Digital Archive
Molly [Mrs. John] Gaffney, Randalstown townland, Donaghpatrick parish, County Meath, to her daughter, Margaret Gaffney, Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., New York, 4 July 1844
Luaigh an doiciméad seo Amharcóir IIIF
Bailiúchán Gaffney-McNally Letters
Title Molly [Mrs. John] Gaffney, Randalstown townland, Donaghpatrick parish, County Meath, to her daughter, Margaret Gaffney, Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., New York, 4 July 1844
Description Molly Gaffney was prompted to write by a report she heard from Pat Dowd, a poor returned emigrant, who related that her daughter, Margaret, was in bad health or impoverished. Another son, Paddy, had died in America, leaving a wife and two children in Randalstown. Family occupations are unknown, but the letter's fluency suggests bourgeois status. It illustrates Catholic apprehension, on the eve of the Great Famine, for Ireland's future due to: continued economic stagnation; the prospect of poor potato harvests; and, most important, the collapse of the Repeal movement and the imprisonment of Catholic nationalist hero, Daniel O'Connell.
Date 04/07/1844
Date Issued 27/03/2023
Cineál Acmhainne Text
Archival Record Id p155/6/2
Publisher University of Galway
Extent 5pp
Topic Gaffney-McNally Letters
Geographic Randalstown (townland),Meath (county),Ireland,Potsdam (town),St. Lawrence (county),New York (state),United States
Temporal Nineteenth century,Eighteen forties
Genre Transcript,Reproduction
Note Title, description and transcript text by Professor Kerby Miller.
Creator / Author Name Molly Gaffney