INTRODUCTION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
Summary
On May 21, 1772, the Dixon family “arrive'd before Fort Cumberland,” Nova Scotia, where “things at first Glance wore a gloomy aspect.” Charles Dixon, in trying to bolster his wife Susanna's spirits, “frequently told her … not to be cast down.” Exactly two years later, the Harrison family had a similar reaction when they disembarked at the same place. Young Luke quickly announced that he did not like Nova Scotia “at all,” and, though he and his family stayed in America, many others returned to England on the same ship, finding the “country” not “in any respect equal to the favorable idea they had formed of it.” James Whitelaw, on the other hand, enjoyed the “very pleasant” view of the banks of the Delaware River, “particularly upon the Pensilvania side,” as his ship sailed up the river toward Philadelphia in the spring of 1773. He was greeted at the wharf, and during the next few days was much encouraged by people who gave him “good hopes” of purchasing a large tract of land. Likewise, Hester Wylly was impressed with her first view of Savannah in the autumn of 1768. She was met with an “affectinate reception,” and adapted easily to Georgia, which agreed with her “as well as Ireland.”
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- Discoveries of AmericaPersonal Accounts of British Emigrants to North America during the Revolutionary Era, pp. 1 - 37Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997