Gregg Bonner's Connelly family
The last Connelly of my line to carry the name is Jane Connelly. She married James H. Bonner in Troup County, Georgia. I found this marriage record in Early Marriages: Troup County, Georgia (1828-1900), compiled and published by Merle Massengale Bruce (copyright 1982), Page 28. This record reads:

[Bonner,] James H.   Connelly, Jane  Aug. 21, 1834  Reubin C. Estes, J. P.  A 101

I have no concrete evidence of her parentage, but I have noticed a couple of things which lead me to strongly believe that she is the daughter of James D. Connelly (of various spellings, such as Connolly, Conally, Conley, etc.). The first thing is the 1840 Census of Randolph County, Alabama which gives the Bonner family and the Conally family in consecutive order. One entry reads:

Bonner, James: 10001-10001

And the entry next to it reads:

Conally, James: 0100001-0101001

I have taken this James Bonner to be the one mentioned in the marriage record. And further, I take this James Conally to be the same person given in this 1850 Census entry:

1850 Census, Randolph County, Alabama, Beat 12, Page 365(B), HH#1247/1247:
Conley, James D. 62 M farmer 200 SC
Conley, Nancy 59 F SC
Conley, William 23 M SC
Conley, Augustus 20 M [I think should be F] SC

This alone would not compell me to believe that Jane was the daughter of James, except for the other bit of information. Namely, there is a grave (Wedowee Masonic Cemetery, Township 20, Range 11, Section 3, Randolph County, Alabama) near the grave of Virgil T. Bonner (son of James H. Bonner and Jane Connelly) of one "Mrs. J. D. Connelly", born 28 Mar 1791 and died 09 Jul 1876. So this fits nicely with the 1850 Census record. I have not confirmed it, but I found on the internet the suggestion that Nancy is Nancy Aiken.

James D. Connelly seems to have died prior to the 1860 census, when his wife Nancy was listed in the household of her son:

1860 Census, Randolph County, Alabama, Southern Division, handwritten page 113, Page 739, HH#765/765:
Connelly, William E. 32 M school teacher 400 500 GA
Connelly, Nancy B. 26 F school teacher SC
Connelly, Francis A. 5 F AL (attended school)
Connelly, James A. P. 3 M AL
Connelly, William P. 1/12 M AL
* Connelly, Nancy 68 F housewife 225 SC
Connelly, Augusta A. 25 F househand GA

1870 Census, Randolph County, Alabama Township 21, handwritten page 62, Page 533, HH#458/458:
Connelly, William E. 41 M W school teacher 600 400 Georgia
Connelly, Nancy R. 36 F W keeps house South Carolina
Connelly, Fannie 14 at home [S] Alabama (attended school)
Connelly, Percifer 12 at home [S] Alabama (attended school)
Connelly, William P. 10 at home [S] Alabama (attended school)
Connelly, Electa V. 7 at home Alabama
Connelly, Mary I. 4 at home Alabama
Connelly, Maurine[?] 1 Alabama
* Connelly, Nancy 84 F W South Carolina

James Bonner and Jane (Connelly) Bonner were listed together in the 1860 and 1870 Census:

1860 Census, Randolph County, Alabama, Southern Division, handwritten page 226, Page 852, HH#1578/1578:
James H. Bonner 44 M Farmer 500 200 GA
Jane Bonner 46 F Housewife SC
Virgil T. 19 M Farmhand Ala
Martha E. 17 F Househand Ala
Mary A. 15 F Househand
Augusta A. 13 F Ala (attended school)
Benj H. 11 M Ala (attended school)
Frances C. 8 F Ala (attended school)

1870 Census, Randolph County, Alabama, Township 21, handwritten page 85, Stamped Page 545(A), HH#630/630:
Bonner, James 53 M W Farmer 800 300 GA
Jane 56 F W K. H. [keeping house] GA
Virgil 30 M W Farm L. [farm laborer] Ala
Martha 27 F W at home Ala
Mary 25 F W at home Ala
Gusta [Augusta] 23 M W at home Ala
Benjamin 21 M W at home Ala
Clem 19 M W at home Ala
Donna [?] 4 F W at home Ala

James Bonner died in 1879, and Jane (Connelly) Bonner was listed in the 1880 Census in the household of her son:

1880 Census, Randolph County, Alabama, Wedowee (Beat 6), ED#110, handwritten page 6, Page 292(B), HH#49/49:
Virgil T. Bonner W M 39 (widowed) Farmer Ala GA/SC* GA
Mary C. W F 18 daughter works in house Ala Ala GA
Jane W F 66 mother (widowed) SC SC SC
Martha E. W F 37 sister works about house Ala
Mary A. W F 35 sister works about house Ala
Augusta A. W F 33 sister works about house Ala
Frances C. W F 26 sister works about house Ala

Jane (Connelly) Bonner died 26 Feb 1899, ending my direct line of the Connelly Family.

For a list of descendants of James D. Connelly and Nancy (Aiken) Connelly, click here (opens new window - 592KB).

If you have any information about these folks, please e-mail me using the address at the bottom of this page.

Excursus on the family of Martha E. (Connely) Gamble
When I was compiling the descendants of James D. Connelly, I derived from the records (probably mostly the pre-1850 censuses) that there was probably another (otherwise unknown to me) daughter in the family who was born sometime around 1820. For reference see this WorldConnect file. Following in the same file, you'll notice among the children of William Edward Connelly (son of James D. Connelly), a number of rather rare and unusual given names. I am going to compare those names (left side of below table) to some of the names of the descendants of Martha E. (Connely) Gamble, the wife of Thomas Ewing Gamble (right side of below table).

  1. William Edwin Connelly (1829-1904)
    • James Alexander Percifer Connelly (born 1857)
    • William Payne Connelly (born 1860)
      • Percy Trent Connelly (born 1888)
    • Electa Vistula "Tula" Connelly (born 1863)
    • Ann Judson Connelly (born 1871)
  2. Lucinda (Connelly) Findley (born 1810)
    • James Lawrence Findley (born 1827)
      • Newton Quitman Findley (born 1848)
  1. Martha E. (Connely) Gamble (1822-1900)
    • William "Bill" Gamble (born 1844)
      • Emma Vistula Gamble (born 1869)
      • William Judson Gamble (born 1875)
      • Lola Bonner Gamble (born 1884)
    • Nancy Ann Gamble (born 1846)
      • Olive Vestula Adams (born 1867)
    • Percifer Quitman "Jim" Gamble (born 1853)
Notice that both families have in common the names Percifer, Vistula, Quitman and Judson. Furthermore, in looking at some of the names of the other kids of William Edwin Connelly, you can see that many of the others are generally family names, like Aiken and Butler.

I am not here going to conclude that this means that Martha E. (Connely) Gamble was sister to my Jane (Connelly) Bonner. However, that is a pretty impressive collection rare given names that appear in both families. My experience is that this doesn't happen by chance. With William, Thomas, and John? Sure. But with Percifer, Vistula, Quitman and Judson?

Last update: 30 October 2012