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Patrick and Sarah O’Connor Family
The Patrick and Sarah O’Connor family of Medina Township in northeast Dane County, Wisconsin had several connections to the Northern Branch of the Kinney family. Daughter Catherine O’Connor married Edmond Kinney and is the matriarch of the Northern Branch. Her younger sister Elizabeth married Patrick Cashman and when Elizabeth died at a young age, possibly related to childbirth, her infant daughter Katherine Ellen was raised by Edmond and Catherine. Two O’Connor brothers, along with Elizabeth, probably accompanied Edmond and Catherine on the trek from Dane County to Martell in 1860. Catherine’s parents, Patrick and Sarah, purchased land and briefly lived in Kinnickinnic and another probable sister lived for a time in Warren and Kinnickinnic, St. Croix County. Contact with O’Connor relatives was maintained through the second generation in northern Wisconsin, but after that it faded and only the barest outlines of the families’ connections were known.
From a variety of sources, it has been possible to learn something about the O’Connor family. From the 1860 census for Dane County we know that Patrick O’Connor and Sarah Kelley, both born in Ireland, had at least eight children: John, Catherine, Patrick, Peter, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Daniel – all were born in Canada.
The O’Connor Family in Canada
The 1851 Canadian census for the township of Kitley, Leeds County, Ontario includes a Patrick and Sarah O’Connor who are likely our O’Connors, though we don’t yet have absolute proof. Kitley is located along the St. Lawrence River, about 50 miles above Lake Ontario.
The 1851 census includes some children not found in the 1860 Dane County census, but the ages of parents and children generally match between the Kitley and Dane County listings. The Kitley census lists Patrick O’Connor, Esq., born in Ireland in 1806, occupation farmer, and his wife Sarah, also born in Ireland, in 1810. Their children are: John (21), Bridget (19), Catherine (17), Honore (15), Patrick (13), Peter (11), Thomas (9), Mary Ann (7), Elizabeth (5), Sara (3), and Daniel (2). (The Canadian census lists age as of the person’s next birthday, while the U.S. census is by most recent birthday.)
The “Esq.” attached to Patrick’s name in the census could also be clue. In English usage, Esquire was both a formal status and an informal honorific used to indicate a gentleman and was also applied to barristers, justices of the peace and other officers of the crown. In the U.S. it has been used by lawyers. Edmund B. Kinney, in his brief note on family history, described his mother as “a daughter of a lawyer-farmer of Canada, served as clerk of her father’s court a number of years and acquired some knowledge of legal terms and forms.” Edmund B.’s claim has not been verified from other sources, but it is suggestive.
Patrick O’Connor was the son of John O’Connor and Sibi Hora. Sarah Kelley was the daughter Donald Kelley and Bridget Coly. It is not known where in Ireland the O’Connors came from, or if Patrick had any siblings in Kitley. The Kelleys may have been from County Tyrone.
Sarah had at least three siblings. Katherine Kelley (1805-1891) married William Judge of Doonanaroo townland in county Mayo where their oldest child was born. Their second child was born in Canada in 1830. There were a number of Judge families in Kitley in the1851 census. Katherine and William settled in Osawkee Kansas in1856. Michael Kelley (1809-1877) remained in Kitley. His death certificate gives his birthplace as County Tyrone. Younger sister Margaret Kelley (1820-1896) married Patrick Downey (1809-1869) and settled in the Bastard district of Leeds County.
It is not known for certain when Patrick and Sarah arrived in Kitley. There are no O’Connors or Kelleys in a transcript of an 1824 Kitley census, but they were in Kitley by 1830.
Patrick and Sarah were married on October 17, 1830 at St. John the Baptist Church in Perth, Lanark County, by Father John McDonald. Sarah’s brother Michael Kelley married Mary Kary (Carey) on the same day. William Judge and George Hanna were witnesses for both couples. At least the marriages are recorded in the records of John the Baptist. Perth is about 60 km northwest of Kitley. The Perth Parish was established in 1823, the first Roman Catholic parish in the Ottawa Valley, with Father MacDonald as curate. He also served several missions across the valley. The young couples and their witnesses may have made the journey to Perth, but more likely Father MacDonald was making one of his periodic visits to the Kitley mission. Both couples are described as being “of these mifsions.”
