Mick Connor's Home Page, past, present and future generations.

 "The limbs that move,  the eyes that see,
  These are not entirely me".

The Connor Family tree so far

Joseph & Elizabeth Connor, nee Donough/Donahue

Joseph Connor, born about 1835, in Ireland - Elizabeth Donough/Donahue born about 1837, in Ireland

Elizabeth was the daughter of John Donough/Donahue, his occupation was a Gardener.

Joseph & Elizabeth came to England, from Ireland, I would say at a guess about  1855ish.
 Joseph was a Shoemaker/Cordwainer, to date I do not know what Elizabeth’s occupation  was.

They had 6  children, Patrick, Gregory A.K.A Joseph, Thomas, Rose Hannah, Dennis &  Mary A.K.A. Polly.

Gregory/Joseph is our direct ancestor, and was born 1861 in Burnley,  and christened  on 5 May 1861. The story of Gregory’s birth place was a mystery for 3 years, after  having had searches done in  Burnley for his birth certificate, without success. I had  further searches done at the GRO in Southport for the years from 1858 to 1864 in  various spellings of the Connor name, but still got the same response of nothing  listed,  I have since found his Christening, at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in   Burnley, along with another Brother, called Patrick, born 12 March 1860, and  christened 8 April 1860. It appears that Gregory was christened under the name Joseph,  no birth date was noted in the register, only the year 1861, neither Child was  registered at birth.

My sister Margaret,has since done a thorough search in the 1861 census for the god  parents of Gregory, a William Hanley and Elizabeth Callaghan, and found that they were  living a couple of streets away from Joseph and Elizabeth, until now we had been unable to  find Joseph or Elizabeth in the 1861 census, the reason being that they had been  transcribed as Joseph & Elizabeth Hamer, when it was clearly Connor or O’Connor in  this case, they were living at 6 Back Shorey Street in Burnley, with a family called  Smith. Joseph Connor’s occupation in the 1861 census was a Cordwainer, which is  another name for a Shoemaker, or someone who works with leather.

In the 1871 Census Elizabeth was the head of the household, and a widow.  Gregory was  the oldest child, aged 11, then Thomas 6, Rose Hannah 5, Dennis 4 and Polly / Mary who  was 1, which means Joseph must have died sometime between  1869 and 1871. I have a  death certificate for a Joseph Connor who died in Manchester, his age was 33 and he  died in 1870, which ties in with our Gr Gr Grandfather Joseph’s death, but I am still  unsure that this is the correct person. No other Joseph Connor's can be traced on the  BMD websites, for that year. Since our search at Burnley Archives we have also traced  the god father of Patrick Connor a Lawrence Bergan, he was living in Manchester in  1861 and is noted as a Shoemaker from Dublin, Ireland. This would tie in with the  reason for Joseph being in Manchester at the time of his death in 1871.  Patrick who  would have been 12 by this time is not at the same address as Elizabeth and her  family, I can only assume that sometime between 1861 & 1871 Patrick had died, but I am  unable to trace his death as yet.

At the time of the 1871 Census the family were living in Crook in the County Durham  area.  All the children were born in different locations, Gregory 1860 in Burnley,   Thomas, about 1863 in Ireland, Rose Hannah 29th July 1865, The Model Buildings,  Middlesbrough, Dennis 21st December 1866, Cleveland Street, Hartlepool and Polly/Mary  5th February 1870 in Mount Pleasant, County Durham. Polly/Mary was not registered at  birth, but was christened on 6th March 1870 at Our Lady Immaculate & st Cuthbert’s  Church in Crook.

1876 Elizabeth had a 7th Child, William Edward Connor. Having obtained William’s birth certificate it shows that his father was not named. William Edward was born 4 October  1876 at 3 Central Street, Sunnybrow, Co Durham.

1881, 1st August,  Elizabeth married married her 2nd husband, George Scott at Middlesbrough Register Office, 
 they were both living at the same address.  We can only assume that, William Edward  Connor was born out of wedlock to George Scott, and to save face and embarrassment,  Elizabeth gave William Edward the Connor surname.  Elizabeth managed to cut her birth  age by about 10 years when she married George Scott.

Gregory moved about before settling in Middlesbrough.

