Per a civil marriage cert on file in the State of Wisconsin archives: John O'Connor married widow Mrs. Helen W. (Ellen) Grace November 14, 1863 at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, Prairie du Chien, WI. Officiated by missionary Fr. Lucien Galtier and witnessed by Charles Lantry and Julia Fogarty (Ellen's sister-in-law) #116568160. John's parents were recorded as David and Mary O'Connor. The certificate further states that John and Ellen were both born in Ireland and it is John's first marriage.
The marriage record does not tell the fact Ellen was a widow with several children. Mr. O'Connor took on a big job marrying a woman with five young children. John and Helen (Ellen) did not have any children of their own. Family stories remember John had some disability from his Civil War experience at Antietam. His occupation was recorded as laborer.
John's accurate birth year is unclear. The 1870 Federal Census taken in Calmar, Iowa assigns him an 1830 birth year. His 1891 burial record at Calvary Cemetery suggests an 1829 birth year, age 62 years old at death. He died in Chicago in the 22nd Ward at Alexian Brothers Hospital south of North Avenue between Franklin & Market Streets from a chronic intestinal obstruction, cause unknown. Undertaker was Corrigan located at 166 W. Indiana (now Grand Ave), Chicago, IL. Doctor O.L. Schmidt MD, 78 State Street, was attending physician.
Sarah Grace told this author that John O'Connor (her step grandfather) died approximately twenty years after her grandmother Grace and that she died (1879) after her father (Gerald Grace) entered the service (1873). Sarah said they both were buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston and she thought both of them, John and Ellen, were Chicago residents when they died. She also mentioned that John went by a nickname, his real name was John but other people called him by his other name, although she couldn't recollect for this author at the time what it was. My research discovered the name may have been Kane, Kane O'Connor.
John's recorded surname spelling has been inconsistent. Surnames usage included: Connors, Conors, Connor, Conor, O'Conor O'Connor etc etc. Sometimes his first name was Kane (using varied spelling of Kane) and sometimes John.
The only member of her dad's family that Sarah had met personally was her dad's brother Ed Grace. He visited their family in the State of Wyoming on one or two occasions. When asked if she thought her dad and Ed looked alike, she said "not really". She did say she thought Ed was the tallest of her dad's brothers. She was sure her father Gerald was the best looking of the boys, but then she recalled out loud to me that her dad had said his brother Tom was the best looking in the family. Sarah, near her eightieth year, impressed upon this author, at my young age of ten or so, that her dad was a handsome man. When I asked her if she meant he was handsome like a movie star, she stared back at me gauging my query for "freshness", a term she and my grandmother used occasionally in conversation with me. After she determined my question was sincere, that I wasn't being fresh, she divulged, "...No not like that, but he was a very handsome man."
Sarah and her two sisters, Ethel & Nellie, knew one or two stories about their Grace grandparents but did not know either of their names. However, all three women remembered well the name John O'Connor (their step grandfather). Each of them spoke his name favorably without hesitation. None of the sisters ever met John O'Connor, they merely knew his name from shared information provided to them, I assume, by their mother Elizabeth Grace. written by Gregory Dorr
The marriage record does not tell the fact Ellen was a widow with several children. Mr. O'Connor took on a big job marrying a woman with five young children. John and Helen (Ellen) did not have any children of their own. Family stories remember John had some disability from his Civil War experience at Antietam. His occupation was recorded as laborer.
John's accurate birth year is unclear. The 1870 Federal Census taken in Calmar, Iowa assigns him an 1830 birth year. His 1891 burial record at Calvary Cemetery suggests an 1829 birth year, age 62 years old at death. He died in Chicago in the 22nd Ward at Alexian Brothers Hospital south of North Avenue between Franklin & Market Streets from a chronic intestinal obstruction, cause unknown. Undertaker was Corrigan located at 166 W. Indiana (now Grand Ave), Chicago, IL. Doctor O.L. Schmidt MD, 78 State Street, was attending physician.
Sarah Grace told this author that John O'Connor (her step grandfather) died approximately twenty years after her grandmother Grace and that she died (1879) after her father (Gerald Grace) entered the service (1873). Sarah said they both were buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston and she thought both of them, John and Ellen, were Chicago residents when they died. She also mentioned that John went by a nickname, his real name was John but other people called him by his other name, although she couldn't recollect for this author at the time what it was. My research discovered the name may have been Kane, Kane O'Connor.
John's recorded surname spelling has been inconsistent. Surnames usage included: Connors, Conors, Connor, Conor, O'Conor O'Connor etc etc. Sometimes his first name was Kane (using varied spelling of Kane) and sometimes John.
The only member of her dad's family that Sarah had met personally was her dad's brother Ed Grace. He visited their family in the State of Wyoming on one or two occasions. When asked if she thought her dad and Ed looked alike, she said "not really". She did say she thought Ed was the tallest of her dad's brothers. She was sure her father Gerald was the best looking of the boys, but then she recalled out loud to me that her dad had said his brother Tom was the best looking in the family. Sarah, near her eightieth year, impressed upon this author, at my young age of ten or so, that her dad was a handsome man. When I asked her if she meant he was handsome like a movie star, she stared back at me gauging my query for "freshness", a term she and my grandmother used occasionally in conversation with me. After she determined my question was sincere, that I wasn't being fresh, she divulged, "...No not like that, but he was a very handsome man."