The birth (Sept 9, 1831 in Kitley) and baptism (March 6, 1832) of Patrick and Sarah’s oldest son John are recorded in the Perth Parish register. His cousin Donal Kelley (born to Michael and Mary on October 10, 1831 in Kitley) was baptized the same day. Several other Kitley births and marriages are recorded on March 6 and 7, so Father MacDonald was presumably on another visit. The baptisms of two of Patrick and Sarah’s children are recorded in the register of St. John Bosco parish in Brockville and youngest son Daniel was baptized in St. Francis de Sales in Smith’s Falls.
Kitley was surveyed in1797 and a 1798 account reported 39 families in the township. A brief history on the Heritage Place Museum website states:
“Irishmen formed the backbone of old Kitley Township 150 years ago, and this tiny farming community boasted a fair sampling of sons of Erin (Ireland) along with UEL folk, some of whom came from the deep south of the United States. In the 1820’s, Irish, English and Scottish settlers flooded into Kitley, helped by free passage over the Atlantic, guaranteed by the government and an offer of 100 acres of free land per family.” [UEL= United Empire Loyalists, Americans who fled to Canada in the years after the Revolutionary War]
On Feb. 10, 1841 Patrick O’Connor purchased the west half of lot 27 (100 acres) of the fourth concession from the Hon. Peter McGill. The purchase price in the sale record is obscured. A concession is a term in the Canadian land survey, comparable to the “range” of the U.S. survey’s Range and Township system. (Peter McGill, born Peter McCutcheon in Scotland, was the nephew and sole heir of John McGill, a former British soldier in the American Revolution who later served at Fort York in Ontario. He held several political/government offices in Upper Canada and became a significant property owner. Peter, who changed his name at his uncle’s request, was a founder of Canada’s first railroad, head of the Bank of Montreal and the second mayor of Montreal.)
It is not known if Patrick and Sarah were living on this property before they purchased it, or somewhere else in Kitley. Patrick O’Connor in turn sold the same property to Michael Donovan on the 6th of April 1854 for the sum of 237.10 pounds.
According to the 1851 Agricultural Census, Patrick owned the 100 acre parcel in concession 4, lot 27 of Kitley township. He had 40 acres under cultivation: 34 as cropland, 5-1/2 in pasture and ½ acre of garden/orchard. The remaining 60 acres was described as “wood/wild.” The cropland included 11 acres of wheat (which produced 80 bushels), 7 acres of rye (70 bushels), 7 acres of oats (30 bushels), 1 acre of buckwheat (10 bushels), 1 acre of Indian corn (10 bushels) 2 acres of potatoes (100 bushels) and 5 acres of hay. The woodlands produced 80 pounds of maple syrup. Livestock included four bulls, oxen or steers, 3 milk cows, 6 calves, 4 horses, 13 sheep and 10 pigs. The farm’s other produce for the year is listed as 150 pounds of butter, 2 barrels or hundredweight of beef, four barrels of pork, and fifty pounds of wool. It was likely the women of the family who turned the wool into 15 yards of fulled cloth and 28 yards of flannel.
Michael and Mary Kelly are listed as the neighboring household in the 1851 census.
Settling in Medina, Dane County
On October 19, 1854 Patrick O’Connor purchased two parcels of land from M.P. Ashley in Medina Township, Dane County WI — an 80-acre tract in section 22, and 15 acres in section 34. The larger parcel, where the home was located, was about one mile southeast of the settlement of Hanchettville (now Marshall). It is not known if the entire family had moved to Wisconsin at that time or if Patrick had come ahead to purchase land, but Patrick O’Coner (sic) is listed in the 1855 state census for Medina with a household of 6 males and 3 females. That accounts for Patrick and Sarah’s five sons in the 1851 Kitley census but only two of the six daughters.
Patrick and Sarah sold their original 95 acres to Edmond Kinney for $3500 on December 12, 1857. Just two weeks later, a deed from Edmond and Catherine seems to transfer the property back to Sarah O’Connor. On October 19, 1858 Patrick purchased an additional parcel of roughly 60 acres in section 15 from Ashley. The 1861 plat for Medina shows P. O’Connor as owner of all three parcels.
