Series 4 - McElderry letters

3 sub-series

Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the McElderry letters from copies of the letters provided by PRONI. Letters were reproduced for Miller by PRONI from microfilmed copies [reference number MIC 26A] and from original manuscripts [reference number T2414].

Materials pertaining to the McElderry letters, a set of 33 letters written between 1795 and 1867 by members of the McElderry family, natives of Ballymoney, County Antrim who emigrated to the United States.
Per Kerby A. Miller: ‘The family's home farm was in Leitrim Townland, near Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. The grandfather of the emigrants to Virginia was Robert McElderry; their grandmother (Robert's second wife) was Sally Lyle. Robert and Sally had 3 sons: Robert, a doctor in Garvagh, who fought for the patriots in the South American revolutions, settled in Jamaica, and died c. 1821; Samuel, who inherited the home farm; and Thomas, father of the emigrants to Virginia. Thomas McElderry, the father, was a successful grain, pork, and flour merchant in Ballymoney, at first in partnership with Samuel McCurdy. Thomas died in 1872. The family was staunch Presbyterian and had been affiliated with the United Irishmen in the 1790s. Robert McElderry, the first of the brothers to emigrate, was born in 1829. Had had some experience in retail trade before he emigrated. Arrived in the U.S. on 1 May 1849. Stayed for a short time in Baltimore before moving to Lynchburg, VA. Died in the Confederate Army, probably in late 1864 or early 1865. William McElderry, born 1831, had experience in retail trade and bookkeeping in a large firm in Coleraine, Co. Derry before emigrating to join his brother in 1853. According to the biog. notes, he died shortly after his last surviving letter home, written in 1867. Neither brother married.’
Letters P155/46/4/1/1 through 19 were written by a branch of the family that emigrated earlier and descended from Thomas McElderry, brother of the grandfather Robert. Thomas was born in 1758, emigrated to Philadelphia in 1772, became a successful merchant, fathered 16 children, and lived in Baltimore.
The series consists of transcripts and reproductions of the McElderry letters, Kerby A. Miller’s biographical notes on the McElderry family, and Miller’s research on the family, and Miller’s correspondence with historical organisations regarding the family.