Hurley Family Emigrant Letters (Ref. U170)

U170/

voice in managing our City affairs’. Hopes peace and prosperity will come to poor old Ireland and notes that Ireland is not included in tourist travel tours to Europe. 2pp

30 November 1925 Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his niece Mrs. Mary Deasy (Mary Hurley), Timoleague, County Cork. He is glad to hear that she has been married. Advises that ‘Life does not entirely depend on riches’ and notes that her husband ‘must be an interesting companion as he can talk of American conditions as well as home affairs’. Denis says he has never seen the Statue of Liberty in New York nor Liberty Hall in Philadelphia, and New York in 1873 had only half of its present population. He cannot say the same thing about ‘his adopted little city of Carson’. He spoke with his Bishop who returned from a Holy Year pilgrimage in Ireland and who ‘…says the state of Ireland is much improved…’. Asks whether they own their own farm ‘without any landlord which was the plague of the old conditions.’ Says he was in Timoleague ‘a couple of times – once at a fair and once at a funeral.’ 2pp 10 June 1926 Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his brother John Hurley, Tawnies, Clonakilty, County Cork. ‘Our brother Michael died in San Francisco last evening…He died with friends with whom he was making his home for upward of 30 years. His wants were seen to both spiritually and corporealy…The quartet of four brothers living around the 80s in years is now broken…’ 1p 29 June 1927 Letter from Denis Hurley, Carson City, Nevada to his niece, Mary Deasy, Timoleague, County Cork. He is very sorry to hear of Tim’s death and is now ‘more in the world alone than Lord Byron was when he wrote the lines.’ He heard of ‘poor Ryan’s death by a wire from the city…he was to be married in a little while…’. Hopes that Mary’s sister Kate did not tell his parents the manner of his death. He is glad Mary’s husband is ‘contented and liking farming on his native ground. Many young people run away over seas thinking that all was roseate abroad. Some succeed…others become roust-abouts and bums. Prudence, industry, frugality and sobriety are essential qualities to success’. A visit to Ireland ‘was a dream I often indulged in…but circumstances did not enable me to make it