Series 10 - Hogan-Doyle-McCarthy-Malone letters

3 sub-series

Mary Teresa Kelly of the Doyle family bequested copies of the Hogan-Doyle-McCarthy-Malone letters to Seamus Murphy of Carlow, who donated reproductions of the letters to Kerby A. Miller per letter of 29 August 1989. Miller created his transcripts from the reproductions.

Materials pertaining to a set of 12 letters written by Michael Hogan, Lewis Doyle, and Mary Malone (née Kelly, later McCarthy) to their relatives Catherine Nolan and John & Anne Doyle in Pollerton, County Carlow between 1851 and 1880. Hogan emigrated to Albany, New York; his cousin Doyle emigrated to Kilkenny, Minnesota; and Malone (whose sister was married to Doyle's cousin) emigrated to Chicago.
Per Kerby A. MIller: 'Unfortunately, I have not yet done detailed research on the Hogan family's background in Ireland, so I cannot determine how many acres they rented. However, the fact that both the Hogans and the Doyles were able to transport their entire families overseas at once, at a cost of £20 or more, clearly indicates that they had been fairly substantial farmers, probably ca. 30-50 acres, and, despite the Famine, still retained sufficient capital to emigrate comfortably. On the other hand, families such as these were not affluent; small misfortunes could beggar them. For example, Mary Malone, one of Michael Hogan's cousins, who remained in Ireland initially, had to leave two of her children in the Carlow Poor House when her husband's death forced her to emigrate to Chicago in 1874.' Later research shows that the family acheived reasonble levels of success in the United States; Malone's letters focus largely on the economic mobility of herself and her children.
The series contains reproductions and transcripts of the letters, extensive research on the authors and their families, and photocopies of secondary research sources.