Hugh Darcy : Short Biography

Four Darcy siblings emigrated from Kiltubrid Parish, County Leitrim Ireland. Edward Darcy was the oldest, born about 1819. He immigrated to New York about 1847. On 25 February 1850 Edward Darcy left New York on the steamship New Orleans and arrived in San Francisco on 24 September 1850. His occupation is listed variously as seaman, boarding house operator, saloon keeper, fireman and laborer. He married Anne Mulligan, a widow with one son, Thomas Peter Gilhooly.

The other siblings who emigrated to America were Sarah Jane Darcy, born 18 September 1828, John Darcy born about 1831, and Hugh Darcy born 2 February 1835. Because of the large gap in the ages of the Darcy siblings it is probable that there were other children in the family who did not survive. The Darcy siblings apparently emigrated individually and not as a family. Perhaps Edward Darcy sent money back to Ireland for each of his siblings to emigrate. There is no information about the parents emigrating and most probably they died during the famine. The death record of Sarah Jane (Darcy) Early on 21 April 1891 gives her parents' names as Hugh Darcy and Sarah. The Tithe Records of 1833 show a Hugh Darcy living in Gowly Townland, Kiltubrid Parish, County Leitrim. 

In June 1856 Sarah Jane, John and Hugh Darcy migrated to Whiteside County, Illinois where they lived until April 1859 when they moved to Wabasha County, Minnesota and aquired their homesteads where they raised their families. 

Five siblings of the Early/Earley family from Kiltubrid Parish, County Leitrim, emigrated to America also. They were Charles Early, born 15 August 1826, Michael Early, born 29 September 1832, Ellen Early, born 1 January 1840, Edward Early, born 16 November 1841, and Catherine Early, born 13 March 1844. Their parents were Michael Early and Ellen Carrigan (Kerigan). Charles Early married Sarah Jane Darcy. Ellen Early married John Darcy. Charles and Sarah Jane (Darcy) Early, John and Ellen (Early) Darcy and Catherine Early, who married Thomas Murphy, lived at Wabasha County, Minnesota. Michael Early, who married Elizabeth Murphy, and Edward Early, who married Anna Donovan, moved to Moody County, South Dakota where they established their homesteads and raised their families. The parents, Michael Early and Ellen Carrigan, apparently remained in Ireland.