Series 3 - William H. Downes letters

134pp

William O'Shaughnessy donated the Downes letters to Kerby A. Miller via letter of 2 February 1978 for duplication and publication, after which Miller returned the letters. O'Shaughnessy died in December 1978. O'Shaughnessy's niece, Delia McNamara, donated the original manuscripts to Miller per her letter of 12 October 1989.

Materials pertaining to William H. Downes, the author of two letters written to members of the O'Shaughnessy family in County Limerick in 1887 and in 1913. Per Kerby A. Miller: 'The donor sent what appears to be a newspaper clipping. The clipping contains a drawing of Wm. H. Downes. It also contains some biog. information, but (with the exception of involvement in the temperance cause in the U.S.) that information does not seem to refer to Downes, but rather to another man, a priest who lived elsewhere. Consequently, the only information I have at present is derived from the two Downes letters. Donor says he emig. in 1852.' In the first letter, 'Downes reported that he worked for the Tea Company and was busy starting a new store, presumably in Brooklyn, which seems to have been his home address as well. Had recently been a delegate to a huge national temperance societies' convention in Philadelphia, where 70,000 men marched in the temperance parade. The convention had lasted one week. There he was elected Provincial Vice President of New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey.'
The series contains: Miller’s biographical notes on Downes; Miller’s transcripts of the two Downes letters; the original letter manuscripts provided by Delia McNamara in 1989; correspondence between Miller and McNamara including a photograph of Downes; photocopies of the letters provided to Miller in 1978 by William O’Shaughnessy; Miller’s correspondence with fellow researchers attempting to obtain information regarding Downes; and photocopies of late 19th books on temperance organisations featuring mentions of Downes provided by Marion Casey.