Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1845-1991 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 sub-series
Context area
Archival history
Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the Humphreys/Fleming/Taggart letters from copies on microfilm held in Cornell University Archives. The original manuscripts are held in the National Library of Ireland [call number MS 8907].
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials pertaining to a set of 18 letters written between 1845 and 1888 by members of the Fleming families and by Patrick Taggart. The letters were sent to Robert Humphreys, originally of Dublin but who later relocated to England. Primary authors include:
-John Fleming, Robert's uncle, who emigrated to Schuylkill, Philadelphia and owned a team of horses which he used to perform contracts for Philadelphia city government;
-Patrick Taggart, a friend of Robert and skilled carpenter who lived in England with him before emigrating to New York;
-Mary Fleming, John's sister/Robert's aunt, also in Philadelphia, who married George Irwin and had three children before remarrying as Mary Powers;
-Honora Fleming, another Fleming sister who lived with Mary.
Other Fleming siblings are also found in the letters. The series contains the letter transcripts and reproductions, along with Kerby A. Miller, Beth Ruffin McIntyre, and Bruce D. Boling's research on the authors and their families.