Patrick and Sarah O’Connor are listed as being 53 and 51 years old in the 1860 Medina census. They had two children living at home — Sarah, 12 and Daniel, 9. Patrick is listed as a farmer with real estate valued at $1,000 and personal property worth $100. However, judging from their sequence in the census, it appears Patrick and Sarah may have been living in the village of Hanchettville. Edmond and Catherine Kinney, their young sons Andrew and Patrick, and Catherine’s brothers John and Thomas were living on the farmstead.
Move to Kinnickinnic
Members of the O’Connor family began purchasing land in Kinnickinnic in St. Croix County in the mid 1860s — not too far from Edmond and Catherine Kinney’s farm in Pleasant Valley. John O’Connor bought 40 acres in section 25 in 1865 and Patrick O’Connor Jr. purchased 40 acres in section 2.
On June 26,1868 Patrick O’Connor Jr. (Patrick and Sarah’s fifth child) purchased a 40 acre parcel (NE ¼ SE ¼ of section 2) in Kinnickinnic Township from C.D. Parker for $400. The Kinnickinnic River flowed through the west edge of the property which was “subject to the right of Frederick Slater to install a dam to raise water to a level that will run a grist mill.”
The same day Patrick O’Connor Sr. purchased lot 2 of Block “A” of Aldrich’s Addition to Willow River (Hudson). He paid Sarah Headges (Hodges?) $525 for the lot on the west side of Main Street just south of Buckeye Street. Less than a year later, on June 10, 1869, Patrick sold the Lot to David M. Keen, listed as a saloon keeper in the 1870 census. Also in 1869, Patrick and Sarah purchased SW1/4 of the NW1/4 of section 1. Sarah sold this 40 acres to Henry Keen in 1873.
At the same time, Patrick Sr. and Sarah retained their farm in Dane County.
Patrick O’Connor Jr. and his wife Bridget sold their recently purchased 40 acres to Patrick Sr. and Sarah on October 10, 1869 for $1000.
In the 1870 Kinnickinnic census (taken on August 3rd) Patrick and Sarah O’Connor are listed as owners of the farm valued at $2000. Living with them was their youngest son Daniel, age 19, and grandson Michael Mannix.
Death of Patrick O’Connor Sr.
Patrick O’Connor, Sr. died October 4, 1870. It is not known for certain if he died in Kinnickinnic or back in Dane County, but presumably it was in St. Croix County as that is where his probate case was filed. He is buried in St Anne’s cemetery just outside Deerfield in Dane County. Also buried in the small rural cemetery are his daughters Sara, who died in 1864, and Mary O’Connor Mannix who died March 23, 1865.
At Partrick’s death all the Kinnickinnic property passed to his widow Sarah. By the terms of his will the Medina property was to be divided between youngest son Daniel and his grandson Michael Mannix. Two years later Sarah sold the three lots in Hammond to her son-in-law and daughter Patrick and Bridget Sweeney. The Sweeneys, who had been farming just over a mile to the north in Warren Township, then purchased the 40-ares in section 2 on 12/22/1873. The Sweeney’s and their ten children were living on the farm 1880.
The widowed Sarah returned to Medina where, in 1880, she was living on the old farm in the household of her son Daniel and his wife Ann Bannon and Michael Mannix, listed as their nephew.
At some point ownership of all the Hammond and Kinnickinnic properties seems to have passed back to Sarah O’Connor. A deed was recorded on 10/20/1877 in which Sarah O’Connor “of Madison, Wis.” sold the three Hammond lots to Michael Tierney of Kinnickinnic for a price of $300.
On September 6, 1881 Sarah O’Connor filed a LIS PENDENS against Patrick and Bridget, seeking to foreclose on the 1873 loan. The 40-acres was sold at public auction by Sheriff James Carroll on March 10, 1883 with Sarah receiving a sheriff’s deed. In April 1883 she was granted a tax deed on the 40-acre parcel and then took out a $200 mortgage on it from Lemuel North, a Hudson banker, in June 1883. The mortgage was satisfied a year later.
