Hi, I've just subscribed to this list so this is my first posting. Please bear with me until I get the hang of it. My great-great-grandfather was John W. O'Connell, born 1839 in County Cork. I don't know when or where he came to the US, but he enlisted into the Army in New York City on Nov. 9, 1855. I have a guess that he enlisted shortly after arriving in this country, but I have no proof. He married Ellen CALLAHAN (in some reports her surname is listed as SULLIVAN) on Jan. 5, 1865 at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in New York City. He served in the Army as a musician until his death on June 11, 1879, in Washington, DC. Among the locales where he served were Fort Hamilton, NY; Fort Point, San Francisco, CA; Sitka, AK; and Washington Arsenal, DC. During the Civil War he was captured by the Confederates and placed in a military prison in Pensacola, FL. In many of the military papers I have on John O'Connell, his surname is listed as CONNELL or CONNEL. Does anyone know why the O' was often dropped? John was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, NY. The plot was purchased by John HOLLONAN, an uncle of John O'Connell (or so the headstone proclaims), but I don't know the relationship. According to the headstone, also buried there are John Hollonan, his mother, Mary; his wife Mary; his two sons, Johnnie and Frank; his sister Ellen DONAVAN; and Michael BULLINS. As the headstone says, Hollonan was a native of Mallow, County Cork, Ireland. It says nothing of John O'Connell's birthplace. John and Ellen O'Connell had 4 children: William John (7/25/1867- 1/29/1883), Mary Ellen Cecilia (4/3/1869-10/27/1932), Thomas J. (8/15/1870- 1/16/1907), & lastly my great-grandmother, Emma Frances (4/18/1872-11/19/1913). Neither of the sons married so the family name from this branch ended. Emma married Christian Bohning in Little Rock, AR, on Jan. 15, 1889. They had 8 children: William, my grandmother Maude, Francis, Christian, Earl, Harold, Everett, and Florence. The family mostly lived in Rhode Island. According to my grandmother, John O'Connell supposedly was an orphan and thus had no money to go to America so he (and a brother?) got hired as cabin boys on a ship and made the passage in that way. He was said to have been about 10-14 years of age at the time. I don't know if there was a brother or not. Ellen O'Connell (John's wife) is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Washington, DC, and buried in the same plot is a woman named Mary O'CONNELL on May 10, 1897. I don't know who this Mary O'Connell is nor why she wasn't buried with John in NY. If any of this sounds like it matches something you have, please let me know. I would love hear from you! Carol