Owen O'Callaghan, Philadelphia, to his mother Kate O'Callaghan, Kilmacthomas, Waterford, 26 March 1884
Description
Describes the loneliness that emigrants encounter when there's no-one to meet them when they first arrive. But he also describes a rich Irish-American social life in Philadelphia, which helped to mitigate the loneliness. Singles out the Waterford County Society's St. Patrick's Day ball, and reports how happy he was to receive gifts of shamrocks on that day. Mentions some of the principal Irish occupations in Philadelphia, and reports that he and sister Bridget are both content with their jobs: Owen worked for a blacksmith, and Bridget appears to have been a house-servant in a "nice family". Mentions the political situation in Ireland, especially the nationalist victories over the landlords' candidates in the recent elections of Poor Law Guardians.
Date
26/03/1884
Date Issued
27/03/2023
Resource Type
Text
Archival Record Id
p155/1/1/1
Publisher
University of Galway
Extent
5pp
Topic
Callaghan/ O'Callaghan Letters
Geographic
Philadelphia (city),Philadelphia (county),Pennsylvania,United States,Fallagh (townland),Kilmacthomas,Waterford (county),Ireland
Temporal
Nineteenth century,Eighteen eighties
Genre
Transcript,Reproduction
Note
Transcript, title and description by Professor Kerby Miller. Colloquial place name 'Fallow' is captured as contemporary 'Fallagh (townland)' in location metadata fields. Surname 'Callaghan' sometimes appears as 'O'Callaghan' across letters in this series.