Joseph was the oldest of three sons born to Dr. Henry Connelly, a Kentucky native who, after a brief stay in Missouri, had moved to Chihuahua and established a mercantile empire, and there married his first wife (possible name of Zelinza), a native of Jesus Maria. Joseph and his brother Peter (The third son, Thomas, had died in infancy) were sent to live in Missouri when war in Mexico was looming. The boys boarded with another American family who'd lived in Mexico but also had returned to the safety of the United States, and the brothers are found on the 1850 Census in Blue Township, Jackson County, MO, with the Hill family.
When the War Between the States broke out, Joseph was conscripted into the Confederate Army and served in a number of battles with the 3rd Missouri Battery, including Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Drywood, Lexington, Elk Horn, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, Hatchie Bridge, Fort Gibson, Baker's Creek, Big Black, and Vicksburg. Joseph's father Henry, on the other hand, held staunch pro-Union sentiments and thus had been appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Territorial Governor of New Mexico, Henry's having re-located to this territory upon expulsion from Mexico during the war (and subsequent confiscation of Henry's properties and accounts). Joseph perhaps was influenced by his father's political allegiances as he turned himself in to Union authorities at St Louis and signed an amnesty oath in 1864; however there is no indication of whether he had much contact with his father, step-mother and half-siblings, who remained in New Mexico while he remained in Missouri throughout most of his life.
He was over 30 years old when he finally got married, about 1869, to Anna M. Cathey, a 17-year-old Missouri native. The two settled in Jackson County where they appeared as newlyweds on the 1870 Census in Blue Township (page 9, family 68) and in Blue Springs on the 1880 Census with their first two children, daughters Ida and Mary. Joseph struggled to support his growing family as a farmer and farm laborer.
By 1900, Joseph was 62 years old but was still working as a farm laborer, and he and Anna had six children, all of whom appear on that year's census in Prairie Township of Jackson County. Daughter Ida, already 26 years of age and who would shortly marry William Monroe Cross (also a Missouri native) in late 1901, was employed as a school teacher and contributing to the support of the family.
By 1910, farm work had become too strenuous for the aging Civil War veteran who was now in his 70s. The family had moved to Kansas City where Joseph worked doing odd jobs and the remaining two children in the household, Joseph Jr and Anna Jr, worked as, respectively, a teamster and a stock girl. Life in the city proved to be difficult as well, though. Daughter Mary had died, at about age 25, in Kansas City in 1904 followed, in Independence, by daughter Ida in 1908, who left behind a spouse and 3 young children. Joseph's wife Anna would soon succumb to illness in 1911 and daughter Anna Jr. would follow her mother in 1918.
Sons Fred and Joseph Henry (Jr) married and settled in Jackson County, but Joseph remained independent until he finally entered the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Dover, Lafayette County, where he appears, in his 80s, on the 1920 Census. According to his admission files, he was a cheerful man known as "Uncle Joe," despite the many hardships he endured during the war and the following years struggling to earn a living on the farms. Even after he lost his sight and was transferred to the hospital section, he was well-liked by the other veterans and staff of the Home and continued to tell tales of the early years in Jackson County. Although at least two of his sons were still living relatively close at hand in Missouri, he died at age 90 alone at the Home, with notes indicating that the staff could not locate any living relatives.
When the War Between the States broke out, Joseph was conscripted into the Confederate Army and served in a number of battles with the 3rd Missouri Battery, including Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Drywood, Lexington, Elk Horn, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, Hatchie Bridge, Fort Gibson, Baker's Creek, Big Black, and Vicksburg. Joseph's father Henry, on the other hand, held staunch pro-Union sentiments and thus had been appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Territorial Governor of New Mexico, Henry's having re-located to this territory upon expulsion from Mexico during the war (and subsequent confiscation of Henry's properties and accounts). Joseph perhaps was influenced by his father's political allegiances as he turned himself in to Union authorities at St Louis and signed an amnesty oath in 1864; however there is no indication of whether he had much contact with his father, step-mother and half-siblings, who remained in New Mexico while he remained in Missouri throughout most of his life.
