Person:Johanna Connors (2)

Johanna Connors was born about 1817-1821 in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland (different sources imply different approximate birth dates). Baptism records for Mallow from 1809-1817 and part of 1820 are missing and no record has yet been found for Johanna (see Delury in County Cork, Ireland).

A Johanna Connors was a sponsor of the baptism of William, illegitimate son of Danl Linehan and Anne Evans in Mallow in March 1843, but it's unclear whether this is the same Johanna as "Connors" was a common name in the area.

There is a possible marriage record between a John Delury and Johanna Conners recorded in Mallow on 7 Nov 1835, with witnesses Edward Conners and Margaret Deluhery . If this record refers to Johanna she would have been aged 18 (at the oldest) when she married. The earliest indication of a child born to John and Johanna is Edward in 1846 (from Edward's 1891 census record) and if the couple married in 1835 it would be unusual for them not to have any children for 10 years after marrying, so perhaps this isn't the right record. Marriages in Mallow 1 Feb 1842-1 Feb 1844 seem to be missing from the records, so perhaps John and Johanna married during this time and the record was lost.

Johanna's married surname was spelled various ways on different records, including De Lowry, Delhery, Delory, Delury and Delowery.

Census records for Johanna's eldest known son Edward give his birthplace as Fulham, London, with the birth date being between 1846 and 1851 (no birth record has yet been found for Edward). So John and Johanna moved from Ireland to London by the late 1840s, possibly to escape starvation in the great potato famine which began in 1845 and eventually killed around a million people. This article on MallowTown.com describes how the famine effected Mallow. More than half the town's population, including John Delowery, were landless labourers and famine relief was meagre and limited, with many of the townspeople dying of starvation.

The first records that definitely refer to John and Johanna are the 1851 birth and death certificates for their son Michael, who died of diarrhoea at just 3 weeks old at 14 Parson's Green Lane, Fulham. Johanna signed the record with an "x", indicating she couldn't write. Michael's death was likely the result of cholera which was prevalent in Parson's Green where many Irish lived in squalid, overcrowded illegal lodging-houses. A newspaper article at the time said Parson's Green Lane was "inhabited by the lower order of Irish, all of whom were employed in the market gardeners' grounds", and other articles describe the lack of sanitation and clean water such that "300 inhabitants... are obliged to fetch their water from the other side of Parson's Green". (For more information on the Irish in Parson's Green see this list of records and articles).

There were a number of other Delury families living in Fulham who may be related in some way to John. Gardener John Joseph Delury was born in Mallow around 1841 and lived in Parsons Green Lane in 1871 and 1881, and in 1871 the family of Patrick Delury were living at 5 Parsons Green Lane. For more information on Delury families in London in the mid-1800s see this page.

Johanna may have been some relation to the Callaghan family who shared houses with the Delurys in the 1850s and 1860s. Johanna Callaghan's maiden name was also Connors and she was born in County Cork around 1814. The Callaghans were living at 14 Parson's Green Lane in the 1851 census and Michael Delury was born there the same year. The Callaghans stayed at no. 14 until at least 1854 when their daughter Johanna was born. The Delowery family moved to 13 Parson's Green Lane before daughter Annie was born there in 1859, and the Callaghan family followed them to no. 13 before the 1861 census. The Delowery family hasn't yet been found at this location or any other in the 1861 census. No baptism record has been found for any of the Delowery children in London's Church of England records, likely because the family were still of the Catholic faith.

The next record for the Delowery family is the 1871 census, which shows John, Hannah, Edward and Ann De Lowry lived in Fulham on Matyears Land. The Matyear family were the last farmers in Fulham, having been market gardeners in the area for more than a century. John worked as an agricultural labourer, Hannah as a laundress, Edward as a messenger, and 12 year-old Ann is listed as a scholar (implying she attended school).

Living near the Delowerys in 1871 was Emily Lloyd, daughter of rug-maker Edward R. Lloyd. On 5 Aug 1872 Edward Delowery married Emily Lloyd at St. Luke's Church in Chelsea, witnessed by Henry Barnes and Susan Lloyd. On Christmas Day 1879 Annie Delowery married boot salesman James Chambers. Edward and Annie's marriages each produced a child who died in their infancy, but both siblings soon moved on to other relationships which eventually gave John and Johanna grandchildren who survived childhood.

With both children grown up and married, by 1881 John and Johanna had moved in to the Matyear's farm house with the 84 year-old widow Jane Matyear and her adult unmarried children. Although they were in their 60s, John still worked as a farm servant and Johanna worked as a servant to the family.

By 1890 John and Johanna moved in with their daughter Annie at 18 Everington Street in Fulham with John still working as a domestic gardener. Johanna died of "myxedema bronchitis" on 15 March 1890 aged 70 years at the Workhouse Infirmary on Brook Street in Lambeth. John died just over a month later on 1 May 1890 in the Fulham Union Infirmary due to "senile decay" with his daughter Annie at his side.

DNA Genealogy

If you are a descendant of Johanna Connors and would like to compare autosomal DNA results please contact Jocelyn_K_B (at) yahoo.com for kit numbers

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1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} London, England. 1871 Census
   Fulham, folio 89, page 32; citing PRO RG 10/72.

   Name Age
   John De Lowry 55
   Hannah De Lowry 54
   Edward De Lowry 20
   Ann De Lowry 12

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Death Index. (London, United Kingdom: General Register Office, 1837-Present)
   entry for Johanna Delowrey, volume 1d, page 304, Jan-Feb-Mar quarter 1890, Greater London, London, Surrey district, Lambeth sub-district.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} General Register Office. England & Wales. Certified Copy of an Entry of Death
   death certificate for Johanna Delowrey, died 15 Mar 1890; citing 1d/304/33, Jan-Mar quarter 1890, Lambeth registration district, Lambeth Church 2nd sub-district.
   Johanna Delowery death certificate
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} London, England. 1881 Census
   Fulham, folio 16, page 8; citing PRO RG 11/68.

   Name Age
   Jane Matyear 84 - annuitant
   Edward Matyear 43 - market gardener
   Mary Ann Matyear 50
   Louisa Jane Matyear 41
   Elizabeth Pearce 20 - general servant
   John Delury 60 - farm servant
   Johanna Delury 60

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Registrar General. Birth Certificate
   birth certificate for Ann Delury, born 21 Apr 1859; citing 1a/121/23, Apr-Jun quarter 1859, Kensington registration district, Fulham sub-district.
   Ann Delury birth certificate
6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 Registrar General. Birth Certificate
   birth certificate for Michael Delory, born 13 Sep 1851; citing 3/352/8, Jul-Sep quarter 1851, Kensington registration district, Fulham sub-district.
   Michael Delory birth certificate
7. ↑ General Register Office. England & Wales. Certified Copy of an Entry of Death
   death certificate for Michael Delory, died 5 Oct 1851; citing 3/253/32, Oct-Dec quarter 1851, Kensington registration district, Fulham sub-district.
   Michael Delory death certificate