Dear Cousin Alex,
I hope things are good in America, I am unfortunately writing with quite a bit of troubles and bad news. Today King George the 4th passed away and was succeeded by his son, William the 4th. It is a sad day in the United Kingdom and a sad day in our own family I am sad to report. As I told you in my last letter my mother and father decided to move us to Bromley to work on a local land barons farm. Unfortunately, my father became incredibly ill with some yet to be diagnosed ailment and has been unable to work for the past 3 months. Living on the barons local plot, our rent has been unreasonably high, and with only me working, we have gone into a great deal of debt. Father's hospital visits and bills only keep rising and until my younger brother is old enough to work, I am not sure how I am supposed to make enough money to keep our poor family going. Mother cries every night and I wonder if she knows something about father's condition that she is keeping from me.
I know it isn't fair to ask you of this, but is there any chance you could come back to England or send us some money? I know things in America haven't always been great for you, but I am almost positive you are doing better than we are. I wouldn't ask you for this if I thought there was another way. I haven't eaten more than 2 meals in a day in a month and I almost out of flour for my mother to make bread. I went to the John (the land baron) yesterday asking if he could lower our rent or just wait a few weeks to collect and he almost kicked us out on the spot. If it weren't for my wonderful family of five I would have killed the man on the spot.
I went into London last week and stumbled upon a horse race. I managed to win a few pounds betting and may have to come back next week if our financial situation continues to spiral downwards. You will be happy to hear that my sister Alice has married one of the local theater groups leads and he seems to be doing quite well and making a name for himself in and around England. I might have to swallow my pride and go ask them for money as I really feel like my world is falling apart.
I hope things are good with you and I await your next letter and hopefully in the next few years a visit. I realize this letter could take months to get to you but I feel like some higher calling has told me to write this to you. I am hoping it does some good as we could really use some good fortune out here in Bromley.
Cheers,
Your Cousin, Conor Xanders
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