My great great grandfather Michael O'CONNOR (CONNER) was born in Abbeyleix in about 1831. According to a biography written of him in 1888, he was sent to England to school and then went on to Boston in 1853. We believe we have him in the 1851 Birmingham, England census living with a William Conner, a few years over. Michael used the name Conner in Boston but changed back to O'Connor when he moved on to the American Midwest (Illinois, then Fillmore County, Minnesota.) Other families from County Laois settled in his area of Spring Valley, Fillmore County, Minnesota. He married a member of the MULHALL (MUNHALL) family of Abbeyleix -- these Abbeyleix MUNHALLS were the Pennsylvania steel millionaires -- they were cousins of Michael's wife Bridget MULHALL, who apparently was born elsewhere in Ireland about 1830 or so, but to at least a father from the Abbeyleix area.. Her sister Ann Mulhall married a LAWLOR. Once she arrived in the US, she changed her name to MUNHALL. I appreciate any assistance tracing these families. Thanks. Penny Ford Denver, Colorado