Revised 24 August, 2004

William Connelly

There's a William Connelly buried at St Joseph's (Old Irish) Cemetery on 9 June 1883.

There is a probate (Hamilton County) entry of 11 July 1883 naming Walter Granger as administrator of a William Connelly's estate. This entry indicates that William was killed by a train, and the probate proceedings were going to be suspended until a lawsuit, brought by Granger, was settled.

So I checked for newspaper articles concerning the accident:.

7 June 1883 Times-Star note names William Connelly, age 70, living at 5th and Locke as being hit by a train.

8 June 1883 Cincinnati Enquirer article on page 6. Wm Connelly was struck at about 11:15 AM, and died at his home at Sixth and Lock at 3 PM. He had a wife and grown sons and daughters. He worked for the street cleaning department. He was age 72.

8 June 1883 Cincinnati Daily Commercial article on page 2. His home address was 187 E sixth, and was age 72.

9 June 1883 Times-Star reports that the coroner's inquest in the death of William Connolly will be held on Monday at 9 am.

 

Pam Adkins acquired a copy of his death certificate. According to that, he died on 7 June 1883 of a railroad accident, was born in Ireland, was married, age 72, and resided at 187 E 6th St.

St Joseph's Cemetery lists the burial for a William Connelly on June 9, 1883, residence was 187 E Sixth, age 76, died of an accident, and he was from Galway, parents are Patrick and Mary.

Census data:

In 1860, a possible family looks like this:

William Connelly 60, teacher in Catholic school, born in Ireland

Mary, 35, born in Ireland

Mary, 8, born in England

Mary, 8, born in England

Winnifred, 5, born in Ohio

John, 4, born in Ohio

James, 8/12, born in Ohio

Despite the double entry for Mary, age 8, her age and the age of James agrees favorably with what is known. When Mary (then a Heaney) was buried, her birth place was listed as London on the cemetery records.

In 1870, there's a possible census entry for a William Conley, age 60 on roll 1209, page 50:

Conley William, age 60 born in Ireland

Mary, age 40, born in Ireland

Mary, age 19, born in England

James, age 11, born in Ohio

 

If we ignore the ages of the parents, the ages and birthplaces of Mary and James agree with other information we have. John and Winifred aren't here anymore, suggesting death dates for them of between 1860 and 1870.

This William is also living quite close to the Flannerys, where Anne is a daughter about James' age.

In 1880, James is in his sister Mary's home, and there is a listing for this family:

Wm. CONNALLY 70, born in Ireland

Mary A. CONNALLY 67, born in Ireland

 

Court Records

Despite the destruction of the court records in a courthouse fire, a single microfiche was found that contains some journal entries concerning the lawsuit. Most of the image is unreadable, though some dates indicating some court activity can be read. So I used newspapers to see if the events of this case were reported.

 

11 July 1883 Granger named Administrator. Article found in Enquirer, 12 July 1883, page 6. $10,000 lawsuit filed. William killed on the 7th of June on Front street between Washington and Collard.

19 Sept 1884 Petition Filed

29 October 1884 Rules issued. Patrick Kennedy and John Collins are mentioned in the surviving court record.

24 November 1884 Jury sworn . Article in Commercial on 25 November 1884 announcing that the case was being heard.

25 Nov 1884 Some activity. From the Daily Commercial, 26 Nov 1884: "In the suit of WL Granger, administrator of Wm Connelly, against the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railroad Company, a motion was made by defendants counsel that the jury be instructed to return a verdict for the defendant. The motion was granted"

26 Nov 1884 Some activity. Newspaper entry not found.

6 Dec 1884 Some activity. Newspaper article not found.

3 January 1885 Some activity. Newspaper article not found.

12 February 1885 Some activity. Newspaper article not found.

9 May 1889 Settlement reached ($200). Entry in Probate Court records found. Newspaper article not found.

27 May 1897 Motion to dismiss. Newspaper article not found.

June 1897 Some activity

No further newspaper stories can be found, nor can other court records. I do believe, however, that a concerted search at the Clerk's office can turn up some of the records concerning this case.