Sarah and her two sisters, Ethel & Nellie, knew one or two stories about their Grace grandparents but did not know either of their names. However, all three women remembered well the name John O'Connor (their step grandfather). Each of them spoke his name favorably without hesitation. None of the sisters ever met John O'Connor, they merely knew his name from shared information provided to them, I assume, by their mother Elizabeth Grace. written by Gregory Dorr
Per a civil marriage cert on file in the State of Wisconsin archives: John O'Connor married widow Mrs. Helen W. (Ellen) Grace November 14, 1863 at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, Prairie du Chien, WI. Officiated by missionary Fr. Lucien Galtier and witnessed by Charles Lantry and Julia Fogarty (Ellen's sister-in-law) #116568160. John's parents were recorded as David and Mary O'Connor. The certificate further states that John and Ellen were both born in Ireland and it is John's first marriage.
The marriage record does not tell the fact Ellen was a widow with several children. Mr. O'Connor took on a big job marrying a woman with five young children. John and Helen (Ellen) did not have any children of their own. Family stories remember John had some disability from his Civil War experience at Antietam. His occupation was recorded as laborer.
John's accurate birth year is unclear. The 1870 Federal Census taken in Calmar, Iowa assigns him an 1830 birth year. His 1891 burial record at Calvary Cemetery suggests an 1829 birth year, age 62 years old at death. He died in Chicago in the 22nd Ward at Alexian Brothers Hospital south of North Avenue between Franklin & Market Streets from a chronic intestinal obstruction, cause unknown. Undertaker was Corrigan located at 166 W. Indiana (now Grand Ave), Chicago, IL. Doctor O.L. Schmidt MD, 78 State Street, was attending physician.
Sarah Grace told this author that John O'Connor (her step grandfather) died approximately twenty years after her grandmother Grace and that she died (1879) after her father (Gerald Grace) entered the service (1873). Sarah said they both were buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston and she thought both of them, John and Ellen, were Chicago residents when they died. She also mentioned that John went by a nickname, his real name was John but other people called him by his other name, although she couldn't recollect for this author at the time what it was. My research discovered the name may have been Kane, Kane O'Connor.
John's recorded surname spelling has been inconsistent. Surnames usage included: Connors, Conors, Connor, Conor, O'Conor O'Connor etc etc. Sometimes his first name was Kane (using varied spelling of Kane) and sometimes John.
The only member of her dad's family that Sarah had met personally was her dad's brother Ed Grace. He visited their family in the State of Wyoming on one or two occasions. When asked if she thought her dad and Ed looked alike, she said "not really". She did say she thought Ed was the tallest of her dad's brothers. She was sure her father Gerald was the best looking of the boys, but then she recalled out loud to me that her dad had said his brother Tom was the best looking in the family. Sarah, near her eightieth year, impressed upon this author, at my young age of ten or so, that her dad was a handsome man. When I asked her if she meant he was handsome like a movie star, she stared back at me gauging my query for "freshness", a term she and my grandmother used occasionally in conversation with me. After she determined my question was sincere, that I wasn't being fresh, she divulged, "...No not like that, but he was a very handsome man."
Sarah and her two sisters, Ethel & Nellie, knew one or two stories about their Grace grandparents but did not know either of their names. However, all three women remembered well the name John O'Connor (their step grandfather). Each of them spoke his name favorably without hesitation. None of the sisters ever met John O'Connor, they merely knew his name from shared information provided to them, I assume, by their mother Elizabeth Grace. written by Gregory Dorr
The marriage record does not tell the fact Ellen was a widow with several children. Mr. O'Connor took on a big job marrying a woman with five young children. John and Helen (Ellen) did not have any children of their own. Family stories remember John had some disability from his Civil War experience at Antietam. His occupation was recorded as laborer.
John's accurate birth year is unclear. The 1870 Federal Census taken in Calmar, Iowa assigns him an 1830 birth year. His 1891 burial record at Calvary Cemetery suggests an 1829 birth year, age 62 years old at death. He died in Chicago in the 22nd Ward at Alexian Brothers Hospital south of North Avenue between Franklin & Market Streets from a chronic intestinal obstruction, cause unknown. Undertaker was Corrigan located at 166 W. Indiana (now Grand Ave), Chicago, IL. Doctor O.L. Schmidt MD, 78 State Street, was attending physician.
Sarah Grace told this author that John O'Connor (her step grandfather) died approximately twenty years after her grandmother Grace and that she died (1879) after her father (Gerald Grace) entered the service (1873). Sarah said they both were buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston and she thought both of them, John and Ellen, were Chicago residents when they died. She also mentioned that John went by a nickname, his real name was John but other people called him by his other name, although she couldn't recollect for this author at the time what it was. My research discovered the name may have been Kane, Kane O'Connor.
John's recorded surname spelling has been inconsistent. Surnames usage included: Connors, Conors, Connor, Conor, O'Conor O'Connor etc etc. Sometimes his first name was Kane (using varied spelling of Kane) and sometimes John.
The only member of her dad's family that Sarah had met personally was her dad's brother Ed Grace. He visited their family in the State of Wyoming on one or two occasions. When asked if she thought her dad and Ed looked alike, she said "not really". She did say she thought Ed was the tallest of her dad's brothers. She was sure her father Gerald was the best looking of the boys, but then she recalled out loud to me that her dad had said his brother Tom was the best looking in the family. Sarah, near her eightieth year, impressed upon this author, at my young age of ten or so, that her dad was a handsome man. When I asked her if she meant he was handsome like a movie star, she stared back at me gauging my query for "freshness", a term she and my grandmother used occasionally in conversation with me. After she determined my question was sincere, that I wasn't being fresh, she divulged, "...No not like that, but he was a very handsome man."
Sarah and her two sisters, Ethel & Nellie, knew one or two stories about their Grace grandparents but did not know either of their names. However, all three women remembered well the name John O'Connor (their step grandfather). Each of them spoke his name favorably without hesitation. None of the sisters ever met John O'Connor, they merely knew his name from shared information provided to them, I assume, by their mother Elizabeth Grace. written by Gregory Dorr
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