Connelly Family

I don't have solid data for everything presented here, and some information given to me by other researchers doesn't entirely agree with it. I believe however that based on the documentation I have been able to find that the following is the most likely reconstruction of this family line.

First and Second Generations

Michael Connelly died in Dutchess Co. NY in 1806. Naomi survived him, and her death was recorded in Windsor CT in 1819.

They are credited with six children, of whom William (1769-1836) was probably the oldest. He married Lydia Merihew in 1789 in Ulster Co. NY.

Third Generation

Fourth Generation

This family is reconstructed mainly from federal and NY state census records. I would be very grateful for detailed information about the children.

Fourth Generation

James Connelly was probably born in 1838 and died 24 Apr 1909 in Williamsport PA. Mary Catherine died 2 Jan 1898 in Slate Run PA. In 1900 James was living with his daughter Alice Connelly and her husband Charles Holford in Lycoming Co. PA.

Kathryn Holford Harris, granddaughter of James and Mary Catherine, is said to have been proud of the fact that she was a second cousin to Charles Evans Hughes (whose mother was Mary Catherine Connelly, daughter of William Connelly and Margaret Terpening - see Third Generation above). This is consistent with the assumption that James was the son of Amos Connelly, William's brother.

The key point that convinces me that James is the son of Amos and Polly however is that in 1880, Mansfield Connelly age 23 is living with James and Mary Catherine, and is listed as his brother. Since the census records indicate that Mansfield is the youngest son of Amos and Polly, they must therefore be parents of James also.

I would be most grateful for information on this family, and am especially interested in obtaining a will or estate papers for Amos that might identify his son James and confirm that he is this James. If not the son of Amos and Polly, then whose son is he? One family tree shows his parents to be a James Connelly and wife Matilda Douglas but I don't know where they fit into the Connelly family.