Family:Thomas Connolly and Mary Gallagher (1)

Thomas Connolly was born say 1810 in Ireland, and died 14 February 1882, probably in New Jersey, most likely in Nutley, Essex County. He married Mary Gallagher. She was born say 1820 in Ireland, and died April 1873 in NJ. Both are buried in the cemetery at St. Peter's R.C. Church, Belleville, Essex Co., NJ.

Thomas Connolly was born in Ireland in 1809/1810. Family tradition places his birth at Tobercurry, Co. Sligo. He married in Ireland Mary Gallagher . They emigrated to America aboard the ship "A.Z." out of Liverpool and arrived in New York on 20 January 1851. On the manifest his occupation is listed as butcher. His age is given as 40. Besides his wife Mary, age 30, and his children Michael, 16; Thomas, 14; William, 7; Pat, 5; Brid[ge]t, 3, and H.J. [Henry L.], infant, he was accompanied by Fanny Narry, 16, whose occupation is listed as "service", and who would marry the younger Thomas, and Mary Glancey, 35, "to husband".

Of the 179 people on the ship, six died during the voyage, including two men in their fifties, a 23-year-old member of the crew, a twenty-year-old female, an infant traveling with its mother, and a seven-year-old girl who was traveling with her eight-year-old sister to rejoin their father.

They bought land at Hudson and New Streets in Newark on 17 June 1853 [all information about deeds comes from the records at the Essex County Hall of Records in Newark.] They bought land on Hudson, near Condit, in Newark, on 1 September 1853. On 18 June 1855 they bought land on Warren Street, near Hudson, in Newark, and on 3 November 1856 they bought land on Barrow's Brook in Orange. On 17 September 1861, this land was sold at auction for payment to Newark Savings Institution. On 22 April 1857 he sold the land on New Street and Barrow's Brook for thirty dollars to Edwin N. Tichenor and wife. On 12 June 1860 he sold the land at Warren and Hudson, Newark, to Peter Gerbert of Orange for one dollar, "in payment for court awarded damages to one Benjamin . . . land being sold being that on Barrow's Brook, Orange, and Warren Sts., Newark." On 20 August 1866, he and wife Mary "of Belleville", sold two parcels of land to Aaron Altmayer of New York, N.Y., for one dollar. The two parcels were 1) Dickinson and Benson Sts. Newark, and 2) Dickinson and North Orange Road near Patrick McCormack's land." On 14 May 1873, "William Connolly, wife Rose, Bridget McEnery and Thomas, her husband, Henry Connolly and Margaret Ann Connolly, heirs of Mary Connolly, deceased wife of Thomas Connolly and Thomas Connolly aforesaid, all of Belleville" sold land to "Patrick Connolly of Camden, County Camden."

He is probably the Thomas Connolly of Orange who applied for a tavern license on 27 September 1858. The 1859 Directory for Orange ("Essex, Union, Hudson Counties New Jersey 1859" on Ancestry.com] lists his business as "Shamrock Hall Hotel".

He was living with Henry Connolly in Franklin [now Nutley], Essex County, when he died on 14 February 1882. According to his death certificate, he died at the age of 76 years, 1 month of chronic diarrhea. He had been resident in the state 20 years, and was a resident of Franklin [now Nutley], NJ.

Eileen Walsh, in a letter to the compiler dated March 5, 1975, says of Thomas and Mary Connolly: As I remember hearing my mother mention them, they lived in Orange and engaged in a wholesale-retail meat business. Owned property on Dublin Street in Orange, including a gathering place called something like "Erin Hall". It could have been a tavern but I think it was more like a dance or party place. I asked a neighbor of an old-time Orange family about Dublin Street and was told the name was changed to New Street. I assumed it had changed names at a later date. Upon looking up New Street, I found it to be a run down OLD street on the other side of town. Getting back to what my Mother told me. After the Civil War there was a depression and the Connollys gave what meat they had to the panic stricken poor and went broke. As a result, they moved to Belleville where he went to work in slaughter houses in nearby Newark.

1.   1870 U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule.

   Thomas Connolley household, 1870 U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule, Belleville, Essex, NJ, Dwelling 380, Family 432, p. 56.
   
   Connelley, Thomas, 63, MW, butcher, $1700 real estate, $300 personal estate, b. Ire., cit.
   -----, Mary, 50, FW, keeping house, b. Ire
   -----, William, 28, MW, works at butchery, b. Ire., cit.
   -----, Rose, 26, FW, at home, n. NJ
   -----, Patrick, 24, MW, no occupation, b. Ire, cit.
   -----, Henry, 20, MW, laborer, b. Ire.
   -----, Mary A., 15, FW, b. NJ
   Dwelling 380, Family 433
   Conneley, Thomas Jr., 35, MW, works on rail road, $200 re, $100 pe, b. Ire., cit.
   -----, Frances, 30, FW, keeping house, b. Ire.
   -----, Frances, 1, FW, b. NJ

2.   1860 U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule.

   Thomas Connolly household, 1860 U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule, Orange (2nd Wd.), Essex, NJ, Dwelling 1037, Family 1500, p. 172-73.
   
   Connelly, Thomas, 50, M, merchant, b. Ire.
   -----, Mary, 45, F, b. Ire, cannot read and write
   -----, William, 18, M, clerk, b. Ire.
   -----, Bridget, 15, F, b. Ire.
   -----, Patrick, 14, M, b. Ire, att. sch.
   -----, Henry, 10, M, b. Ire., att. sch.
   -----, Margaret, 6, F, b. NJ, att. sch.
   Smith, John, 28, M, mason, b. Ire.

3. ↑ Based on the date of birth of the first known child.