Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1832-1997 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
78pp
Context area
Archival history
All four letters were published during 1832 in the Connaught Telegraph (Castlebar, County Mayo), in the issues of 4 March (Gaughan), 21 March (McNally), and 4 April (Gawley, Guildea). Dr. Gerry Moran of the University of Galway, made and provided to Miller the initial typescripts of the letters.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This series consists primarily of typescripts of four letters, written in 1832, by recent emigrants from near Crossmolina and Ballina towns, County Mayo: in chronological order, by John Cawley, writing from St. John's, New Brunswick; Martin Gaughan, from Oxford Township, Upper Canada (now Ontario); Patt Guildea, from Pottsville, Pennsylvania; and John McNally, from East Point, Prince Edward Island. Per Kerby A. Miller, the letters are significant for representing Irish emigration to British North America in the early 1830s and discussing the economic and social conditions emigrants to this part world faced at the time.
The series also includes: Kerby A. Miller's research correspondence with, and extensive research and publications (on Patt Guildea), by Thomas Guildea Cannon of Mequon, Wisconsin; and Miller's research notes from Irish primary sources.