hidden-metaphor

Manx Genealogy

Re: Gelling Sayle Barque Ocean 1827

I recently acquired a work payment receipt dated May 30, 1829 for work done by a "Paul Gelling" on the Ohio & Erie Can al in Cleveland, Ohio. It was for $10.90 for 21 days work (this is close to the standard rate of fifty cents a day for laborers). He was working on "lock pit No. 44" which was the last lock before the can al entered the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland. Based on the other material I have this was almost certainly pick & shovel work digging the hole for the lock. Gelling's receipt was hand written (as opposed to the more typical part printed receipts) and signed with an "X" suggesting he was illiterate. So a little more information on the life of a Manx immigrant in Ohio (the nearby village of Perry in Lake County Ohio is well known for its Manx settlers and so may have been a reason he came here).