, Letters Pertaining to Thomas Connolly, son of Tory Colonel John Connolly, documenting Connolly’s efforts to Recover his Father’s Extensive Northern and Southern Landholdings, dated 1814-1825

34 letters, 76 manuscript pages, in very good, clean and legible condition.

Thomas Connolly (London, April 9, 1783 – October 31, 1825) son of notorious Tory Colonel – Doctor John Connolly (Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1742-43 – Montreal 1813), who was caught up in Dunmore's War, (1774) caused by encroachments by frontiersmen on Native Americans of Ohio and the tensions and rivalry between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia over the site of Pittsburgh. Early in 1774 Col. John Connolly, agent of Lord Dunmore, royal Governor of Virginia, took possession of Fort Pitt, and renamed it Fort Dunmore and attempted retaliation for Indian attacks. He also interfered with the colony's fur trade. Connolly late in the 18th century would cause further alarm in western Pennsylvania. Col. Connolly spent most of the Revolutionary War in prison. He published a memoir of his incarceration in London in 1783, titled A Narrative of the Transactions, Imprisonment, and Sufferings of John Connolly, an American Loyalist. (see Howes C-691).

See: Franklin, W. Neil, Pennsylvania-Virginia Rivalry for the Indian Trade of the Ohio Valley

The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Mar. 1934), pp. 463-480

https://www.jstor.org/stab;e/1897186

Thomas Connolly's sister, Rebecca, married Edward Evans of Philadelphia. Thomas Connolly encouraged and corresponded with his nephew John W. Connolly Evans. Attorney Samuel Mifflin was Conolly's half-brother. Most of the letters concern substantial lands the Col. John Connolly claimed belonged to him in Kentucky, New York, Canada and elsewhere. Thomas inherited these lands, but like his father was caught up in litigation over them, he was represented by Samuel Mifflin.

In an article entitled "Col. John Connolly, Loyalist" (Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, 1902-03), F. R. Diffenderner writes: "Of his family very little appears to be known. He alludes neither to his wife nor his children in his narrative. But I have ascertained that he was twice married. His first wife, a Miss Sample, was the daughter of an innkeeper, living at or near Fort Pitt. His second wife was the widow of Samuel Wellington of Delaware. One son, James Connolly, was born on April 1, 1781, while he was a prisoner in Philadelphia, and another, Thomas Connolly was born April 9, 1783, during his stay in London."

2750.00