Migrating Apple Mail in High Sierra Fails

Hi,

I have done my diligent search on all online forums and at my wit's end.

My old Macbook Pro died. The HD hard High Sierra 10.13.1 on it and is fully functional. I bought a new Macbook Pro, installed a clean copy of High Sierra 10.13.2 on it. I have successfully migrated all the necessary software with the exception of Apple Mail.

I have tried both approaches recommended by various online communities. First, I did a manual migration, migrating the appropriate directories and preferences from the Library folders. It did not work, Mail on the new computer does not start up with any of the accounts, messages, settings. Second, I used the Migration Assitant, I migrated all the apps, all the setting from the old HD. Again, no success, Mail starts up without any of the old settings.

All the data that Apple Mail needs in on the new HD now. Yet, Mail recognizes nothing.

The task is seemingly simple: migrate a piece of software so that it would start up on a new hard drive without me having to spend hours setting things up again. It's not a hardware issue. And it can't really be a software issue, I am moving info between the same versions of OS X.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Best,

Gyorgy