He served in the Confederate Army. CSA
- Obituary -
Obituary from the Trenton Tribune, August 4, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
Thursday morning, July 27, 1911 at 10:20, the spirit of John W. Connelly left its earthly abode, meeting the "night of death serenely as the stars meet the morning." Immediate friends had awaited the summons to come and flew to his bedside to see the long feared and expected end to come. The shadows of death, which had gathered for years, months and days over him, now thickened in denser clouds of hours and minutes until 3PM Wednesday when the mortal man became unconscious of mortality and the spiritual being was safe in the realms of where dwells the reward of "just men made perfect." The miracles of the age in which he died and his life had helped to make, were used to let distant friends and admirers know of the sad event. Telephones were sent to Bonham, Wolfe City, Ladonia, Melissa, Whitewright, near old Highland Church, Pilot Grove and all the other churches he had ministered to in the long ago, that all who still live might know he had finished his earthly pilgrimage. Oh, then, if he could not know but his admirers could, who and how many his friends were; they seemed to have sprung, unbidden from the ground; they came from everywhere and wore the same serious, solemn look that it was the end of a well spent life and the world had been made better for his having lived in it.
He had made definite arrangements for his burial, beside the graves of his aged mother and father who had, at a veiy advanced age, preceeded him, in the Bums Cemetery. The hour selected by his friends was 3:30PM Friday, July 28, funeral services at the Baptist church in Trenton, conducted by Rev. R. C. Buckner of the Buckner's Orphans Home at Dallas, whom he so much admired among his brother preachers for his doing religion as well as professing it. Long before the appointed hour near neighbors and friends had filled the church, with no standing room left, and what to his oldest and most devoted friends swelled their hearts with emotions that could not be expressed. The greatest miracle of any age, the automobile, brought sincere friends from Bonham, Ladonia, Wolfe City, Leonard, Ravenna, Whitewright, Pilot Grove and all points where he was ever known or had ever preached, for he it was who, by his steadfast adhering to duty in the same place, had made it possible that such should be and bring in so short a time friends who wished to bid the last farewell. The funeral discourse by Rev. Buckner, a man of kindred heart, was as might have been expected from a man of such a ragged character of doing religion in helping orphans to live a higher life here as well as hereafter. He confined himself to the truth, for well he could do that amid the scenes in which a long life had been spent, of his good works, but to mention them was but to receive a silent assent, for that which was not good in the eye of the critic he only referred to how the end proved the sincerity of his purpose and what was of the greatest importance, a superior intellect could derive what the future must be. To be unpopular for the time being was to be right then, which the future would alone prove aid it always did in all the acts of his life. The sermon was listened to with silent thought and all who at one time in life might have felt the thorn, only then saw the true beauty of the rose. He had selected who should be his pallbearers; boys he had known when boys but old men now. Preference was given to his immediate vicinity: W. F. Sanders, T. B. Moore, Norman Brown, George Grider, John Gentry, John Crawford and Sam Jones
The hearse bore him to his final resting place, where his calm mind told him the time was so fast approaching when he must be gathered to his Fathers. While the largest crowd that had ever been seen in Trenton before was here, the procession was over a mile in length. Gathered there were those who wished to see the last token of love displayed in beautiful floral wreaths and take the last look at what could never be seen about. So it was at the grave when mother earth had to cover the body and why not let the human heart speak what is gushing out and could not be restrained. Rev. Crane was at the tome and briefly told of who and what was the object of that solemn occasion and then invited all who wished to cast a flower of feeling on those that burdened the casket. Tom Moore stepped forward first and told of the dark days of the long ago, when he was left an orphan with helpless little brothers and sisters to care for and at a time that tried all men's souls, the truest only could stand steadfast, the days of reconstruction; how he was married by him, which meant that the "sky of his life opened over him and Heaven gave a glimpse of its blue," and that made him suggest to the immense crowd present, all who were made like happy to hold up their hands and through the throng so many lovely faces of all ages could be seen the joyous countenances of old and young women, whose lives had been spent with husbands who had planted a flower in every footstep taken by that marriage to the time she could let it be known holding up her hand. George Aldridge, the nearest neighbor boy, old man now, and wife of Myra, Cooke county, were there. Scattered there in the silence of the grave yard was all that he had ever loved, ever seen the end of and ever must know that such is the end of all of us. He could not hold that impetuous great heart of his and told of the past of his oldest and best, most forgiving friend, a man who did not but love his neighbor as the scripture said. He was listened to as one who had known all about what had been said covering an eventful life. He was listened to by the old ones as what was the facts of so long ago and it sank deep into their hearts. The writer, for over forty-four years a more intimate acquaintance and admirer of him whose eventful life had seen the sunset, was so overwhelmed in feeling of all that was good that seemed to be buried, called on the memory of a bright and radiant youth for a sentiment that had been and he could not resist expressing as fitting to that eventful life. He unvoluntary went to the head of the casket and looked into the yawning, cruel grave that awaits all humanity and recalled what he learned when a child and was said by the most gifted poet of an uncivilized world, but still paraphrased to suit what a fact at this noon-day civilization. We repeated and sang: "But, spirit immortal, That tomb cannot bind thee. Yet like that great heart That sprang from above. It will spring from the bondage That we now see enshroud thee. And live with that power, That has so mercifully endeared thee."
