Artist/Maker

Hyrne, Edward __author

Place Made

Date Made

1700

Medium

paper –ink –wax

Dimensions

__13 7/16 __ __8 7/8

Accession Number

5846

Description

In 1700 Edward Hyrne (b. c. 1660), about forty years old, arrived in the Carolina colony. His wife joined him there the following year and they purchased Medway Plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Letters from Elizabeth Hyrne to her brother Burrell Massingberd (1682-1728) describe life on the frontier of English empire, including the loss of their house to fire in 1704. This previously unpublished letter from Edward to his brother-in-law describes the Colony’s lack of tradesmen, the necessity of acquiring from England all household goods “except wood-work,” and the importation of Logwood from the Bay of Campeche.

This letter has been digitally reproduced in four parts for exhibition purposes. The original letter, along with others, is in the Thomas A. Gray Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Another cache of letters between the Hyrne and Massingberd families is in the Liverpool public records office.

Credit Line

Gift of Thomas A. Gray (acc. 22303_TAG 256)