At the date of the 1881 Census, Gregory was 19 and lived at 35 South St, Helmington  Row, Co Durham, with a family called Millburn.  He was shown as a boarder, and was  working in the coal mines as a Labourer.

(Clara Howard, soon to be Gregory's wife)

Clara Howard, born 9 July 1862, Gas Street, Bowling, Bradford, the second child of Frederick and Margaret Howard, née Riddiough.  Frederick’s occupation was a Machine  Maker.

In 1881 Clara Howard, aged 17 was living with her parents, Frederick and Margaret at   1 Browns Court, York.  Frederick Howard was a Mechanic, Clara’s occupation was a  Domestic Servant.   Sometime between 1881 and 1884, Clara moved back to Bradford and  changed her profession. She went into the cotton industry, and became a Worsted  Spinner.



Sometime between 1881 and 1884, Gregory moved to Bradford and was working in the  cotton mill as a labourer, where I assume he met Clara Howard,  Gregory and Clara were  living at 4 Loom Street, Bradford, at the date of their marriage on the 13th December  1884, Gregory was 22, and Clara was 21.

1885 Gregory & Clara were now living in Middlesbrough.

Gregory and Clara’s 1st Child Joseph was born on the 15 February 1885, at 6 Italy Street, Middlesbrough.

1886 Gregory & Clara were now back in Bradford.

Gregory and Clara’s second son Frederick was born on 05 November 1886 at 4 Loom  Street, Bradford, this is the same address shown on Gregory & Clara’s marriage  certificate.

1891 Gregory and Clara were once again in Middlesbrough.

Gregory was now 29 and Clara 27, their address was 17 Florence Street, St Hilda’s  Middlesbrough and they had four children; Joseph aged 6, Frederick aged 4(born in  Bradford), Thomas aged 2 and Margaret aged 2½ months. Gregory was working in  the steel foundry as a Labourer.

1901 Gregory & Clara still living in Middlesbrough. 

Gregory was now 39, and still working in the steel foundry as a Steel Grinder,  by this time they had 8 children, the 4 new additions were Ada b:1893, Elizabeth b:1895,  Edward b: 1896 and Walter b:1899.

1902

Gregory and Clara were still at 17 Florence Street, Middlesbrough.  On the 27th October 1902 Clara gave birth to their 9th child, a girl who they named Clara, she only lived for 1 month and died on the 30th November 1902. Clara was buried on 2 December 1902 in North Ormesby, Cemetery Grave number G261 (there are 16 other people in this grave but none of them are related)

1911

Gregory and Clara were still at 17 Florence street, Middlesbrough, along with their 8  remaining children.

The last known Connor to be living at 17 Florence street was Catherine Ann Connor, nee Grainger, the wife of Walter Connor, she is listed in the 1959 Directory of  MIDDLESBROUGH.

Some of the details on this page may be incorrect. They will be amended as soon as I get accurate information, dates, etc.  and will be updated on a regular basis.

It's pretty basic but interesting to the Connor family and anybody else mentioned.

Take your time to look into any notes against the individuals, and check the tools for the relationship calculator, to see if and how you are related to the different people mentioned on this site.

If you find that your name is on here, and would like it removed, contact me on the email address shown, and I will gladly remove you from my tree. Sorry for any offence to those wishing to be removed.

A big thanks to Barbara Kelly (cousin) for her help and hard work on the  Poskitt branch, and thanks also to Jim Smart (2nd Cousin) for providing me with the recently found treasured pictures of Gregory & Clara.

Please feel free to sign the guestbook

Mick

The Limbs That Move 
   
   The limbs that move, the eyes that see,
   These are not entirely me;
   Dead men and women helped to shape
   The mold which I do not escape;
  
   The words I speak, my written line,
   These are not uniquely mine.
   For in my heart and in my will
   Old ancestors are warring still,
  
   Celt, Roman, Saxon, and all the dead
   From whose rich blood my veins are fed,
   In aspect, gesture, voices, tone,
   Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone;
  
   In fields they tilled I plough the sod,
   I walk the mountain paths they trod;
   And round my daily steps arise
   The good and bad of those I comprise

written by English Author Richard Rolle,
   over 600 years ago.

"Just when you think you have found them all, bloody hell another one 
pops up."