The Bonham Daily Favorite
27 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
Rev. J. W. Connelly passed away this morning at the family residence at ten o’clock. The cause of his death has not been learned.
Funeral services will be conducted at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the Trenton Baptist church, followed by interment at the Burns cemetery.
He was one of the oldest ministers in Fannin county. He was loved and esteemed by hundreds of friends, who will be deeply grieved to learn of his demise.
*******
The Bonham Daily Favorite
28 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
John Connelly was a native of Kentucky and came to Texas with his father, Alfred Connelly, and settled near Kentuckytown, where he spent a few years. About the year 1856 he went with Rev. W. R. Baker to Armstrong Academy in the Choctaw Nation and assisted in the management and teaching of the school at the place and continued there until 1861, when he entered the Army of the Confederacy and was made captain of the Choctaw company. In 1863 he was captured and sent to a prison at Johnson Island, where he remained in confinement as a prisoner of war for more than eighteen months before he was exchanged. He came back to Fannin county about the first of Jan’y, 1865. After the close of the war he remained in this county and for some time was pastor of the Baptist church in Bonham, and also probably taught school for a while. He also purchased a tract of land near Trenton and resided there.
He was a man of strong and active mind, a great student, and had the most extensive library of any man in North Texas. He was fond of history and poetry, well posted religious literature and well informed on most all subjects. He was a fine and fluent talker as a conversationalist and public talker---he had much wit and humor and knew how to entertain a crowd and hold them together. He was also a fine writer and many a newspaper has had its pages made brighter and more entertaining by reason of his contributions. He always signed his articles for publication as “Old Chock.”
As a solder he was brave. As a citizen he was moral and kind. As a preacher he was able and eloquent. As a friend he was true and faithful. As an enemy he would have been somewhat bitter. He could have been a literary giant had me undertaken to enter the literary field as an occupation, for he had a broad intellect.
But he has preached his last sermon; written his last line; said his last kind and encouraging word; given his last kind advice to his friends, and now must make his resting place in the cold ground until the Great angel shall sound the trumpet that calls the dead from the grave and bids them to walk in a new life.
- Additional Information -
Article from the Trenton Tribune, August 18, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
REV. J. W. CONNELLY'S LIFE...WRITTEN BY HIMSELF....
I was bom near Bloomfield, Nelson county, Kentucky, May 21,1934. Came to Texas with my father, who settled near Kentuckytown, Grayson County, Nov. 8, 1852. Hauled lumber from Eastern Texas during the year 1853 and broke prairie in 1854. Professed faith in Christ and was baptized into the fellowship of Kentuckytown Baptist church by Rev. John O. Walker, July 18,1854. Taught my first school at Illinoistown, near Hebron, Grayson county, in 1857. Was chosen principal of Armstrong Academy, Choctaw Nation, in September, 1858, and remained there until May 5, 1862, then joined the 16th Regiment of Texas Calvary commanded By Col. Wm. Fitzhugh. Was promoted to the captaincy of Company "G" of that regiment in May, 1863. Was in the battles of Cotton Plant, Ark., July 7, 1862, and Millikens Bend, La., June 7, 1863; was captured by the enemy in a skirmish fight near Richmond, La., June 15, 1863 and imprisoned on Johnson’s Island, in Lake Erie, until the close of the war; arrived at my lather's home in May, 1865; taught school at Kentuckytown in the fall of that year (1865), taught at Bums school house in 1866; returned to the Choctaw Nation in February, 1867, and taught in the Baptist church near Armstrong Academy until 1870; was ordained minister October 1,1868; came to Texas in December, 1870; was pastor at Kentuckytown from 1871 to 1888; at Bonham 1871 to 1879; at Whitewright 1889 to 1890; Leonard 1882 to 1893; Ravenna 1891 to 1893; Melissa (Old Highland Church) 1888 to 1895. The Presbytery which ordained me was composed of Rev. R. J. Hogue (Missionary to the Choctaws), Peter Foreman (Cherokee), Peter Folsom and James Williams (Choctaws). I have been an Independent Missionary in Wild Cat Thicket since I came here in 1870. The church houses at Kentuckytown, Whitewright, Trenton, Leonard, Melissa (Old Highland) and Ravenna were built under my pastorate. I retired from active work in October, 1895, but preached funerals and officiated at weddings and wrote for papers.
