#52 Ancestors - The Horse's Name is Dolly

This is a picture of my grandmother Alice Fleming Connery taken at St. Joseph’s Academy in Adrian, Michigan circa 1900. It  appears that she is standing on a bridge. The time frame can be determined by the fact that Alice’s brother Michael was then a priest, of the Detroit diocese, serving at St Joseph Academy.[i] On the same census image also appears the name of six-year old Mary Connery, Alice’s oldest daughter.  

As I look at this picture, I wonder what Alice’s thoughts were that day. Was she enjoying the beauty of the day, or was she looking back and wondering how she came to this place in her life?

It had been less than 10 years since Alice had traveled to the United States with her brother Michael, leaving her elderly parents behind in Ballylanders, County Limerick, Ireland. Michael took the young Alice to the home of their older sister Mary Walsh who lived in Port Huron, Michifan, where Mary’s daughters often mocked her old country ways and manner of dress. Alice must have longed for the freedom of her life in Ireland and the adventures she shared with her cousin Molly Hogan, but as the youngest child in the family it was determined that she should travel to the United States where her siblings could impose more supervision than their parents. Since Alice had nine siblings living in the United States, there was more than one place she could stay. As Alice traveled between her sister Mary’s home and the homes of her three brothers in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, she often stopped in Chicago and that is where she reconnected with Michael Connery, the young man who had captured her heart in Ireland.

On 28 June 1893, Alice, aged 21 years, became the Bride of Michael Connery at the Port Huron home of her sister Mary Walsh. The service was performed by the same brother, Michael, who had brought Alice to the United States.[ii]

Michael and Alice moved to Chicago, Illinois where they lived for the rest of their lives. By the time this picture happened Alice was the mother of four children, Mary, Kathleen, Alice, and Leo. This picture is taken either in the fall, when the young Mary first went to St Joseph’s or in June of 1900 when it was time to return home for the summer. So much had happened in the past ten years!

Or was Alice trying to see what the future might hold? The only thing we know for sure is that the horse is named “Dolly”.[iii]

---

[i] Year: 1900; Census Place: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan; Roll: 725; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0039; FHL microfilm: 1240725. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

[ii] Marriage of Michael Connery and Alice Fleming; 27 June 1893; FHL film 2,342,497. Item 4 page 213; Michigan Marriages 1868-1925: ; Department of Vital Records, Lansing, Lansing, Michigan.

[iii] Sister Mary Phillip Ryan O.P., Amid the Alien Corn, paperback (Jones Wood Press: St Charles. Illinois, 1967), page 144.

Family History Writing Challenge - The Adrian Connection

Adrian, Michigan weaves in and out of our family story.  My dad and grandfather worked there on occasion, mom’s sisters went to school there, and her uncle was a priest there.  I spent the first winter of my life there.  What was the pull of Adrian?

Adrian is the county seat of Lenawee County, Michigan.  It was founded in 1826 by Addison Comstock a promoter for the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad.  Originally called Logan, the name was changed in 1828 by Mrs. Comstock to Adrian in honor of Hadrian of the Roman Empire.[i]

In 1853 three sisters from Holy Cross Convent, Regensburg (Ratisbon), Bavaria were sent to New York to provide religious education to the children of German immigrants.  In 1879 sisters were sent from the congregation in Newburgh, New York to St Mary’s parish and in 1880 to St Joseph’s parish in Adrian.  In 1884 they were joined by sisters sent to establish a hospital for injured railroad workers.  Adrian became a province of Newburgh and Mother Camilla Madden became a provincial.  Mother Camilla opened St Joseph Academy in 1896 and St Joseph College (now Sienna Heights University) in 1919.[ii]

Ratisbon House has served many purposes over the years: rectory for priest chaplains, the Formation House, and the home of the Friends of God Dominican Ashram. It currently serves as the home for a community of Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Fr Michael, Fleming, SJ

         This may have been the rectory when Fr Michael Fleming was stationed at St Joseph’s.       

St Joseph Cemetery final resting place of Fr Michael Fleming, SJ, Sr Michael Joseph Connery, OP and Sr Marie Camilla Connery, OP.

  It was to St Joseph Academy that MJ and Alice sent their daughters for school.  This appears to be somewhat of a family tradition as the daughters of Alice’s sister Mary Fleming Walsh traveled from their Port Huron home to attend St Joseph.  Beginning in 1900 Fr Michael Fleming, a Jesuit priest and brother of Alice Connery  and Mary Walsh was stationed at St Joseph Academy.  This is probably why St Joseph’s was chosen for the girls education.  Two of Alice and MJ’s daughters chose to become Dominican sisters and joined the convent in Adrian.

 Mary Elizabeth Connery became Sister Michael Joseph,

Sr Michael Joseph, OP  1919

Sr Marie Camilla, MJ, Alice, and Sr Michael Joseph
1922

                                                       

 and Alice Josephine Connery became Sister Marie Camilla.    She was very strongly influenced by Mother Camilla Madden. 

Mt St Mary Academy 1907

In 1907, the Adrian Dominicans purchased the old Farnsworth Mansion in St Charles, Illinois and opened Mount St Mary Aacademy, a private school for girls.  This was both a boarding and day school providing education for kindergarten through high school.  By the 1940s the school was a high school only and closed its doors in 1972.[iii]  It was to the “Mount” that Betty Connery was sent as a sixth grade student where she remained until her high school graduation.  After Betty began her education, most of her nieces also attended the “Mount”.  A total of seven students between the 1940s and 1960 attended the school from the family.

Adrian remained a part of our family story because of the strong ties to the Dominican order and the Connery association with St Joseph Academy.  Somewhere in my files I still have the program from the joint Jubilee celebration held for Sr Michael Joseph and Sr Marie Camilla in the mid-80s.  The last time I was in Adrian was in 1993.  My husband and I had returned to Illinois for our daughter’s wedding.  After the wedding my sister Suzanne and I took a trip to Adrian to visit with Sr Marie Camilla who was in retirement at Maria Hall.  Sr Marie Camilla, the last of her family died 16 April 1995.

(622)

---

[i] Wikipedia

[ii] http://www.adriandominicans.org/WhoWeAre/CongregationInformation/History.aspx

[iii] http://www.listphile.com/StCharles_LocalHistory/Farnsworth_Mansion_Mount_St_Mary_Academy

Limerick, Ireland to Chicago, Illinois

Alice Fleming was born 1 Jan 1872, the youngest of 12 children born to Thomas Fleming and Mary Hennessy of Ballylanders, Limerick, Ireland. Since all of her siblings had immigrated to the United States, she had very little supervision from her aged parents. According to family legend someone in Ireland notified her brother in the States that Alice and her cousin, Mary Hogan were running wild about the countryside. Accordingly, it was decided that Alice should come to live with her sister Mary Fleming Walsh in Port Huron, Michigan. She came to the United States with her brother Michael Joseph Fleming about 1891. On 28 June 1893, Alice married Michael Joseph Connery, a merchant from Chicago, Illinois. Michael had immigrated from Limerick but had known Alice from his trips back to Ireland. Michael and Alice eventually had 11 children, the youngest of which was my mother Elizabeth Mary Connery Hansen. Alice's two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Alice Josephine were sent to St Joseph Academy in Adrian, MI. Their uncle Michael was a priest at the school. This is a picture of Alice Fleming Connery taken at Adrian circa 1900.