In a message dated 99-05-15 00:11:37 EDT, [email protected] writes: << Looking for my g-g-grandfathers nephew Patrick O'Connor. Fought for the Union probably with a New York unit. Settled in Auburn, NY. Had a sister Julia. >> I have the below information on one Civil War Patrick, but it must not be yours because he didn't settle in New York. To: [email protected] >From Irish America Magazine, Nov/Dec 1997, page 85. Patrick E. Connor "Utah, the Mormon heartland, is not a state often associated with Irish settlement, but several of its most prominent early citizens were Irish immigrants. Patrick Connor, for example, a Co. Kerry native, arrived in Salt Lake City in 1861, as a U.S. Army colonel at the start of the Civil War. His mission: to keep an eye on the Mormons - then considered a bizarre polygamist cult of dubious loyalty to the United States - and keep open the lines of communication between the East and West coasts against Confederate and Indian raids. A California gold fields veteran, he also did not overlook the possibilities for mining in the area. Connor chose to stay in Utah after the war and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 greatly facilitated his business endeavors. He wrote Utah's first mining laws, opened several smelting companies, started Utah's first daily newspaper, and owned the first steamship to navigate regularly on the Great Salt Lake." There is also a very good picture of the fellow on page 85.