- Obituary -
Obituary from the Trenton Tribune, August 4, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
Thursday morning, July 27, 1911 at 10:20, the spirit of John W. Connelly left its earthly abode, meeting the "night of death serenely as the stars meet the morning." Immediate friends had awaited the summons to come and flew to his bedside to see the long feared and expected end to come. The shadows of death, which had gathered for years, months and days over him, now thickened in denser clouds of hours and minutes until 3PM Wednesday when the mortal man became unconscious of mortality and the spiritual being was safe in the realms of where dwells the reward of "just men made perfect." The miracles of the age in which he died and his life had helped to make, were used to let distant friends and admirers know of the sad event. Telephones were sent to Bonham, Wolfe City, Ladonia, Melissa, Whitewright, near old Highland Church, Pilot Grove and all the other churches he had ministered to in the long ago, that all who still live might know he had finished his earthly pilgrimage. Oh, then, if he could not know but his admirers could, who and how many his friends were; they seemed to have sprung, unbidden from the ground; they came from everywhere and wore the same serious, solemn look that it was the end of a well spent life and the world had been made better for his having lived in it.
He had made definite arrangements for his burial, beside the graves of his aged mother and father who had, at a veiy advanced age, preceeded him, in the Bums Cemetery. The hour selected by his friends was 3:30PM Friday, July 28, funeral services at the Baptist church in Trenton, conducted by Rev. R. C. Buckner of the Buckner's Orphans Home at Dallas, whom he so much admired among his brother preachers for his doing religion as well as professing it. Long before the appointed hour near neighbors and friends had filled the church, with no standing room left, and what to his oldest and most devoted friends swelled their hearts with emotions that could not be expressed. The greatest miracle of any age, the automobile, brought sincere friends from Bonham, Ladonia, Wolfe City, Leonard, Ravenna, Whitewright, Pilot Grove and all points where he was ever known or had ever preached, for he it was who, by his steadfast adhering to duty in the same place, had made it possible that such should be and bring in so short a time friends who wished to bid the last farewell. The funeral discourse by Rev. Buckner, a man of kindred heart, was as might have been expected from a man of such a ragged character of doing religion in helping orphans to live a higher life here as well as hereafter. He confined himself to the truth, for well he could do that amid the scenes in which a long life had been spent, of his good works, but to mention them was but to receive a silent assent, for that which was not good in the eye of the critic he only referred to how the end proved the sincerity of his purpose and what was of the greatest importance, a superior intellect could derive what the future must be. To be unpopular for the time being was to be right then, which the future would alone prove aid it always did in all the acts of his life. The sermon was listened to with silent thought and all who at one time in life might have felt the thorn, only then saw the true beauty of the rose. He had selected who should be his pallbearers; boys he had known when boys but old men now. Preference was given to his immediate vicinity: W. F. Sanders, T. B. Moore, Norman Brown, George Grider, John Gentry, John Crawford and Sam Jones
The hearse bore him to his final resting place, where his calm mind told him the time was so fast approaching when he must be gathered to his Fathers. While the largest crowd that had ever been seen in Trenton before was here, the procession was over a mile in length. Gathered there were those who wished to see the last token of love displayed in beautiful floral wreaths and take the last look at what could never be seen about. So it was at the grave when mother earth had to cover the body and why not let the human heart speak what is gushing out and could not be restrained. Rev. Crane was at the tome and briefly told of who and what was the object of that solemn occasion and then invited all who wished to cast a flower of feeling on those that burdened the casket. Tom Moore stepped forward first and told of the dark days of the long ago, when he was left an orphan with helpless little brothers and sisters to care for and at a time that tried all men's souls, the truest only could stand steadfast, the days of reconstruction; how he was married by him, which meant that the "sky of his life opened over him and Heaven gave a glimpse of its blue," and that made him suggest to the immense crowd present, all who were made like happy to hold up their hands and through the throng so many lovely faces of all ages could be seen the joyous countenances of old and young women, whose lives had been spent with husbands who had planted a flower in every footstep taken by that marriage to the time she could let it be known holding up her hand. George Aldridge, the nearest neighbor boy, old man now, and wife of Myra, Cooke county, were there. Scattered there in the silence of the grave yard was all that he had ever loved, ever seen the end of and ever must know that such is the end of all of us. He could not hold that impetuous great heart of his and told of the past of his oldest and best, most forgiving friend, a man who did not but love his neighbor as the scripture said. He was listened to as one who had known all about what had been said covering an eventful life. He was listened to by the old ones as what was the facts of so long ago and it sank deep into their hearts. The writer, for over forty-four years a more intimate acquaintance and admirer of him whose eventful life had seen the sunset, was so overwhelmed in feeling of all that was good that seemed to be buried, called on the memory of a bright and radiant youth for a sentiment that had been and he could not resist expressing as fitting to that eventful life. He unvoluntary went to the head of the casket and looked into the yawning, cruel grave that awaits all humanity and recalled what he learned when a child and was said by the most gifted poet of an uncivilized world, but still paraphrased to suit what a fact at this noon-day civilization. We repeated and sang: "But, spirit immortal, That tomb cannot bind thee. Yet like that great heart That sprang from above. It will spring from the bondage That we now see enshroud thee. And live with that power, That has so mercifully endeared thee."
