My Brickwall Ancestor - John O'Connell

In spending time today reading AnceStories older posts and I came across one on blogging about our Brickwall Ancestors and why we do not put out all the information we have and maybe others will be able to help. What an idea. I know for one, I have mentioned mine here and there. But I have never really put all my information out there. So today I am taking a stab at it. 

I am looking for John's parents and to see if I can find where he is really from, the information from census records is conflicting.

John O'Connell

1900 Census 

Enumeration District 138, Supervisors District 5, Sheet 10A

Sandy Hill Village, Kingsbury Town, Washington County, NY

7 Mill Street

John is head of house, M, W, born Nov 1857, age 42, widowed, born in NY, both parents born in NY, he is Grinder at the Pulp Mill.

Also in the house are:

Elizabeth, daughter, F, W, b. Sept 1880, age 19, single, born in NJ, parents born in NY.

Dennis, son, M, W, b. Nov 1882, age 17, single, born in NY, parents born in NY, he is a day laborer.

John W, son, M, W, b. Apr 1885, age 15, single, born in NY, parents born in NY, he is a laborer.

Daniel, son, M, W, b. Apr 1887, age 12, single, born in NY, parents born in NY, he is at school.

Kate, daughter, F, W, b. Dec 1888, age 11, single, born in NY, parents born in NY, she is at school.

Mary, daughter, F, W, b. Dec 1893, age 6, single, born in NY, parents born in NY.

1910 Census (very hard to read)

Enumeration District 109, Supervisors District 6, sheet 9A

Hudson Falls Village, Kingsbury Township, Washington County, NY

John is head of house, M, W, age 52, widowed, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland, he is a laborer at the pulp mill.

Also in the house are:

Mrs. Hattie Langdon, daughter, F, W, age 30, Married, born in NJ, parents born in Ireland. (she had been married for 11 years)

Fred Langdon, son in law, M, W, age 35, Married, born in NJ, parents born in Ireland.

Dan, son, M, W, age 22, single, born NY, parents born in Ireland, operator in bag mill.

Burial information:

John died 26 Sept 1931 and is buried in St Paul's/St Mary's Cemetery in Hudson Falls, NY. He was 73 years old. This has been confirmed with Dorothy at St Paul's/St Mary's Church through the listing of his wife Bridget Curran (who is not buried there) on his records. Also buried here are his son John W, and his wife Beatrice. Daughter Hattie, and son Dennis. There are a total of 5 O'Connells buried here, Marie is the last one (I have not been able to place her in the family yet). They have no other records on this family.  They did find it odd that there are Irish buried in this French cemetery.

I have been trying to get a copy of death records for any of them through Kingsbury Town Hall, unfortunately, I never get an answer on the phone. I will continue to try that way and via email. 

I have not been able to find John in the 1880 Census (he should have been in NJ, which is where his daughters were born that year) and have a few possibilities for earlier census records, but need to have more family information on him before making a guess as to which he really is. 

I have also spoke to Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church in  Granville, NY, which is where Bridget O'Connell (John's wife is buried). The only other information they have is their son Dennis baptismal information. The only thing they could tell me is that Bridget might have a sister named Catherine, but they are not positive. She was listed on something they have. 

Any suggestions are welcome. 

Reply from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church

Today in the mail I finally received a few papers. One is a listing of 1883 Baptisms. Dennis O'Connell was baptized on the 16th. His sponsor's were Edward and Mary Leonard. I wonder if they are related in some way. Leonard is not a name I have come across before.

The other paper was a listing of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery, Granville, Washington County, New York

Bridget (Curran) O'Connell (wife of John) 1862 - 1895.

Need to really plan a trip to NY, I would really like to visit Washington, Warren and Jefferson Counties.

Update on John and Bridget (Curran) O'Connell

I called Our Lady of Mount Carmel today for my update on their search for my ancestors. So the good news is they found Dennis O'Connell listed in their baptismal book and they will photo copy it and mail it to me. However, they found nothing for marriage records on John and Bridget. The only information she could give me on Bridget Curran is that she was born in 1862 and died in 1895. 

They also found the name Catherine Curran listed which is probably a sister to Bridget. This makes sense because many of the children seemed to have been named after family members. John and Bridget had a daughter named Catherine as well.  I have notated this and will see if I can find Bridget and Catherine in a census as children.

Elizabeth Pratt Lacey (Lacy)

In my quest to find O'Connell descendants, in one of the many obits I have read online, I came across Elizabeth Pratt Lacey (who is Catherine O'Connell Pratt's daughter). Elizabeth Pratt married Alton V Lacey. On Ancestry.com, there are a few family tree's that date back to the 1600's. What a wealth of information his family has. I have sent out many emails to all invested in those tree's. I have received a few responses, basically stating they would get back to me, love to get info I have or to contact another person (from whom they got their info). So I will continue to email these people until I get a response.  still hoping for the connection that her mother is indeed the daughter of John and Bridget (Curran) O'Connell. 

Will let you know what this turns up as well. I do feel like I am turning into some type of history detective. Just looking for the facts. I do hope this info proves to be correct, otherwise I have a ton of information on the wrong family.

Finding Bridget (Curran) O'Connell

So, I'm still wondering why Bridget and John (GG Paternal Grandparents) are not buried together. I sent an email to nygeorge on ancestry.com. This person seemed to answer a lot of queries and I figured maybe I could get a little help. 

Boy, was I right. She found for me that Bridget is buried at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Granville, NY (which is close to the Vermont boarder).

Now, here's the odd thing, this is the church G Grandpa Dennis was baptized at. I have an original letter from the church that I believed was used to verify the birth of Dennis for something. This church does not have a lot of information on line. But one day, I will make the call to see if they have any other family records (like marriage, or other birth's). 

I will let you know if I come up with anything else from here as well.