He was over 30 years old when he finally got married, about 1869, to Anna M. Cathey, a 17-year-old Missouri native. The two settled in Jackson County where they appeared as newlyweds on the 1870 Census in Blue Township (page 9, family 68) and in Blue Springs on the 1880 Census with their first two children, daughters Ida and Mary. Joseph struggled to support his growing family as a farmer and farm laborer.
By 1900, Joseph was 62 years old but was still working as a farm laborer, and he and Anna had six children, all of whom appear on that year's census in Prairie Township of Jackson County. Daughter Ida, already 26 years of age and who would shortly marry William Monroe Cross (also a Missouri native) in late 1901, was employed as a school teacher and contributing to the support of the family.
By 1910, farm work had become too strenuous for the aging Civil War veteran who was now in his 70s. The family had moved to Kansas City where Joseph worked doing odd jobs and the remaining two children in the household, Joseph Jr and Anna Jr, worked as, respectively, a teamster and a stock girl. Life in the city proved to be difficult as well, though. Daughter Mary had died, at about age 25, in Kansas City in 1904 followed, in Independence, by daughter Ida in 1908, who left behind a spouse and 3 young children. Joseph's wife Anna would soon succumb to illness in 1911 and daughter Anna Jr. would follow her mother in 1918.
Sons Fred and Joseph Henry (Jr) married and settled in Jackson County, but Joseph remained independent until he finally entered the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Dover, Lafayette County, where he appears, in his 80s, on the 1920 Census. According to his admission files, he was a cheerful man known as "Uncle Joe," despite the many hardships he endured during the war and the following years struggling to earn a living on the farms. Even after he lost his sight and was transferred to the hospital section, he was well-liked by the other veterans and staff of the Home and continued to tell tales of the early years in Jackson County. Although at least two of his sons were still living relatively close at hand in Missouri, he died at age 90 alone at the Home, with notes indicating that the staff could not locate any living relatives.
Joseph was the oldest of three sons born to Dr. Henry Connelly, a Kentucky native who, after a brief stay in Missouri, had moved to Chihuahua and established a mercantile empire, and there married his first wife (possible name of Zelinza), a native of Jesus Maria. Joseph and his brother Peter (The third son, Thomas, had died in infancy) were sent to live in Missouri when war in Mexico was looming. The boys boarded with another American family who'd lived in Mexico but also had returned to the safety of the United States, and the brothers are found on the 1850 Census in Blue Township, Jackson County, MO, with the Hill family.
When the War Between the States broke out, Joseph was conscripted into the Confederate Army and served in a number of battles with the 3rd Missouri Battery, including Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Drywood, Lexington, Elk Horn, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, Hatchie Bridge, Fort Gibson, Baker's Creek, Big Black, and Vicksburg. Joseph's father Henry, on the other hand, held staunch pro-Union sentiments and thus had been appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Territorial Governor of New Mexico, Henry's having re-located to this territory upon expulsion from Mexico during the war (and subsequent confiscation of Henry's properties and accounts). Joseph perhaps was influenced by his father's political allegiances as he turned himself in to Union authorities at St Louis and signed an amnesty oath in 1864; however there is no indication of whether he had much contact with his father, step-mother and half-siblings, who remained in New Mexico while he remained in Missouri throughout most of his life.
He was over 30 years old when he finally got married, about 1869, to Anna M. Cathey, a 17-year-old Missouri native. The two settled in Jackson County where they appeared as newlyweds on the 1870 Census in Blue Township (page 9, family 68) and in Blue Springs on the 1880 Census with their first two children, daughters Ida and Mary. Joseph struggled to support his growing family as a farmer and farm laborer.
By 1900, Joseph was 62 years old but was still working as a farm laborer, and he and Anna had six children, all of whom appear on that year's census in Prairie Township of Jackson County. Daughter Ida, already 26 years of age and who would shortly marry William Monroe Cross (also a Missouri native) in late 1901, was employed as a school teacher and contributing to the support of the family.
