CONNELLEY GENEALOGY
 
WILLIAM  ELSEY CONNELLEY
LINKS:
http://www.rootsweb.com 
http://www.ancestry.com
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7612
http://www.members.xoom.com/Magoffin/index.html


HOME/VERA'S PAGE
   From the time  I was a small child, I was aware that my great grandfather was a famous historian and
writer.  The line of my heritage is William Elsey Connelley (my great grandfather), Walter Constantine Connelley(his son and my grandfather), Pitt Witten Connelley (son of Walter & my father) and myself, Vera Connelley  (daughter of Pitt).  I have only recently acquired some of his books: 
The 5 Volume History of Kentucky, Quantrill & The Border Raiders, and The Founding of Harmon's Station,. I also have some of his son's  poetry which I plan to include on my web page.Two years ago, I finally had the opportunity to visit the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas.  Many of my grandfather's writings are stored there as well a in  other libraries in Kansas.  There were 44 boxes of correspondence there and several lst edition books.  I only had the time to view two boxes and examine 4 books..  Most of the papers housed in the boxes were so old and fragile, they literally cracked as they were opened.  Grandfather apparently spent his life with pen in hand and voiced his opinion on every subject imaginable.
William Elsey Connelley (1855-1930) Letters
William E. Connelley, the son of Constantine and Rebecca J. (McCarty) Connelley, was born in Johnson County, Kentucky. Self-educated, Connelley taught school in Johnson County between 1872 and 1880, and continued that profession after coming to Wyandotte County, Kansas, (1881-1882) before turning to other pursuits. From 1883 to 1887 he served as county clerk for Wyandotte County; between 1888 and 1892 he was in the wholesale lumber business; and in 1892 he was again in Wyandotte County associated with banking interests.
The 1890s found Connelly beginning his avocation of historical research and writing. Among his most important contributions is The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory (1899), Quantrill and the Border Wars (1909), Eastern Kentucky Papers (1910), Life of Preston Plumb (1913), a five volume History of Kansas (1917), a five volume History of Kentucky (1922) and Indian Myths (1928).
At the time of the correspondence and for the remainder of his life, Connelley lived in Topeka, Kansas. Connelley conducted his research from interviews and manuscript accounts at a time when such materials were readily available to document the recent history of the West. He apparently also carried on an active correspondence with other authors and historians doing research in areas of interest to him. During this period Connelley was actively preparing two John Brown manuscripts: his own two volume John Brown -- The Story of the Last of the Puritans, published during the course of the correspondence in 1900; and a compilation of Brown letters which he was to co-edit with a Col. Hinton, presumed to be Richard J. Hinton (1830-1901), an associate and biographer of Brown.
This series of letters, written by Connelley to Franklin Benjamin Sanborn of Concord, Massachusetts, noted journalist, historian, and author of a biography of John Brown (1885), relates primarily to Connelley's historical research into the life of John Brown. The letters also convey information about other projects in which Connelley was involved, his candid opinions about prominent political and literary personalities in Kansas, and some insight into Connelley's personal life. 1900-1911

A BARREL OF WHISKEY
by Dr. Walter Constantine  Connelley
(written by William Elsey's son )
A barrel of whiskey contains the following:
A barrel of headaches, of heartaches, of woes.
A barrel of curses, a barrel of blows;
A barrel of tears from a world weary wife,
A barrel of sorrow, a barrel of strife.
A barrel of unavailing regret;
A barrel of cares, a barrel of debt
A barrel of crime and a barrel of pain
A barrel of hopes, ever blasted and vain:
A barrel of falsehood, and a barrel of cries,
That falls from the maniac's lips as he dies.
A barrel of poverty ruin and blight.
A barrel of terrors that grow with the night
A barrel of hunger, a barrel of groans,
A barrel of orphan's most pitiful moans.
A barrel of serpants that hiss as they pass,
From the bead of the liquor that glows in the glass.

NO REPEAL TO LIQUOR HARVEST

(written by William Elsey's son, Walter Constantine)
You may repeal the Prohibition Law, but you cannot repeal the liquor problem, you cannot repeal the broken hearted wives that liquor causes, you cannot repeal the pinched faced and faded widows it creates, you cannot repeal the orphan boys and girls it makes, you cannot repeal the crime it fosters, you cannot repeal the law violation it broods, you cannot repeal the life of your son that was lost by liquor, you cannot repeal the murders it manfactures, you cannot repeal the hate it generates, you cannot repeal the vice it incumbates, you cannot repeal the stealing and gambling it mothers, you cannot repeal the disgrace of your daughter that it blights or the wrongs that it causes to family community, state, or nation.  Now is the time to save before it is too late.  The fight is on--Get your mind above liquor.  Teach your children its evils, but first you parents that use it, get off of it yourself.
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