... and directly from Ireland...
born November 14, 1875 in Caherea, sponsor Mary (illegible on parish records). Mother of Estelle, Lizzie emigrated at age 17, she said, to Boston or Springfield, MA to join her sister Annie. Married in Springfield July 31, 1900 to Thomas James Kelley, age 21 (born about 1879 in Boston), parents unknown. Tommy was an orphan and had been raised on a farm in the Monson area. It is possible that, after his parents died, he was put on one of the infamous "orphan trains," which took orphans from Boston and New York and carried them across the country, stopping at each wayside for farmers to take their pick of cheap labor. Some of these children were treated like family members, and some were treated like field hands. On the marriage registration, he listed his occupation as hotel porter, and Lizzie listed hers as housework. Her name appears as "Lizzie Conlon." Shortly thereafter, they moved to Connecticut where Tommy may have had a job on a farm. Two children were born in Rockville, Connecticut in rapid succession in 1901 and 1903. By 1905, they had returned to Springfield and were living on Union Street in the Old Hill Neighborhood when tragedy struck. Their second child, May, still only a baby, died of tuberculosis/meningitis.
In the 1910 census, Lizzie and Tommy lived at 32 Dymon Street with Harold, 8, and George, 1 9/12, and sister-in-law Annie (Connellan) McCarthy, described as a widow, and her son Francis, age 9. Tom, was a teamster, which meant at that time that he drove horses not trucks. Dymon Street was only one block long, extending from Walnut St. to Oak St. in the Old Hill Section of Springfield. It was narrow and may have been unpaved. Here all four Connellan daughters in the city lived in a snug arrangement that allowed the kind of daily, casual contact they would have enjoyed back in Caherea.
Curiously, Thomas registered for the draft in 1918 when he would have been 39 years old. There is no evidence that he was called. By 1920, the Kelley family had grown to five children and had moved to 28 Oak Street, just around the corner from Dymon Street. Tommy was still a teamster. But Tommy had a wanderlust and left home several times, sometimes to work on farms. It is unclear when Tommy left for good, but certainly, by the time Estelle married in 1937, the marriage between Lizzie and Tommy was over. Tommy held many different and interesting jobs. He was in charge of the performing animals at Court Square Theater which still had vaudeville into the 1940's. He was the Santa Claus at Johnson's Bookstore in downtown Springfield. With his pink cheeks, snow white hair, and ready smile, Tommy was a perfect Santa Claus.
Lizzie lived with Estelle and her family for most of the rest of her life. She was tall and thin, with a long rather than a round face. Although her hair might have been a brighter red in her youth, in her later years it was dyed a rich auburn and waved in the "marcelle" style. She wore silky dresses and hats and gloves always to go to church or "downstreet."
Lizzie died November 13, 1955, the day before her 80th birthday
of pneumonia after a broken hip. Tommy, who for the most part
lived with his son George and his family, developed what was then
called senility. He could not remember things, including where
he lived, and would become lost walking the backroads of Connecticut
among the farms. He was put in Northampton State Hospital, then
the only kind of facility for even this mild mental problem. While
there, he acted as a sort of social director, organizing square
dances and social event for the residents. When Estelle would
visit him, he would call her a nice lady but seemed to have no
knowledge that she was his daughter. Tommy died in Northampton
in December 1957, his age given as 79 years, 7 months.
Children of Lizzie and Tom Kelley:
Copyright Kathy Grady, 1996. All rights reserved.
Created 07/26/96 by Dave Burrell.