Hello! My name is Susan Maxwell Schmidt and I am hoping someone can help me connect my James Connolly lineage. Here's what I know (and unfortunately it ain't much):
1. My grandmother was Elizabeth O'Brien, born December 1893 to one Mary Connolly O'Brien (1873) of County Cork. I believe Mary's father was also named James Connolly, born sometime around 1837 in England.
2. My grandmother and her sister were to be sent to the U.S. when Elizabeth was 13 because it was feared their close connection to James Connolly made it too dangerous for them to stay in Ireland. Ultimately my grandmother's sister wasn't allowed to travel because she was ill, so they wouldn't let her board the ship and Elizabeth made the voyage alone (sans their trunk, which they removed with her sister). If the age of Elizabeth at the time of the voyage is indeed correct, then apparently the voyage occurred in or around 1907, nine years before the Easter Rising.
3. Elizabeth had a cousin Mary whom she referred to, oddly enough, as Cousin Mary. Mary, who remained in Ireland, and Elizabeth remained very close and in touch for the remainder of Mary's life, which was until at least into the late 60s or 70s (I'm basing the dates entirely on when I can recall her still being mentioned at family gatherings, which due to the amount of brain cells I destroyed in the 70s makes it sketchy at best). I mention this because the "cousin" reference is obviously made to differentiate her from another close family relative named Mary and I doubt that would have been Elizabeth's mother. I am not positive her sister's name was also Mary, but it may well have been.
Can any of you genealogy masters tie my raggedy strings into a beautiful bow by any chance? Frankly I am in awe, this stuff makes my brain hurt almost as much as complex math. Thanks so much for any help you can offer!
Elizabeth O'Brien Coady Gatier (AKA "Steamboat Liz")
