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Michael Welch papers, 1827-1874.
Kislak Center for Special Collections - Manuscripts Ms. Coll. 721
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- Format:
- Other
- Author/Creator:
- Welch, Michael, 1806 or 7-1876.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Immigrants--Ireland--19th century.
- Immigrants.
- Conversion--Protestantism--19th century.
- Conversion.
- Protestantism.
- Ireland.
- Corcoran, Hannah.
- Genre:
- Manuscripts, Irish.
- Manuscripts, American.
- Penn Provenance:
- Sold by Carmen D. Valentino, catalog 67 (2008).
- Physical Description:
- 152 items (155 leaves)
- Arrangement:
- Primarily arranged alphabetically by correspondent, comprising 3 series: I. Documents (1 folder); II. Correspondence (42 folders); III. Copybook and notes (1 folder). Box 1 comprises folders 1-29: documents and correspondence A-Sell; Box 2 comprises folders 30-44: correspondence Smith-W and copybook and notes.
- Place of Publication:
- 1827-1874.
- Biography/History:
- Michael Welch was a missionary for the American and Foreign Christian Union. Born Michael Walsh in 1806 or 1807 to Patrick Walsh, Waterford Co., Ireland, and raised on a leased tract of farmland named Ballitaylor, owned by John Musgrave. Welch immigrated to the United States in 1827, married Deborah Mills in 1830, and established a home in Stamford, Conn. The Welch's had two daughters, Mary Powers Welch Lockwood and Susan M. Welch June. Around 1838--during the Second Great Awakening--Michael Welch converted from Catholicism to Protestantism in Easton, Pa. and became a member of the Methodist Episcopalian Church. Soon after his conversion Welch became a missionary for the American and Foreign Christian Union, converting Catholics--to whom he referred as "Romish people"--to Protestantism. Michael Welch traveled across the country enrolling children in schools and delivering sermons.
- Summary:
- A small collection of papers consisting chiefly of correspondence; a large portion, dating from 1848 to 1873, comprises letters between Michael and Deborah Welch. Michael describes his missionary work, the number of conversions, and his travels. Deborah discusses life at home, such as livestock, coal, etc.; their children, including their health, such as their daughter Susan's critical illiness in 1860; and family. Letters to and from family members in Ireland include: Welch's father, Patrick Walsh, and discussion of Michael Welch's immigration from Ireland to the U.S.; Welch's daughter Mary; his grandson Melancthon C. Lockwood (Michael Welch's successor in the church); his brother Richard Walsh; and nieces and nephews. Letters to and from colleagues in the church describe Michael Welch's conversion: Welch gives a detailed account in an 1857 letter to Brother Fanning. Welch's missionary work is discussed in letters to his wife, the American and Foreign Christian Union, E. R. Fairchild, George McCluskey, and Robert Mack Wallace; some of these exchanges contain letters of introduction for Welch to give sermons during his travels. In his missionary work Welch traveled to many states, including Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia. In an 1867 letter to his wife, Welch describes the ruinous landscape in West Virginia, two years after the end of the Civil War. A notable letter from Sarah P. Carter of Charleston, Mass. in 1853 concerns the publicized case of the conversion of a young Irish immigrant named Hannah Corcoran. The collection also contains critical letters to publications by Welch: one written in 1857 to, most likely, the Provincial Freeman and Weekly Advertiser, states his opinion of slavery and the Catholic Church. Documents include an 1825 contract of apprenticeship for a woolen and linen draper between Cornelius Ryan and Welch; a reference letter signed by friends and neighbors upon Welch's arrival in New York in 1827 (it contains a note for employment at a grocery store); Welch's certificate of U.S. citizenship in 1844; and his last will and testament dated 1866. In addition to letters and documents the papers contain Welch's notes, his transcription of verses from the Bible, and copies of verse.
- OCLC:
- 298438399
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