Thomas J. Connor

Thomas J. (T.J.)  Connor, my great-grandfather, immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1870; port of entry unknown. He was naturalized, but we do not know when or where. His mother was Mary and his siblings were Bennie, Jim, and Mary (birth order unknown). DNA tracks my cousin and me to Kerry, West Iveraugh Peninsula. 

He appeared in Monroe Co., AR in 1888 where he met his future wife, Ida Jane Dodson. They lived with Ida's parents on the Dodson's property and had eight children, two of whom did not survive childhood. The other children were, in birth order: Alice Geneverie, James Richard (my grandfather), Thomas Jefferson, William Henry, Mary Belle, and Rachel Elizabeth. In 1902, he moved with his family and his wife's parents to Sunflower Co., MS. It is a mystery why they left a prosperous area of AR where they owned property and livestock and were active in the community and moved to a very small, poor community in MS. We have not found any record of other family, either Connor or Dodson, in that area. 

Monroe Co., AR records show that in 1889, T.J. was the lead petitioner asking the court to organize and form the township of Raymond, which the court approved, as the residents of the area had to go too far to vote and therefore needed their area to be an official township. 

Ida died in 1912, and it is presumed this is when T.J. left the family; we think he left to find work. He disappeared from all records after that time. His children were raised by their maternal grandmother until her death in 1918. The younger children were then raised by my grandfather, James Richard, until maturity.