| Yesterday & Today Published in the Salyersville Independent The Connelley Genealogy By Vera Connelley-Stamper From the time I was a small child, I was aware that my great grandfather, William Elsey Connelley, 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- Stamper (daughter of Pitt). For many years information about my great grandfather was very limited, but with the invention of the internet, I was able to go online, research and obtain a complete bibliography (listing) of his writings. Some of his books have been reprinted and many first editions are available on the internet, . A few of his books sell for as much as $1.000.00 per book. 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. Several years ago, I finally realized one of my many dreams which was to visit the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas. Many of my great grandfather's writings are stored there as well as in other libraries in Kansas; The University of Oklahoma houses a collection also. I arrived at the library around 10 that morning and was required to rent a locker to store my purse and camera as the library officials would not allow visitors to carry any of these items into the library. I soon realized that one day would not be nearly enough time to examine his work. Moreover, many people carried laptop computers, and seemed to be very experienced at researching. Also I was required to sit in view of the librarian at all times as I examined his papers and books.. There were forty four boxes of correspondence housed there and several first edition books. I only had time to view two boxes and examine four books.. Most of the papers in the boxes were so old and fragile, they literally cracked as they were opened. The library would not allow any papers to be copied; for a fee, they would copy them. Great grandfather apparently spent his life with pen in hand and voiced his opinion on every subject imaginable. Visiting the library to view and examine his writings was very rewarding. In order for you to know more about my great grandfather, let me introduce him to you. William E. Connelley, the son of Constantine and Rebecca J (McCarty) Connelley, was born in Johnson County, Ky. March 15, 1855 He also holds the distinction of being the first of the family to write the name the long way, Connelley. Being the eldest child, he worked with his father who was a shoemaker Handicapped by poverty and self-educated, he taught school in his native county between 1872 and 1880. Connelley,a successful teacher, studied literature, science, and philosophy. but history came to be his infatuation. Connelley researched, interviewed and documented the history of Kentucky, Kansas, but mostly, the history of the West. Sometime around 1880-81. his wife died leaving two small children, Walter Constantine and Bernadette. He apparently left his children with relatives and went west. Arriving in Wyandotte County, Kansas in 1881, he taught for several years before turning to other interests. He served as county clerk for Wyandotte County, worked in the wholesale lumber business, and by 1892, was associated with banking interests. Connelley continued to live in Topeka for the remainder of his life, doing what he did best, interviewing, researching, and documenting the history of the West. Probably Connelley would be best known for crusading against Standard Oil who held a monopoly on the oil resources. This later led to the dissolution of their corporation by the United States Supreme Court. In 1905, Kansas was producing 3 million barrels of oil per year. It was a new industry for Kansas and there were no laws governing the oil business. On the nineteenth of January, William E Connelley formulated resolutions which he and the Kansas Oil Producers Association believed necessary for the conservation and future development of the oil business. These resolutions were later enacted into law. One of the laws was the Anti-Discrimination, a general law, and was applied to all manufactured articles.( 1918 Kansas and Kansans, Chapter 63, part 1) I hope you have enjoyed the story about my great grandfather; watch for future articles concerning him. I would urge each reader to record memories about your family. With the passing of each generation, valuable history is lost if someone doesn’t doesn’t take time to write it down. I think it is really important to write our memories / history and pass it to our children. |