Meanwhile, it appears that Daniel’s farm in Medina was foreclosed on. In 1883 a Patrick Gordon filed foreclosure documents on a mortgage taken out by a Daniel & Sarah O’Connor, recorded 09/07/1880. Sometime between 1886 and 1889, Sarah, Daniel and Anne and their three daughters moved to Gettysburg, South Dakota.
It is not known when or where Sarah O’Connor died. Presumably in Gettysburg South Dakota between 1890 and 1900. She is not in Daniel’s household in the 1900 census. No death or burial record has been found.
Sarah O’Connor apparently never learned to write. In all the property and probate documents she signed, it was always with “her mark.”
Patrick and Sarah O’Connor Children
What we know of Patrick and Sarah’s children varies from the bare minimum given in the 1851 Kitley census to more detailed accounts based on census, church and land records, the probate of Patrick’s estate, a few obituaries and some ancestry.com and other internet sources. Here is a brief summary for Catherine O’Connor Kinney’s brothers and sisters.
John O’Connor, the oldest child of Patrick and Sarah is listed as 19 years old in the 1851 census for Kitley. He, like all the male children (even 2-year old Daniel), is listed as a “labourer.” In the 1860 Medina census John is recorded as a boarder in the household of Edmond and Catherine Kinney. A John O’Connor and his wife Mary, of St. Croix County, purchased the NE1/4 of the SE1/4 of section 25 in Kinnickinnic township from William Mathison for $200 on June 3, 1865. John O’Connor and wife Mary granted mortgage on the property to Patrick O’Connor of Dane County on Nov. 25, 1866. John and Mary then sold farm to Matthew Houston for $600 on March 3, 1868. In his father’s 1870 probate records John is listed as living in Crow Wing, Minnesota. This is the last documentation known for him.
[An Alice O’Connor Rattray and Sadie O’Connor filed a claim on April 4, 1892 seeking to invalidate the sale of the NE1/4 of SE1/4 of section 2-28-18 by Sarah O’Connor to Daniel O’Connor. It is possible Alice and Sadie (Sarah) were daughters of John O’Connor. Alice (1866-1932) married Peter H. Rattray, the son of Thomas and Jenette Rattray who owned a farm in sections 1 and 2 of Kinnickinnic. The 1897 plat shows the widowed Jenette Rattray as owner of the bulk of the farm with a P. H. Rattray owning an 80 acre parcel. Alice O’Connor Rattray died in Spokane, WA. Her death certificate gives her birth date as 9/7/1866 in Wisconsin. Her father John O’Connor was born in Canada. Sadie O’Connor was born in 1876 in Minnesota. She married Thomas Granger and also settled in Spokane.]
Bridget (or Brigid) O’Connor Sweeney, born in 1833, is listed in Patrick and Sarah’s household in the 1851 Kitley census even though she may have been living elsewhere. In the census she is listed as being married and in a column headed “Residence if Elsewhere” the word “Bedford” is written in but then apparently crossed out. Circumstantial evidence suggests she was married in Canada to Patrick Sweeney, a native of Ireland, born about 1824. There were several Sweeney families in and around Kitley, but we have not been able to identify either Patrick or their daughter Ellen in Canadian census or other records.
Bridget moved to Wisconsin about 1857 (according to the 1900 census). The 1860 census for Medina, Dane County lists a Bridget Sweeney, age 26, born in Canada with children Ellen (age 4, born in Canada), Mary (age 2, born in Wisconsin) and William (5 months). Her occupation is given as “washerwoman” with real estate valued at $100 and personal property worth $50. (values typical for a laborer). Her sequence in the census suggests she is living in the village of Hanchetville (now Marshall). Her husband is not listed in the census.
By 1870 Patrick and Bridget Sweeney were living in Warren Township in St. Croix County (east of Hudson, north of Kinnickinnic). Their children were Ellen (15, born in Canada), Mary (12, born in Wis.) Rose (8), John (5), Elizabeth (3) and Daniel (6 months). William, 5 months old in the 1860 census, is not listed, presumably he had died as a child. [ St. Patrick’s Church in Hudson records list the christening of Daniel Sweeney on 10/13/1868. His mother was Bridget O’Connor and sponsors were Patrick Cashman and Sara O’Connor. Need to check this.]
