Series 1 - James Dixon letters

2 sub-series

Emily O'Brien donated the letters to Dr. Arnold Schrier for duplication, publication, and return. Schrier returned the original manuscripts to O'Brien's niece, Mary O'Brien Corcoran, via letter of 29 August 1997, and donated the copies to Kerby A. Miller, his collaborator, the same day. Miller had previously obtained photocopies of the letters on 26 September 1973 from the National Library of Ireland [call number MS 8347].

[This series contains outdated attitudes or language that does not reflect the current views or positions of the University of Galway Library.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 the James Dixon letters, written between 1855-1868. Arnold Schrier, a collaborator of Kerby A. Miller's, originally collected the James Dixon letters.
According to Kaye Tomlin, cited in this series, James Dixon was 'born in Ireland of a middle class family, emigrated to the United States around 1848, when he was eighteen years old. His reasons for leaving home are not clear, but either before he left, or perhaps on a return visit, he became involved in the anti-British Irish nationalist movement that led to a fear of his returning to Ireland. Once in America, he spent several years in California, and by 1855 had established himself in Philadelphia as a merchant, sailing regularly between that city, Jamaica and New York City. He did well enough in all of his endeavors to be able to send money continually to his family, enabling them to survive the harsh economic conditions of Ireland during the years of the Potato Famine. Toward the end of 1855, Dixon came back to California, having decided that his best opportunity for success lay in the growing western state.' After returning to California, Dixon purchased Fort Ross and 7,000 acres of land in Northern California in 1867, from which he operated a large sawmill.