 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
ENGLISHMAN CAME TO LEARN FARMING HERE At Carhampton in Somerset County, not far from the channel, lived Rev.
John Tripp and his wife Eliza, whose maiden name was Gould. The Rev. John
Tripp was at that time curate or assistant pastor of the Church of England
in that place. On July 20, 1861 was born to this couple a son. This boy
was baptized by his father in the Carhampton church and was given the
name Edward Gould Tripp. Some time later the Tripp family moved to Sampford
Brett Bristol, where the father became rector of that church. While their
Edward was confirmed by the bishop of Bath and Wells in the Stogumber
church near Sampford Brett was the home of Edward Gould Tripp at the time
he left for America. In the spring of 1882 the parents decided to send Edward to this country
as they felt he was better adapted for colonial life. In the London times
they had read in an ad that a gentleman wanted to take young men to America
to teach them America farming. The fee was one hundred pound sterling,
the equivalent to about five hundred dollars, and all expenses paid. About
fifteen young men applied, including Edward. Each one was given a blue
rosette to be worn on the lapel of the coat as a mark of identification.
The said gentleman was to meet the boys at Bristol, where they embarked
on the steamer Cornwell of the Great western Line. Cornwell was a slow
boat. It was in reality a cattle steamer. In those days cattle were shipped
from New York to England to be slaughtered there. The party left England
about the last part of March 1882. The ocean travel was not so bad, but of course most of the passengers
had their turn at sea sickness. Mr. Tripp not exempted. The sailors had
much fun in watching victims of this sickness and jokingly remarked: "That’s
right boys! Feed the fish!" Anyhow, nothing was wasted. They finally
landed at Ellis Island about the middle of April. Here they all passed
an examination by a doctor; but still the woes were not at an end. Soon
appeared a man in police cloths, who told the boys to open their trunks.
Edward wanted to know why? The man told them he was a customhouse officer.
Edward had a lot of cloths in his trunk and besides a new gun and a revolver.
The officer wanted to know why he had brought these with, to which Edward
in all simplicity replied, that in England he was told that in America
there were a lot of Indians, bears, wolves, and that his father wanted
him to be well prepared in case of attack. The officer sympathized with the young man, but the customs laws had
to be conformed to so Edward had to pay ten dollars in duty on the gun
and five dollars on the revolver. Afterwards he found out that he could
have saved paying the duty if he had fired off the gun before leaving
England. That, of course, was a little comfort after fifteen dollars had
disappeared into the officer’s pockets. Well, there is no use to
cry over spilt milk, Edward thought so he locked the trunk and soon they
were on the way to New York. As they were nearing the city they heard
bells ringing and who would blame them after all the excitement. To their
surprise they were told it was the bell on a locomotive. In England they
have no bells on the engines. At the pier the group was met by a man, who acted for the previously
mentioned gentleman. This agent had located farmers. Who wanted young
men to work for them. In other words these farmers were to show these
young men in America what of farming. The same night they left by train to Rochester, Minnesota. On the way
they stopped at the Niagara Falls and what a magnificent sight to see
such a volume of water flowing over such a height. The boys were also
allowed to go down a winding stairway leading right in under the great
whirlpool farther down the river. From Niagara Falls they continued on
the Northwestern Railway to Rochester, Minn., where they arrived at four
o’clock in the morning. Here they were taken to a hotel and were
told they could sleep until eight o’clock that morning. After breakfast
they took a walk around town. Rochester was not a very large city in 1882.
At the time the boys were there a new fair ground was in making. About
ten o’clock they were summoned to the hotel by the gentlemen and
his agent to meet the American farmers. This was a meeting the boys had
looked forward to with great anticipation. Returning to the hotel they
were fifteen chairs and the boys were asked to be seated. The gentlemen
and his agent were in the adjoining room. Suddenly the door into the boys’
room opened and in walked fifteen American farmers, some were tall and
heavy set, others slim. The farmers began asking questions. A farmer living
a short distance from Rochester walked over to Edward and began talking
to him. He remarked that Edward looked like a husky fellow and he wanted to know
whether he had ever worked on a farm or not. Also whether he could milk
or not. To these questions Edward replied he had ever worked for three
years on a farm in England and during that time he had helped with the
milking and also that he had done some milking before that. What Edward
told about milking sealed his fate, for the farmer said: "You are
the lad for me. Come into the next room and we shall fix out the contract."
Together with the farmer he went into the other room, where the gentlemen
and his agent had the contract all made out for Edward to sign. The contract
red as follows: "I Edward Gould Tripp agree to work for Mr. So and
so, and so shall pay me four dollars a month for a year. In case the said
Mr. E.G.Trpp leaves before the twelve months are up, the money he has
coming will be forfeited." That was in substance the wording of the
contract with the name of the farmer omitted. Mosquitoes were Very Numerous when Tall grass Covered Wilikin County
Prairies E. G. Tripp’s Adventure in the New World Edward was afraid that if he quit he would lose what he had coming, to
which the hired man replied: "Never mind the little money, I shall
get you a place where you will get at least twelve dollars a month."
Edward forth with picked up enough courage to ask the farmer for a raise,
but his words fell on "deaf" ears. He quit the place and of
course, lost what little he had coming. However, he found work at another
farm, near Elgin, Minn., where he worked for a while. Ready to fight Indians.
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