In 1873 Patrick and Bridget purchased her parents farm a mile or so to the south in Kinnickinnic. They financed the purchase with a $500 mortgage to Sarah O’Connor. By the time of the 1875 state census the Sweeney home in Kinnickinnic included 4 males and 6 females. In the 1880 federal census the household included Patrick (50) and Bridget (47) and 10 children: Ellen (23, dressmaker), Mary (19, working out), Rose (17, working out) John (15), Lizzie (13), Daniel (11), George (9) Jane (7) Frank (5), James (2).
On September 6, 1881 Sarah O’Connor filed a LIS PENDENS against Patrick and Bridget, seeking to foreclose on the 1873 loan. The 40-acres was sold at public auction by Sheriff James Carroll on March 10, 1883 with Sarah receiving a sheriff’s deed. Sarah retained ownership of the property after moving to south Dakota. In a deed dated February 13, 1889 Sarah O’Connor of Potter County SD sold the land to Daniel and Annie Potter, also of Potter County fr a price of $200. Daniel and Annie sold the land to James Hawkins in in 1894.
After the 1881 foreclosure, Patrick and Bridget Sweeney and several children joined the movement of farmers to the booming Red River Valley of North Dakota. They settled on a farm in Elma Township, Richland County, North Dakota. Patrick had claimed 160 acres in the NW1/4 of section 9 of township 129, range 50 under terms of the Timber Act of 1873. The Timber Culture Act was an extension of the Homestead Act with the intent “to encourage the growth of timber on the western plains.” The act provided that “any person who shall plant, protect, and keep in a healthy, growing condition for ten years forty acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way on any quarter-section of any of the public lands of the United States shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of said quarter-section at the expiration of said ten years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses…” At the time it was believed that planting trees Great Plains would affect the ecology and climate would cause an increase in annual rainfall.
A patent on the land was issued to Patrick Sweeney on December 1, 1898. So he would have entered his claim in 1888. Patrick, however, had died July 11, 1898. In the 1900 census his son Daniel (30) was listed as head of the household that included his brother Frank (23) and mother Bridget (63). Bridget O’Connor Sweeney died March 10, 1904. Frank Sweeney died November 9, 1909. All are buried in Calvary cemetery in Hankinson.
Children of Bridget O’Connor and Patrick Sweeney
Ellen Sweeney (sometimes listed as Ella or Helen) was born ca. 1853 in Canada. In the 1880 Kinnickinnic she is in her parent’s home with occupation given as dressmaker. She moved to South Dakota where she married Stephen F. Hunt about 1893. Hunt was born in Canada in 1858 and migrated to the U.S. in 1887. They were living in Yankton S.D in 1900. In the 1910 census they have a six-year old adopted daughter, Elise Marshall. No further information has been found about her. Ellen died in November 1934 in Yankton. Stephen Hunt died sometime after 1935. H e has not been found in the 1940 census for South Dakota.
Mary Sweeney Finn was born August 18, 1858 in Wisconsin. She is in the 1860 census in Hanchetteville and the 1870 census in Warren. In 1880 she is with the family on the Kinnickinnic farm and listed as “working out.” She married John Finn on September 21, 1887 at St. Patrick’s Church in Hudson. John was born June 19, 1849 in Poultney, VT. His parents Thomas Finn and Bridget Flanagan Finn and two older siblings emigrated from County Clare, Ireland in 1849. By 1858 they had settled in River Falls Township in Pierce County. John and Mary Finn had seven children: George Francis (1884-1938, married to Julia Ida Foley, 1887-1931), Agnes Gertrude (1889-1925), Ida Mabel (1887-1977, married to Sam Arthur Nelson, 1887-1931), Irene (1894-1899). Stella (1894-1875, married to Patrick Leo Schloer, 1894-1942), Leo 1897-1947, married to Jen Martine Johnson, 1905, 1996). Mary Sweeney Finn died August 15, 1921. John Finn died August 8, 1935. Both are buried in St. Bridget’s Cemetery in River Falls.
William Sweeney, born 1860 in Wisconsin, died before 1870.