The Bonham Daily Favorite
27 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
Rev. J. W. Connelly passed away this morning at the family residence at ten o’clock. The cause of his death has not been learned.
Funeral services will be conducted at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the Trenton Baptist church, followed by interment at the Burns cemetery.
He was one of the oldest ministers in Fannin county. He was loved and esteemed by hundreds of friends, who will be deeply grieved to learn of his demise.
*******
The Bonham Daily Favorite
28 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
John Connelly was a native of Kentucky and came to Texas with his father, Alfred Connelly, and settled near Kentuckytown, where he spent a few years. About the year 1856 he went with Rev. W. R. Baker to Armstrong Academy in the Choctaw Nation and assisted in the management and teaching of the school at the place and continued there until 1861, when he entered the Army of the Confederacy and was made captain of the Choctaw company. In 1863 he was captured and sent to a prison at Johnson Island, where he remained in confinement as a prisoner of war for more than eighteen months before he was exchanged. He came back to Fannin county about the first of Jan’y, 1865. After the close of the war he remained in this county and for some time was pastor of the Baptist church in Bonham, and also probably taught school for a while. He also purchased a tract of land near Trenton and resided there.
He was a man of strong and active mind, a great student, and had the most extensive library of any man in North Texas. He was fond of history and poetry, well posted religious literature and well informed on most all subjects. He was a fine and fluent talker as a conversationalist and public talker---he had much wit and humor and knew how to entertain a crowd and hold them together. He was also a fine writer and many a newspaper has had its pages made brighter and more entertaining by reason of his contributions. He always signed his articles for publication as “Old Chock.”
As a solder he was brave. As a citizen he was moral and kind. As a preacher he was able and eloquent. As a friend he was true and faithful. As an enemy he would have been somewhat bitter. He could have been a literary giant had me undertaken to enter the literary field as an occupation, for he had a broad intellect.
But he has preached his last sermon; written his last line; said his last kind and encouraging word; given his last kind advice to his friends, and now must make his resting place in the cold ground until the Great angel shall sound the trumpet that calls the dead from the grave and bids them to walk in a new life.
- Additional Information -
Article from the Trenton Tribune, August 18, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
REV. J. W. CONNELLY'S LIFE...WRITTEN BY HIMSELF....
I was bom near Bloomfield, Nelson county, Kentucky, May 21,1934. Came to Texas with my father, who settled near Kentuckytown, Grayson County, Nov. 8, 1852. Hauled lumber from Eastern Texas during the year 1853 and broke prairie in 1854. Professed faith in Christ and was baptized into the fellowship of Kentuckytown Baptist church by Rev. John O. Walker, July 18,1854. Taught my first school at Illinoistown, near Hebron, Grayson county, in 1857. Was chosen principal of Armstrong Academy, Choctaw Nation, in September, 1858, and remained there until May 5, 1862, then joined the 16th Regiment of Texas Calvary commanded By Col. Wm. Fitzhugh. Was promoted to the captaincy of Company "G" of that regiment in May, 1863. Was in the battles of Cotton Plant, Ark., July 7, 1862, and Millikens Bend, La., June 7, 1863; was captured by the enemy in a skirmish fight near Richmond, La., June 15, 1863 and imprisoned on Johnson’s Island, in Lake Erie, until the close of the war; arrived at my lather's home in May, 1865; taught school at Kentuckytown in the fall of that year (1865), taught at Bums school house in 1866; returned to the Choctaw Nation in February, 1867, and taught in the Baptist church near Armstrong Academy until 1870; was ordained minister October 1,1868; came to Texas in December, 1870; was pastor at Kentuckytown from 1871 to 1888; at Bonham 1871 to 1879; at Whitewright 1889 to 1890; Leonard 1882 to 1893; Ravenna 1891 to 1893; Melissa (Old Highland Church) 1888 to 1895. The Presbytery which ordained me was composed of Rev. R. J. Hogue (Missionary to the Choctaws), Peter Foreman (Cherokee), Peter Folsom and James Williams (Choctaws). I have been an Independent Missionary in Wild Cat Thicket since I came here in 1870. The church houses at Kentuckytown, Whitewright, Trenton, Leonard, Melissa (Old Highland) and Ravenna were built under my pastorate. I retired from active work in October, 1895, but preached funerals and officiated at weddings and wrote for papers.
