Hurley Family Emigrant Letters (Ref. U170)

U170/

Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his brother John. Recounts the circumstances of his wife’s death from Typhoid. ‘She was sick since about the 1 st July…[I hoped] she would pull through like so many other sick spells’. ‘We had the sympathy of the community…She had a fine large funeral with impressive church services…Neither of us had a relative present.’ Michael may come and stay with him for some time. ‘The only drawback in our lives was her frequent sick spells. It was sad news to be sending to her poor old mother in Ireland’. 2pp 28 March 1911 Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his brother John. He is glad to know John and family are well. Says he owes a letter to each of his three brothers just now. He has not yet written to Father O’Flynn in Portland. Notes that civil service examinations are difficult with so many candidates for a limited number of places. San Francisco is ‘getting busy preparing for the Panama Fair Exhibit’. 1pp 12 July 1912 Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his brother John. He does not do much letter writing for some time past’ having lost some of the ambition of my younger days’. Has been steadily employed [in a prison] since 1 st December . Mentions Father Gartland who is visiting Ireland for the first time in 25 years. He has not heard from Michael for a month or two. Notes that ‘The girls are good correspondents…interested in the Fair and Irish Feis’. Refers to the ‘Home Rule struggle’ in Ireland, ‘they must not let it flag until victory perches on their banner’. He is involved in local politics and likes ‘to show that an Irishman is able to take a hand in affairs of government’. 2pp 9 November 1912 Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his brother John. He spent 10 days in San Francisco, which is ‘fine again after the havoc wrought by fire and quake in 06’ . Father Gartland returned recently from a trip to Ireland and reported a ‘great improvement in the condition of people. meals, tea, etc, 5 times a day now’. He stood for election again but despite a ‘strenuous political campaign’ was ten votes short of gaining office. Remarks that the Home Rule debate is still going on in Parliament, and hopes ‘we all live to see the day when Ireland’s lawmakers will meet in College Green’. Mentions the Turkish war which is drawing many Greeks and Slavonians back from America. ` 2pp