Rose Sweeney Butler, the fourth child of Patrick and Bridget Sweeney, was born in 1862 in Dane County. She moved with the family to Warren and then Kinnickinnic townships in St Croix County. In the 1880 Kinnickinnic census she is listed as 17 years old with “working out” her occupation. It is possible she was living in Saint Paul in the early 1880s. There is a Rose Sweeney in Saint Paul city directories for 1883 and 1884, working as a domestic and as a waiter at the Tremont Hotel.
Rose married Walter Butler, a senior member of Butler Brothers Construction Company in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 11, 1894. Walter, the son of Irish immigrants Patrick Butler and Mary Ann Gaffney was born in Iowa but raised on a farm in Lakeville Minnesota. He moved to St. Paul where he worked as a bricklayer and was a founding member of the St. Paul local of the bricklayers’ union. In 1877 he joined his brother William to form Butler Brothers construction company. Three other brothers eventually joined the firm, with Walter serving as president. A younger brother, Pierce Butler, served as counsel for the firm and was later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Butler Brothers was the main contractor for the building of the Minnesota state capital and numerous landmark buildings in the Twin Cities and several mansions on Summit Avenue. The company was later involved in iron ore mining on the Mesabi Range and shipbuilding in Duluth.
Summit Ave. St. Paul, MN
Walter and Rose and had four sons and one daughter. Rose Sweeney Butler died in 1901 in Chicago at just 39 years of age. [According to her headstone and an Illinois death record, however, in the1900 census Rose is not listed in the household and Walter is listed as widowed.] Walter remarried on 10/2/1902 to Helen Wood. Walter died at 75 in 1933, Helen in 1959. All three are buried in the Butler family plot in Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul. Walter’s grandson, also Walter, was married to the notorious St. Paul political gadfly and city council woman Rosalie Butler.
John Sweeney was born in 1865 in Dane County. The 1880 Kinnickinnic census is the last known documentation on John.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Sweeney was born ca. 1867 in Warren Township. She is in the 1870 Warren and 1880 Kinnickinnic census. Mary Sweeney Finn’s 1921 obituary lists a Mrs. Lizzie Greer of Oakland CA as a surviving sister. The 1920 San Francisco census includes a Lizzie Greer age 46, a widow, born in Wisconsin, father born in Ireland and mother in Canada. She is a lodger and waitress at a hotel. The age is off, but other information matches. It is not certain this is the correct person.
George Francis Sweeney, born June 13, 1869 in Warren Township, died November 11, 1895 from typhoid fever at his parents home in Elma, ND. He is buried in family plot in Calvary Cemetery in Hankinson.
Daniel Sweeney was born December 20, 1869 in St. Croix County. He moved with the family to Elma, ND. In the 1900 census he is listed as head of the household that included his brother Frank and mother Bridget. Daniel later moved to Fergus Falls, MN where he worked as a construction laborer. He married Inga Matilda Paulson Lunde, a divorced mother of two daughters. Inga was born in Norway in 1868 and arrived in the US in 1876. Inga died March 28, 1948. Daniel died June 5, 1950 in Fergus falls. He is buried in the family plot in Hankinson.
Jane Sweeney, (Jennie Katherine Sweeney?), The 1880 Kinnickinnic census lists Jane age 7, in the household of Patrick and Bridget. Additional documentation as Jane Sweeney had not been found. Several ancestry trees list Jennie Katherine Sweeney (born 1875 St. Croix County, died 1931 Seattle), married to William Leonard Dunham, but there are some inconsistencies)
Frank Sweeney, born 1877 in Kinnickinnic, was living on the farm in Elma ND with his brother Daniel and mother Bridget. He died November 8, 1909 and is buried in the family plot in Calvary Cemetery in Hankinson.
James Sweeney, born ca. 1878, is listed in the 1880 Kinnickinnic census. No further information has been found.
Catherine O’Connor, born ca. 1835 in Canada moved to Medina with the family and married Edmond Kinney in 1856. Catherine died in 1891 in Hudson WI. [See Edmond Kinney story and chart.]
Honore O’Connor, Patrick and Sarah’s fourth child, is listed in the Kitley census, born ca. 1836. No further documentation has been found about her.
