American Life

Mrs Felton was the wife of John Felton, a private teacher and the author of An Improved Method of Performing Commercial Calculations (c.1837). The Feltons and their children, one a babe-in-arms at the outset of their journey, spent two years in America in the mid-1830s, residing first in New York City before moving to a small estate with around 50 acres of land on Long Island. During their stay the family suffered prolonged periods of ill-health in the form of fever and sickness resulting from the climate, and the publication of this travelogue which first appeared in 1838 after their return to the United Kingdom was in all probability conceived as a means of replenishing their diminished financial resources. Subtitled A Narrative of Two Years' City and Country Residence in the United States, it is reprinted here from a revised edition of 1843 to which the author has added practical advise on emigration. Includes a frontispiece showing a plan of New York City.