Series 6 - Hennessy family letters

223pp

Copies of the Hennessy letters were donated by Victor Hennessy, great-grandson of Bryan Hennessy and owner of the originals, to Kerby A. Miller via post on 20 September 1990 for publishing. Copies were previously provided by the Hennessy family to Kevin Whelan of the National Library of Ireland in 1985, who forwarded these copies to Miller.

[This series contains outdated attitudes or language that does not reflect the current views or positions of the University of Galway Library. Reader discretion is advised.]
Materials pertaining to numerous letters belonging to the Hennessy family originally from New Ross, County Wexford and written between 1875-1899. Most of the letters were sent to Bryan Hennessy, the family patriarch at the time and a strong farmer and shopkeeper in New Ross. Letters were sent from locations spread out through North America, including: Thomas Thorpe in Butte County, California; Edward Commins in San Francisco, California; Minnie Commins in Sullivan Island, South Carolina; Bridget Kanny (Canny) in Utica, New York; Mathew Larkin in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Patrick Nugent in Butte County, California; Jenny Hennessy in Hampton, Virginia; a man named John in Newfoundland; a man listed as A. Sanders in Chicago, Illinois; William Doody in Twinsburgh, Ohio; Maggie Hennessy in Hartford, Connecticut; Moose Burns in Fremont, Michigan; James Hennessey in Old Point, Virginia; and others with obscured names or locations.
The series includes: typed and handwritten transcripts of the letters; photocopies of the original letters; Kerby A. Miller's correspondence with researchers and Hennessey family members; various drafts of typed transcripts of the Maggie Hennessy letters; copies of photos of Hennessy's on South Street in New Ross, County Wexford with family members out front; photocopied pages of secondary sources related to Wexford; and Miller's research notes.

Further research on Maggie Hennessy can be found in P155/46/2.