Patrick O’Connor, Jr., born ca. 1837 in Kitley, has not been positively identified in Wisconsin census records. Patrick O’Connor Jr. purchased the Kinnickinnic farm in 1868 and then sold it to his parents in 1869. He is mentioned in a deed as “Patrick O’Connor Jr. of Kinnickinnic.” He apparently returned to Dane County Wisconsin after selling the Kinnickinnic farm and then settled in Minnesota. At the time of his father’s death in in October 1870, Patrick O’Connor Jr. was a resident of Grant County, Minnesota. While we have not found much direct documentation, we think we have pieced together an outline of Patrick’s life and family.
Patrick married Bridget Sweeney ca. 1865. It is not known if she was related to Patrick Sweeney. They are believed to have had at least three children: Thomas Elmer, Agnes Ellen, and Mary Amelia. Death dates for Patrick and Bridget have not been found. A newspaper notice of his daughter Mary suggest he was living in Duluth in 1895.
Thomas Elmer O’Connor was born March 13, 1866 in Wisconsin. His obituary says he was born in Oshkosh. He served in the U.S. Army, June 18-December 25, 1898, during the Spanish American War. He married Mary Joseph ? [last name not certain] around 1906. They had one son Thomas G. O’Connor born September 7, 1908 in Ramsey Cty. Mary Joseph O’Connor died in 1944 in Minneapolis. Thomas moved to Duluth in 1947 and married Lydia Laflamme St. Jacques, a widow with six adult children from two previous marriages. He worked worked as a watchman and special agent for the Great Northern railroad. Thomas Elmer O’Connor died July 8, 1955 in Duluth. He and Mary Joseph O’Connor are buried in Fort Snelling Cemetery.
Baptismal records at St. Patrick’s in Hudson note the christening of Agnes Ellen O’Connor on July 10, 1868, daughter of Patrick O’Connor and Brigitte Sweeney. Sponsors were Daniel O’Connor and Christina Hawkins (Patrick Jr.’s brother and the wife of Martin Hawkins, a Kinnickinnic neighbor). We have not found further documentation for Agnes.
A second daughter, Mary Amelia O’Connor, was born January 30, 1871 in Madison Wisconsin. It had been thought she was the child of Thomas and Jo O’Connor, but her death certificate gives her birth date and place and lists her parents as Patrick O’Connor and Bridget Sweeney. She married Charles B. Nunan in Duluth, Minnesota in 1895. He was born in Canada ca. 1865 and arrived in Duluth in 1895 where he operated a retail grocery store. Charles and Mary had two children Agnes Mary (1897-1976) and William Alfred (1900-1975). Charles Nunan died in 1926 in Duluth. Mary O’Connor Nunan died 9/15/1950 in Duluth. Her obituary notes that she was survived by her two children and a brother Tom of Duluth.
[We have photos of Mary and Agnes Nunan. Mary’s has an annotation in Bernard’s handwriting “her mother was an O’Connor.”].
Peter O’Connor, born ca. 1840 in Canada has not been located in the 1860 census but it is probable he was in Dane County as he seems to have accompanied Catherine and Edmond Kinney on their journey to Martell in 1860. Peter, and his brother Thomas, enlisted for service in the Civil War at Prescott on Aug. 29, 1861, giving his address as Martell, Wisconsin and occupation laborer. He was assigned to Company F of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry. The initial enlistment was for three months, but the company was reconstituted and both Thomas and Peter signed up for a three-year enlistment. Company F was composed mainly of recruits from Pierce, St. Croix and Polk counties. The First Wisconsin saw significant action in Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky, including in the battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga and Kennesaw Mountain. Thomas was wounded at Chickamauga. Both Peter and Thomas were mustered out October 15, 1864.
In the filing of his fathers will in October 1870, Peter is listed as residing in Kinnickinnic, but has not been found in the 1870 census taken in August. We know little about Peter beyond this. On September 6, 1877 a Peter O’Connor of Chippewa County, WI signed a land contract to purchase 80 acres in section 25 of Hudson township from what had been the estate of Augustus Wilcox – land that would later be part of Patrick Henry Kinney’s farm.