He served in the Confederate Army. CSA
- Obituary -
Obituary from the Trenton Tribune, August 4, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
Thursday morning, July 27, 1911 at 10:20, the spirit of John W. Connelly left its earthly abode, meeting the "night of death serenely as the stars meet the morning." Immediate friends had awaited the summons to come and flew to his bedside to see the long feared and expected end to come. The shadows of death, which had gathered for years, months and days over him, now thickened in denser clouds of hours and minutes until 3PM Wednesday when the mortal man became unconscious of mortality and the spiritual being was safe in the realms of where dwells the reward of "just men made perfect." The miracles of the age in which he died and his life had helped to make, were used to let distant friends and admirers know of the sad event. Telephones were sent to Bonham, Wolfe City, Ladonia, Melissa, Whitewright, near old Highland Church, Pilot Grove and all the other churches he had ministered to in the long ago, that all who still live might know he had finished his earthly pilgrimage. Oh, then, if he could not know but his admirers could, who and how many his friends were; they seemed to have sprung, unbidden from the ground; they came from everywhere and wore the same serious, solemn look that it was the end of a well spent life and the world had been made better for his having lived in it.
He had made definite arrangements for his burial, beside the graves of his aged mother and father who had, at a veiy advanced age, preceeded him, in the Bums Cemetery. The hour selected by his friends was 3:30PM Friday, July 28, funeral services at the Baptist church in Trenton, conducted by Rev. R. C. Buckner of the Buckner's Orphans Home at Dallas, whom he so much admired among his brother preachers for his doing religion as well as professing it. Long before the appointed hour near neighbors and friends had filled the church, with no standing room left, and what to his oldest and most devoted friends swelled their hearts with emotions that could not be expressed. The greatest miracle of any age, the automobile, brought sincere friends from Bonham, Ladonia, Wolfe City, Leonard, Ravenna, Whitewright, Pilot Grove and all points where he was ever known or had ever preached, for he it was who, by his steadfast adhering to duty in the same place, had made it possible that such should be and bring in so short a time friends who wished to bid the last farewell. The funeral discourse by Rev. Buckner, a man of kindred heart, was as might have been expected from a man of such a ragged character of doing religion in helping orphans to live a higher life here as well as hereafter. He confined himself to the truth, for well he could do that amid the scenes in which a long life had been spent, of his good works, but to mention them was but to receive a silent assent, for that which was not good in the eye of the critic he only referred to how the end proved the sincerity of his purpose and what was of the greatest importance, a superior intellect could derive what the future must be. To be unpopular for the time being was to be right then, which the future would alone prove aid it always did in all the acts of his life. The sermon was listened to with silent thought and all who at one time in life might have felt the thorn, only then saw the true beauty of the rose. He had selected who should be his pallbearers; boys he had known when boys but old men now. Preference was given to his immediate vicinity: W. F. Sanders, T. B. Moore, Norman Brown, George Grider, John Gentry, John Crawford and Sam Jones
The hearse bore him to his final resting place, where his calm mind told him the time was so fast approaching when he must be gathered to his Fathers. While the largest crowd that had ever been seen in Trenton before was here, the procession was over a mile in length. Gathered there were those who wished to see the last token of love displayed in beautiful floral wreaths and take the last look at what could never be seen about. So it was at the grave when mother earth had to cover the body and why not let the human heart speak what is gushing out and could not be restrained. Rev. Crane was at the tome and briefly told of who and what was the object of that solemn occasion and then invited all who wished to cast a flower of feeling on those that burdened the casket. Tom Moore stepped forward first and told of the dark days of the long ago, when he was left an orphan with helpless little brothers and sisters to care for and at a time that tried all men's souls, the truest only could stand steadfast, the days of reconstruction; how he was married by him, which meant that the "sky of his life opened over him and Heaven gave a glimpse of its blue," and that made him suggest to the immense crowd present, all who were made like happy to hold up their hands and through the throng so many lovely faces of all ages could be seen the joyous countenances of old and young women, whose lives had been spent with husbands who had planted a flower in every footstep taken by that marriage to the time she could let it be known holding up her hand. George Aldridge, the nearest neighbor boy, old man now, and wife of Myra, Cooke county, were there. Scattered there in the silence of the grave yard was all that he had ever loved, ever seen the end of and ever must know that such is the end of all of us. He could not hold that impetuous great heart of his and told of the past of his oldest and best, most forgiving friend, a man who did not but love his neighbor as the scripture said. He was listened to as one who had known all about what had been said covering an eventful life. He was listened to by the old ones as what was the facts of so long ago and it sank deep into their hearts. The writer, for over forty-four years a more intimate acquaintance and admirer of him whose eventful life had seen the sunset, was so overwhelmed in feeling of all that was good that seemed to be buried, called on the memory of a bright and radiant youth for a sentiment that had been and he could not resist expressing as fitting to that eventful life. He unvoluntary went to the head of the casket and looked into the yawning, cruel grave that awaits all humanity and recalled what he learned when a child and was said by the most gifted poet of an uncivilized world, but still paraphrased to suit what a fact at this noon-day civilization. We repeated and sang: "But, spirit immortal, That tomb cannot bind thee. Yet like that great heart That sprang from above. It will spring from the bondage That we now see enshroud thee. And live with that power, That has so mercifully endeared thee."
