Series 7 - Masterson family letters

2 sub-series

The original manuscripts of the Masterson Letters are located in the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort. The copies of the letters were collected by Kerby A. Miller in 1973-75, from which he created the transcripts. Per letter of 12 March 1990 from Mary Margaret Bell, Manuscripts Curator, Kentucky Historical Society, 'I feel confident that the donor is now deceased. We are not sure of the exact provenance of the group. The Mastersons may be ancestors of one of our early officials, as other individuals' papers came to us in that way in the Society's early days. I don't have any information, however, to document that possibility. I do think it is possible that these papers have been here eighty or ninety years, so the trail from their arrival is very cold.'

Materials pertaining to the Masterson family letters, which consists of 16 letters from 1849-1852 between members of the Masterson family in Meath and Kilkenny to those who emigrated and settled in locations in Kentucky and Massachusetts. These letters were collected by Kerby A. Miller in 1973-1975.
Central to the series are the eight Michael Masterson letters. Michael Masterson emigrated circa 1849 and lived in Bourbon and Scott counties in Kentucky. The majority of the letters related to him are from relatives still living in Ireland, including Masterson's daughter, Jane. Jane was separated from him at the time of his emigration, several years prior to the time these letters were written. These letters describe living conditions in Ireland and the desires of the writers and other family members to join Masterson in America. Three additional letters are from Masterson's cousin John Muldoon and brother Bryan Masterson, who were already in America.

An additional letter from Bessie Masterson McManus dated 24 December 1850 is located at P155/40/3/1.