A Civil War pension claim filed September 20, 1889 indicates he was living in North Dakota. Peter died in Milwaukee WI on August 1, 1899 from injuries sustained in a fire at the Grace Hotel. A death notice in the Milwaukee Sentinel states “O’Conner (sic) jumped from a second story window and sustained serious injuries in addition to frightful burns which he suffered when caught in the burning building.” He was buried at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee.
Thomas O’Connor was born ca. 1841 in Canada. He was living and working on the farm with Edmond and Catherine Kinney in Medina in 1860 and made the journey to Martell with them. He enlisted in the Union Army with his brother Peter in August 1861 and mustered out in 1864. Beyond this he is a bit of a mystery. We had thought he was the father of Mary O’Connor Nunan, but that turned out to be incorrect — Patrick O’Connor and Bridget were her parents.
[Bernard and Mary Ann both spoke of remembering or hearing about an Uncle Tom and Aunt Jo O’Connor. This Tom may have been a great-great-uncle to them. Jo O’Connor is pictured in the group photo at Kate Cashman Kinney’s wedding in 1903.]
Mary Ann O’Connor, born in Canada, ca. September 1844. She has not been found in the 1860 census. She married Michael Mannix in about 1859 and their son Michael was born ca. 1860. Mary Ann died March 23, 1863 and is buried in St. Ann’s Cemetery just outside Deerfield in Dane County (just south of Medina). The only known record of her husband is from her tombstone inscription. Her son Michael was living with his grandparents Patrick and Sarah in Kinnickinnic in 1870 and with his uncle Daniel and grandmother in Medina in 1880. We have not been able to trace him after that.
Elizabeth O’Connor, born 1845 in Canada. In 1860 she appears to be working as a domestic servant in the household of Benjamin Copp in Madison. She accompanied Edmond and Catherine to Martell in 1860 and was sponsor at the baptism of their son Thomas in 1861. She married Patrick Cashman in 1868. Elizabeth died in March 1878 in Hudson WI. [See Kate Cashman Kinney story.]
Sara O’Connor, born November 1847 in Canada, was living with her parents in Medina (in the village of Hanchettville) in the 1860 census. She died August 2, 1860 and is buried in St. Ann’s Cemetery with her sister Mary and father Patrick.
Daniel O’Connor, born ca. 1851 in Canada. He was living with his parents in Medina (Hanchetville) in 1860 and in Kinnickinnic in 1870. After his father’s death in 1870, the original O’Connor property in Medina passed to Daniel. The 1876 plat map shows Daniel as the owner and he is head of the household in 1880 that includes his mother Sarah.
Daniel married Ann Bannon (born ca. 1850 in Massachusetts) about 1879. They moved to Gettysburg, South Dakota ca. 1887. In Gettysburg, Daniel was in the real estate business and served for a time as Register of Deeds for Potter County. He also sold insurance for the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the oldest of the “fraternal benefit” societies. Daniel and Ann had five daughters: Sarah Ellen (Sadie) O’Connor Dodd (1882-1965), Mary Gertrude O’Connor (1884- ), Julia A. O’Connor (ca. 1886- ), Kathryn O’Connor Mahon (ca. 1884-1944), and Agnes Rose O’Connor Stevenson (1892-1964).
Daniel purchased a house in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1906. The 1910 census shows the family living in Aberdeen with Daniel working as an insurance salesman. Daughter Julia was working as a stenographer, Katherine and Julia were both school teachers. Agnes was teaching in Clear Lake South Dakota
Daniel O’Connor died in 1917. Ann Bannon O’Connor died in 1928 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Both are buried in Sacred Heart cemetery in Aberdeen.
Sources:
1824 census Kitley, Ontario Canada
1851 Census, Kitley, Ontario, Canada (ancestry.com)
Ontario, Canada, Roman Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1760-1923 (ancestry.com)
Ancestry.com Donald Kelley and Bridget Coly family tree, by Judith Timm
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/1110227/person/-803709323/facts
Dane County Register of Deeds Office. Land records.
St. Croix County Register of Deeds Office. Land records.
Daniel O’Connor in Gettysburg https://genealogytrails.com/sdak/potter/oldtimers.html
Alice O’Connor – Peter Rattray family – ancestry tree by Robyn Trost
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/208644613/person/192809300946/facts