The Bonham Daily Favorite
27 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
Rev. J. W. Connelly passed away this morning at the family residence at ten o’clock. The cause of his death has not been learned.
Funeral services will be conducted at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the Trenton Baptist church, followed by interment at the Burns cemetery.
He was one of the oldest ministers in Fannin county. He was loved and esteemed by hundreds of friends, who will be deeply grieved to learn of his demise.
*******
The Bonham Daily Favorite
28 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
John Connelly was a native of Kentucky and came to Texas with his father, Alfred Connelly, and settled near Kentuckytown, where he spent a few years. About the year 1856 he went with Rev. W. R. Baker to Armstrong Academy in the Choctaw Nation and assisted in the management and teaching of the school at the place and continued there until 1861, when he entered the Army of the Confederacy and was made captain of the Choctaw company. In 1863 he was captured and sent to a prison at Johnson Island, where he remained in confinement as a prisoner of war for more than eighteen months before he was exchanged. He came back to Fannin county about the first of Jan’y, 1865. After the close of the war he remained in this county and for some time was pastor of the Baptist church in Bonham, and also probably taught school for a while. He also purchased a tract of land near Trenton and resided there.
He was a man of strong and active mind, a great student, and had the most extensive library of any man in North Texas. He was fond of history and poetry, well posted religious literature and well informed on most all subjects. He was a fine and fluent talker as a conversationalist and public talker---he had much wit and humor and knew how to entertain a crowd and hold them together. He was also a fine writer and many a newspaper has had its pages made brighter and more entertaining by reason of his contributions. He always signed his articles for publication as “Old Chock.”
As a solder he was brave. As a citizen he was moral and kind. As a preacher he was able and eloquent. As a friend he was true and faithful. As an enemy he would have been somewhat bitter. He could have been a literary giant had me undertaken to enter the literary field as an occupation, for he had a broad intellect.
But he has preached his last sermon; written his last line; said his last kind and encouraging word; given his last kind advice to his friends, and now must make his resting place in the cold ground until the Great angel shall sound the trumpet that calls the dead from the grave and bids them to walk in a new life.
- Additional Information -
Article from the Trenton Tribune, August 18, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
REV. J. W. CONNELLY'S LIFE...WRITTEN BY HIMSELF....
I was bom near Bloomfield, Nelson county, Kentucky, May 21,1934. Came to Texas with my father, who settled near Kentuckytown, Grayson County, Nov. 8, 1852. Hauled lumber from Eastern Texas during the year 1853 and broke prairie in 1854. Professed faith in Christ and was baptized into the fellowship of Kentuckytown Baptist church by Rev. John O. Walker, July 18,1854. Taught my first school at Illinoistown, near Hebron, Grayson county, in 1857. Was chosen principal of Armstrong Academy, Choctaw Nation, in September, 1858, and remained there until May 5, 1862, then joined the 16th Regiment of Texas Calvary commanded By Col. Wm. Fitzhugh. Was promoted to the captaincy of Company "G" of that regiment in May, 1863. Was in the battles of Cotton Plant, Ark., July 7, 1862, and Millikens Bend, La., June 7, 1863; was captured by the enemy in a skirmish fight near Richmond, La., June 15, 1863 and imprisoned on Johnson’s Island, in Lake Erie, until the close of the war; arrived at my lather's home in May, 1865; taught school at Kentuckytown in the fall of that year (1865), taught at Bums school house in 1866; returned to the Choctaw Nation in February, 1867, and taught in the Baptist church near Armstrong Academy until 1870; was ordained minister October 1,1868; came to Texas in December, 1870; was pastor at Kentuckytown from 1871 to 1888; at Bonham 1871 to 1879; at Whitewright 1889 to 1890; Leonard 1882 to 1893; Ravenna 1891 to 1893; Melissa (Old Highland Church) 1888 to 1895. The Presbytery which ordained me was composed of Rev. R. J. Hogue (Missionary to the Choctaws), Peter Foreman (Cherokee), Peter Folsom and James Williams (Choctaws). I have been an Independent Missionary in Wild Cat Thicket since I came here in 1870. The church houses at Kentuckytown, Whitewright, Trenton, Leonard, Melissa (Old Highland) and Ravenna were built under my pastorate. I retired from active work in October, 1895, but preached funerals and officiated at weddings and wrote for papers.