By 1910, farm work had become too strenuous for the aging Civil War veteran who was now in his 70s. The family had moved to Kansas City where Joseph worked doing odd jobs and the remaining two children in the household, Joseph Jr and Anna Jr, worked as, respectively, a teamster and a stock girl. Life in the city proved to be difficult as well, though. Daughter Mary had died, at about age 25, in Kansas City in 1904 followed, in Independence, by daughter Ida in 1908, who left behind a spouse and 3 young children. Joseph's wife Anna would soon succumb to illness in 1911 and daughter Anna Jr. would follow her mother in 1918.
Sons Fred and Joseph Henry (Jr) married and settled in Jackson County, but Joseph remained independent until he finally entered the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Dover, Lafayette County, where he appears, in his 80s, on the 1920 Census. According to his admission files, he was a cheerful man known as "Uncle Joe," despite the many hardships he endured during the war and the following years struggling to earn a living on the farms. Even after he lost his sight and was transferred to the hospital section, he was well-liked by the other veterans and staff of the Home and continued to tell tales of the early years in Jackson County. Although at least two of his sons were still living relatively close at hand in Missouri, he died at age 90 alone at the Home, with notes indicating that the staff could not locate any living relatives.
When the War Between the States broke out, Joseph was conscripted into the Confederate Army and served in a number of battles with the 3rd Missouri Battery, including Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Drywood, Lexington, Elk Horn, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, Hatchie Bridge, Fort Gibson, Baker's Creek, Big Black, and Vicksburg. Joseph's father Henry, on the other hand, held staunch pro-Union sentiments and thus had been appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Territorial Governor of New Mexico, Henry's having re-located to this territory upon expulsion from Mexico during the war (and subsequent confiscation of Henry's properties and accounts). Joseph perhaps was influenced by his father's political allegiances as he turned himself in to Union authorities at St Louis and signed an amnesty oath in 1864; however there is no indication of whether he had much contact with his father, step-mother and half-siblings, who remained in New Mexico while he remained in Missouri throughout most of his life.
He was over 30 years old when he finally got married, about 1869, to Anna M. Cathey, a 17-year-old Missouri native. The two settled in Jackson County where they appeared as newlyweds on the 1870 Census in Blue Township (page 9, family 68) and in Blue Springs on the 1880 Census with their first two children, daughters Ida and Mary. Joseph struggled to support his growing family as a farmer and farm laborer.
By 1900, Joseph was 62 years old but was still working as a farm laborer, and he and Anna had six children, all of whom appear on that year's census in Prairie Township of Jackson County. Daughter Ida, already 26 years of age and who would shortly marry William Monroe Cross (also a Missouri native) in late 1901, was employed as a school teacher and contributing to the support of the family.
By 1910, farm work had become too strenuous for the aging Civil War veteran who was now in his 70s. The family had moved to Kansas City where Joseph worked doing odd jobs and the remaining two children in the household, Joseph Jr and Anna Jr, worked as, respectively, a teamster and a stock girl. Life in the city proved to be difficult as well, though. Daughter Mary had died, at about age 25, in Kansas City in 1904 followed, in Independence, by daughter Ida in 1908, who left behind a spouse and 3 young children. Joseph's wife Anna would soon succumb to illness in 1911 and daughter Anna Jr. would follow her mother in 1918.
Sons Fred and Joseph Henry (Jr) married and settled in Jackson County, but Joseph remained independent until he finally entered the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Dover, Lafayette County, where he appears, in his 80s, on the 1920 Census. According to his admission files, he was a cheerful man known as "Uncle Joe," despite the many hardships he endured during the war and the following years struggling to earn a living on the farms. Even after he lost his sight and was transferred to the hospital section, he was well-liked by the other veterans and staff of the Home and continued to tell tales of the early years in Jackson County. Although at least two of his sons were still living relatively close at hand in Missouri, he died at age 90 alone at the Home, with notes indicating that the staff could not locate any living relatives.
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