 

William's wife Mary

The next step was to find the death of William's wife Mary, even though I had no idea when she died other than sometime after William's death. Records supplied by St Joseph's Cemetery suggested no candidate for a Mary Connelly, but she could be l isted as Mary Connolly, Conley, or some other spelling variant. A search of the cemetery's records on film eventually resulted in finding this entry:

4 February, 1888 Mary Connolly

13 York, age 61

Nativity is listed as Galway

Parents are Jas and Winifred Donnelly

Buried in Section 13, Row 4, Lot 36

For an image of this entry ,click here, but be aware it is 547K large.

This burial plot also contains Anne Flannery, Cornelius Flannery, and James Connelly, a three-year-old son of James and Ann Connelly.

At the same time, a William Connolly was removed from the old cemetery and buried in the same lot. The grave he was removed from is the same as that shown in 1883 for "our" William.

Searching in Ireland

William Connelly is apparently the son of Patrick and Mary Connelly, and Mary Donnelly was a daughter of James and Winifred Donnelly; both are said to have come from County Galway. I can't say for sure whether William and Mary married in Galway, then left for England, or they met in England and married there.

Griffith's Primary Valuation can be used to look, first, at the spelling variants used in Ireland about that time (1848-1864):

Donelly

3

Conally

3

Conealy

3

Donnelly

2370

Connally

5

Coneely

3

Donnely

3

Connelly

264

Connealy

17

Donnolly

33

Connolly

3186

Conneelly

2

O'Donnghaile

0

Connoly

8

Conneely

485

Donely

0

Conolly

81

Kenneely

2

Donley

0

O'Conghaile

0

Connealy

0

O'Donnelly

0

O'Connolly

0

The spellings represent the possible variants that might be found in Irish records, and the numbers are the counts of families found in Griffith's (GPV) with that spelling. Notice the "Conneely" spelling (and pronunciation) and some of it's variants. Awareness of these variants is important for research in the records.

 

Name variants in County Galway

Here are the counts of these name for County Galway, which is as good a place as anywhere to start:

Donnelly

45

Donnolly

1

Conally

2

Connally

5

Connelly

19

Connolly

363

Connoly

1

Conealy

1

Coneely

1

Connealy

3

Conneely

475

Conneelly

1

Places in County Galway where both family names can be found

By looking at the GPV, we can compile a list of those places (parishes and townlands) that contained both Donnellys and Connellys. This isn't any kind of a guarantee that William and Mary came from one of these townlands, but at least at the parish level there's a pretty good chance.

Both families
Parish Location
Addergoole Ummeracly West
Athenry Loughaunenaghan
Ballynacourty Tonroe
Ballynakill Conicar
Ballynakill Coolfin
Ballynakill Dooros
Ballynakill Garrynaglogh
Ballynakill Gut Island in Lough Derg
Ballynakill Kylemore
Ballynakill Mullaghglass
Ballynakill Priest's Island
Clonfert T/Laurencetown
Donanaghta T/Eyrecourt/Coate's Lane
Kilkerrin Cloonkeenoughter
Killaan Rathglass
Killererin Dangan Oughter
Killererin Danganbeg
Killererin Slievegorm
Killian Rushestown
Killimorbologue Moat
Lickmolassy T/Portumna/New St.
Liskeevy Belmont
Moylough Bovinion
Rahoon Freeport
Rahoon Trusky East
Rahoon Village of Barna
St. Nicholas Ballybaanbeg
Stradbally Hillpark
Templetogher Carrowderry
Templetogher Corralough
Templetogher Kilbeg
Tynagh Moannakeeba West

Two entries in GPV which are particularly interesting are a Winifred Donnelly in Kylemore, parish Ballynakill, and Trusky East in parish Rahoon which contains both a James Donnelly and a Patrick Conneely; Patrick and James are the given names of William and Mary's parents.

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