- Obituary -
Obituary from the Trenton Tribune, August 4, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
Thursday morning, July 27, 1911 at 10:20, the spirit of John W. Connelly left its earthly abode, meeting the "night of death serenely as the stars meet the morning." Immediate friends had awaited the summons to come and flew to his bedside to see the long feared and expected end to come. The shadows of death, which had gathered for years, months and days over him, now thickened in denser clouds of hours and minutes until 3PM Wednesday when the mortal man became unconscious of mortality and the spiritual being was safe in the realms of where dwells the reward of "just men made perfect." The miracles of the age in which he died and his life had helped to make, were used to let distant friends and admirers know of the sad event. Telephones were sent to Bonham, Wolfe City, Ladonia, Melissa, Whitewright, near old Highland Church, Pilot Grove and all the other churches he had ministered to in the long ago, that all who still live might know he had finished his earthly pilgrimage. Oh, then, if he could not know but his admirers could, who and how many his friends were; they seemed to have sprung, unbidden from the ground; they came from everywhere and wore the same serious, solemn look that it was the end of a well spent life and the world had been made better for his having lived in it.
He had made definite arrangements for his burial, beside the graves of his aged mother and father who had, at a veiy advanced age, preceeded him, in the Bums Cemetery. The hour selected by his friends was 3:30PM Friday, July 28, funeral services at the Baptist church in Trenton, conducted by Rev. R. C. Buckner of the Buckner's Orphans Home at Dallas, whom he so much admired among his brother preachers for his doing religion as well as professing it. Long before the appointed hour near neighbors and friends had filled the church, with no standing room left, and what to his oldest and most devoted friends swelled their hearts with emotions that could not be expressed. The greatest miracle of any age, the automobile, brought sincere friends from Bonham, Ladonia, Wolfe City, Leonard, Ravenna, Whitewright, Pilot Grove and all points where he was ever known or had ever preached, for he it was who, by his steadfast adhering to duty in the same place, had made it possible that such should be and bring in so short a time friends who wished to bid the last farewell. The funeral discourse by Rev. Buckner, a man of kindred heart, was as might have been expected from a man of such a ragged character of doing religion in helping orphans to live a higher life here as well as hereafter. He confined himself to the truth, for well he could do that amid the scenes in which a long life had been spent, of his good works, but to mention them was but to receive a silent assent, for that which was not good in the eye of the critic he only referred to how the end proved the sincerity of his purpose and what was of the greatest importance, a superior intellect could derive what the future must be. To be unpopular for the time being was to be right then, which the future would alone prove aid it always did in all the acts of his life. The sermon was listened to with silent thought and all who at one time in life might have felt the thorn, only then saw the true beauty of the rose. He had selected who should be his pallbearers; boys he had known when boys but old men now. Preference was given to his immediate vicinity: W. F. Sanders, T. B. Moore, Norman Brown, George Grider, John Gentry, John Crawford and Sam Jones
The hearse bore him to his final resting place, where his calm mind told him the time was so fast approaching when he must be gathered to his Fathers. While the largest crowd that had ever been seen in Trenton before was here, the procession was over a mile in length. Gathered there were those who wished to see the last token of love displayed in beautiful floral wreaths and take the last look at what could never be seen about. So it was at the grave when mother earth had to cover the body and why not let the human heart speak what is gushing out and could not be restrained. Rev. Crane was at the tome and briefly told of who and what was the object of that solemn occasion and then invited all who wished to cast a flower of feeling on those that burdened the casket. Tom Moore stepped forward first and told of the dark days of the long ago, when he was left an orphan with helpless little brothers and sisters to care for and at a time that tried all men's souls, the truest only could stand steadfast, the days of reconstruction; how he was married by him, which meant that the "sky of his life opened over him and Heaven gave a glimpse of its blue," and that made him suggest to the immense crowd present, all who were made like happy to hold up their hands and through the throng so many lovely faces of all ages could be seen the joyous countenances of old and young women, whose lives had been spent with husbands who had planted a flower in every footstep taken by that marriage to the time she could let it be known holding up her hand. George Aldridge, the nearest neighbor boy, old man now, and wife of Myra, Cooke county, were there. Scattered there in the silence of the grave yard was all that he had ever loved, ever seen the end of and ever must know that such is the end of all of us. He could not hold that impetuous great heart of his and told of the past of his oldest and best, most forgiving friend, a man who did not but love his neighbor as the scripture said. He was listened to as one who had known all about what had been said covering an eventful life. He was listened to by the old ones as what was the facts of so long ago and it sank deep into their hearts. The writer, for over forty-four years a more intimate acquaintance and admirer of him whose eventful life had seen the sunset, was so overwhelmed in feeling of all that was good that seemed to be buried, called on the memory of a bright and radiant youth for a sentiment that had been and he could not resist expressing as fitting to that eventful life. He unvoluntary went to the head of the casket and looked into the yawning, cruel grave that awaits all humanity and recalled what he learned when a child and was said by the most gifted poet of an uncivilized world, but still paraphrased to suit what a fact at this noon-day civilization. We repeated and sang: "But, spirit immortal, That tomb cannot bind thee. Yet like that great heart That sprang from above. It will spring from the bondage That we now see enshroud thee. And live with that power, That has so mercifully endeared thee."
