52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: John O’Connell
Most of my O’Connell research has focused on John O’Connell. He is my 2nd great grandfather and was the first of our O’Connell family to come to the states (well his father did as well). John was born on 27 Dec 1857 in Garraveasogue, Dromtariffe, County Cork, Ireland to Denis and Ellen (Fehine) Connell. John was the 6th child born to this couple. He followed siblings; Ann (b. 1840), John (b. 1841), Michael (b. 1843), Eugene (b. 1845), Ellen (b. 1849) and Johanna (b. 1854).
John and his father Denis, immigrated to the States in the 1860s. At this point, no ship records have been found. I currently have no clue who all came to the States and when exactly they came over. According to data collected through the 1925 New York state census, John naturalized in Rutland, VT in 1874. Because his naturalization was early, I do not expect that those records will hold a ton of information.
John married Bridget Curran prior to 1880 (no record has been found to date). The couple had 7 children:
- Harriet b. 1880, New Jersey
- Elizabeth b. 1881, New Jersey
- Dennis b. 1883, New York
- John b. 1885, New York
- Daniel b. 1887, New York
- Katherine b. 1888, New York
- Mary b. 1893, New York
John lost his wife two years after their youngest daughter was born, in 1895. He continued to raise his children on his own living in New York for a majority of his life. The family lived in Kingsbury, Middle Granville, Hudson Falls, and Glens Falls, New York.
On 9 April 1915, in Hudson Falls, NY, John married for a second time to Marie (Denis) Goyette, a widow. She was the daughter of Joseph and Harriet (Labounty) Denis. After their marriage, the couple lived in Nassau, NY and Fairhaven, VT.
Over the years, John worked in the quarry in Granville, NY and the paper mill in Hudson Falls, NY.
John died 26 Sep 1931 in Fair Haven, Rutland, VT and is buried in Glens Falls, NY (you can view his Tombstone Tuesday and obituary with these links)
John has been blogged about numerous times and you find more posts about him here.
