have been born yet are males. A calm came on about four o’clock this afternoon till about eleven at night when a stiff breeze sprang up, going at the rate of eight or nine knots an hour.
Sunday, 22: This morning we bespoke a vessel from Swansea—Longitude 67 degrees 115’.
Monday, 23: Morning at 5 o’clock saw the coast of St. Domingo. 33 days since we left the coast of Ireland. Going about the same rate we were yesterday. In sight of land all day. It is a very hilly country to all appearance
Tuesday, 24: Came in sight of Cuba and were in sight of it all day. In some parts a bold mountainous coast; we were near enough to see the buildings—the same by St. Domingo. Yesterday, going the same rate of eight or nine knots an hour. Six o’clock, the ship lay till daylight on Wednesday morning for fear of running on the banks of Cuba.
Wednesday, 25: Another birth in the second cabin this morning—born with a veil on and being rather dark, they didn’t see it and it died. It was a male. In the afternoon we were running on Ginger Key, the captain thinking he could go through there till he got nearly to them. At midnight we passed another key. Sometimes we had only five and a half fathoms and vessel draws 16 feet.
Thursday, 26: A good sail. The captain caught a dolphin today.
Friday, 27: Becalmed all day. At night we saw the lighthouse on the coast of Florida.
Saturday, 28: Going slow. A storm this afternoon that came on nearly without warning.
Sunday, 29: Becalmed, our John is very ill. He began on Friday of a severe bilious (having or appearing to have some ailment of the bile or liver) headache. My son very ill, expect it dying.
Monday, 30, Tuesday night, May 1: Going ahead about four knots. An old woman died in the steerage tonight, aged 73. Her husband is 83. Our J2ohn continues to be very ill of the fever and several others.
Wednesday, 2: The steamer came in us between 12 and 1 o’clock and we got over the bar in the middle mouth of the river before dark.
Thursday, 3: My brother John died this morning between eight and nine o’clock and cast overboard about eleven.
John Pendleton was the father of the late Mrs. Thomas Woodall of Marcus. Mrs. Selina Pendleton Woodall was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, on January 4, 1839. She was ten years old when she came to America on the ship described in the diary. She moved to a farm sough of Marcus from Darlington, Wis., in 1878 and later lived in Marcus.
Children of Mrs. Woodall were: John Woodall, Mrs. Elizabeth Morgan, Mrs. Harriet Jackson, William Woodall, Charles Woodall, Mrs. Martha Donlin, and Mrs. Selina Ferrin. John Pendleton was the John of the diary who died in the Gulf of Mexico on May 3, 1849, and was buried at sea.
One of the descendants, Mrs. Virgil Wirt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Woodall of Marcus, will join her husband, Capt. Virgil Wirt, in England as soon as housing is available. Mrs. Wirt plans to visit the old places in England and see if any relatives remain there. Her son, Maurice, will accompany her. (Mrs. Wirt was an aunt of Mike Hoover.)
The News is grateful to Mrs. Francis Coburn for her consent in publishing this early account of her ancestors. (I worked at one time with Mrs. Clarence Woodall and also know Mike Hoover—so I found this diary of interest.)