The Bonham Daily Favorite
27 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
Rev. J. W. Connelly passed away this morning at the family residence at ten o’clock. The cause of his death has not been learned.
Funeral services will be conducted at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the Trenton Baptist church, followed by interment at the Burns cemetery.
He was one of the oldest ministers in Fannin county. He was loved and esteemed by hundreds of friends, who will be deeply grieved to learn of his demise.
*******
The Bonham Daily Favorite
28 Jul 1911
Rev. J. W. Connelly Dead
Prominent Minister of Trenton Passed Away This morning at 10 O’clock.
John Connelly was a native of Kentucky and came to Texas with his father, Alfred Connelly, and settled near Kentuckytown, where he spent a few years. About the year 1856 he went with Rev. W. R. Baker to Armstrong Academy in the Choctaw Nation and assisted in the management and teaching of the school at the place and continued there until 1861, when he entered the Army of the Confederacy and was made captain of the Choctaw company. In 1863 he was captured and sent to a prison at Johnson Island, where he remained in confinement as a prisoner of war for more than eighteen months before he was exchanged. He came back to Fannin county about the first of Jan’y, 1865. After the close of the war he remained in this county and for some time was pastor of the Baptist church in Bonham, and also probably taught school for a while. He also purchased a tract of land near Trenton and resided there.
He was a man of strong and active mind, a great student, and had the most extensive library of any man in North Texas. He was fond of history and poetry, well posted religious literature and well informed on most all subjects. He was a fine and fluent talker as a conversationalist and public talker---he had much wit and humor and knew how to entertain a crowd and hold them together. He was also a fine writer and many a newspaper has had its pages made brighter and more entertaining by reason of his contributions. He always signed his articles for publication as “Old Chock.”
As a solder he was brave. As a citizen he was moral and kind. As a preacher he was able and eloquent. As a friend he was true and faithful. As an enemy he would have been somewhat bitter. He could have been a literary giant had me undertaken to enter the literary field as an occupation, for he had a broad intellect.
But he has preached his last sermon; written his last line; said his last kind and encouraging word; given his last kind advice to his friends, and now must make his resting place in the cold ground until the Great angel shall sound the trumpet that calls the dead from the grave and bids them to walk in a new life.
- Additional Information -
Article from the Trenton Tribune, August 18, 1911. Transcription from the Leonard Historical Museum.
REV. J. W. CONNELLY'S LIFE...WRITTEN BY HIMSELF....
I was bom near Bloomfield, Nelson county, Kentucky, May 21,1934. Came to Texas with my father, who settled near Kentuckytown, Grayson County, Nov. 8, 1852. Hauled lumber from Eastern Texas during the year 1853 and broke prairie in 1854. Professed faith in Christ and was baptized into the fellowship of Kentuckytown Baptist church by Rev. John O. Walker, July 18,1854. Taught my first school at Illinoistown, near Hebron, Grayson county, in 1857. Was chosen principal of Armstrong Academy, Choctaw Nation, in September, 1858, and remained there until May 5, 1862, then joined the 16th Regiment of Texas Calvary commanded By Col. Wm. Fitzhugh. Was promoted to the captaincy of Company "G" of that regiment in May, 1863. Was in the battles of Cotton Plant, Ark., July 7, 1862, and Millikens Bend, La., June 7, 1863; was captured by the enemy in a skirmish fight near Richmond, La., June 15, 1863 and imprisoned on Johnson’s Island, in Lake Erie, until the close of the war; arrived at my lather's home in May, 1865; taught school at Kentuckytown in the fall of that year (1865), taught at Bums school house in 1866; returned to the Choctaw Nation in February, 1867, and taught in the Baptist church near Armstrong Academy until 1870; was ordained minister October 1,1868; came to Texas in December, 1870; was pastor at Kentuckytown from 1871 to 1888; at Bonham 1871 to 1879; at Whitewright 1889 to 1890; Leonard 1882 to 1893; Ravenna 1891 to 1893; Melissa (Old Highland Church) 1888 to 1895. The Presbytery which ordained me was composed of Rev. R. J. Hogue (Missionary to the Choctaws), Peter Foreman (Cherokee), Peter Folsom and James Williams (Choctaws). I have been an Independent Missionary in Wild Cat Thicket since I came here in 1870. The church houses at Kentuckytown, Whitewright, Trenton, Leonard, Melissa (Old Highland) and Ravenna were built under my pastorate. I retired from active work in October, 1895, but preached funerals and officiated at weddings and wrote for papers.
Inscription
Little Grace and her papa are not dead, but live with Christ above the stars and their bodies sleep in the grave.
Gravesite Details
Same stone with Grace
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