The Miners
Thomas Shelley & Kate O'Connell
The Letter
 John P. O'Connell - Mentioned in the letter at right. The letter was written by his brother Jeremiah O'Connell.
In December 1879, Jeremiah O'Connell of Litchfield County, Connecticut sent a letter to California in response to a letter he un-expectantly received from his niece Margaret Shelley. From the letter, we know that previously, Margaret Shelley had written to Jeremiah requesting that he send a picture of Margaret's mother Kate. Most of what is known about the Thomas and Kate Shelley family comes from Jeremiah's brief letter.
Kate O'Connell headed west from Washington DC some time before her brother Jeremiah arrived from Lyracrumpanee, County Kerry in Ireland. She started off to California with the wife of a newspaper editor. Perhaps she had been employed as a servant. The letter hints that Kate's plans were disrupted with serious consequences. Jeremiah wrote "Sometime after this man or editor died or got killed." It appears that, sometime just before or after her arrival, her circumstances changed. She may have been a young women in a wild place without position or means |
Letter from Jeremiah O'Connell to his niece Margaret Shelly 12/8/1879
Transcription of the letter can be viewed here.
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Nothing is know of the circumstances of Thomas' Shelley's arrival. We can, however estimate when it happened. Thomas was naturalized in 1857 in the Sierra County District Court. At that time, five years residence in the US was required for naturalization, therefore, his emigration from County Cork must occurred before 1852. I have not found any images of Thomas, but from voters registrations, we know that he was tall for the times, five foot ten, and that had blue eyes, gray hair, and a scar on his right hand.
At that time, the largest concentrations of population in California outside of San Francisco were the towns and cities that lined the western edge of the Sierra Nevada. Thomas and Kate likely met just above the foothills in Sierra, Butte, or Yuba counties.
At that time, the largest concentrations of population in California outside of San Francisco were the towns and cities that lined the western edge of the Sierra Nevada. Thomas and Kate likely met just above the foothills in Sierra, Butte, or Yuba counties.
Family
I believe that Kate and Thomas started their family somewhere above Marysville along the Yuba River. They had have at least four children, being the oldest of the siblings. No record of her birth has been found, but her descendants believe it to have occurred on New Year's Day, 1859 at Goodyear's Bar. Her brother John followed in 1862, and Charley in 1863. The letter mentions their sister Julia, but other than that mention in the letter, I have been unable to find any other record of her existence.
The letter is silent in term of the timing of Kate's passing, but it can be inferred. Her death occurred between 1863 when Charley was born, and 1870 when Charley and John can be found in the census separated from the rest of the family.
The letter is silent in term of the timing of Kate's passing, but it can be inferred. Her death occurred between 1863 when Charley was born, and 1870 when Charley and John can be found in the census separated from the rest of the family.
San Francisco Call - 9/12/1909 - The Call ran a series of pieces on the Orphanages of San Francisco.The Mount Saint Joseph Orphan Asylum is likely where the four Shelley children were original taken after the death of their mother.
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From the letter, we know that Kate died leaving four children- Margaret, Julia and two brothers. It also tells us that Thomas didn't "take any pains by looking after your (Margaret's) welfare or those of sister or brothers." I am confident that after Kate's death, the children were placed in orphanages. It is likely that the four started in the catholic orphanages of San Francisco. The Sisters of Charity operated two institutions on a fifty plus acre parcel in the southern reaches of the city. On one side of the parcel, Saint Joseph's Infant Asylum served boys and girls up to about age seven. As the girls grew older, they were transferred to the Roman Catholic Orphanage on the other side of a the hill that separated the two buildings. The older boys were moved to Saint Vincent's Orphan Asylum outside of San Rafael. The four were likely brought as a family to the orphanage and then later separated as the grew older.
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The Orphanages
The census of 1870 lists John and Charles Shelley as inmates in the Saint Joseph's Orphan Asylum. (Periodicals of the time referred to children living in orphanages as inmates.) There is some supposition in assuming the Shelley's in the 1870 Census are Margaret's brothers, but the ages are about right, and there were not many children in California at that time. It is easy to accept as probable that these two boys were indeed Margaret's Brothers. Other than that census record, I have been unable to find any trace of the two boys. The letter is the only record of Julia's existence.
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1870 Census - Charles Shelley can be found on line 18.
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1870 Census - John Shelley can be found on line 22.
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Saint Vincent's Orphanage - San Rafael - John and Charley Shelley resided in the asylum in 1870.
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In the letter, Margaret's uncle lamented that he could't understand why Thomas would leave his children. The practice was actually common in those times. Articles from the period describe inmates of the asylums as "orphans and half orphans". Conditions were extremely harsh, and few Californian's of the time had extended families nearby that they could rely on to help mitigate tragedies. It is easy to understand that an illiterate gold miner would not be able to care for four young children and make a living.
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It is possible that Margaret was the only one of the four to survive to adulthood. As she grew older, she became an employee of the orphanages. Later she would marry a former orphanage worker William Armstrong.
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After the children were moved to San Francisco, Thomas continued to live in the mining towns along the Yuba River. From voter registrations we know that Thomas was naturalized in 1857 in the Sierra County District Court, and the he lived in Fir Cap (1872, '73, 75, '76, '77), Downieville (1879, '80.'84 '86), and Goodyear Bar (1890, '92). In the 1880 census, Thomas was listed as a resident of Goodyear Bar. It indicates he was a widower, and that he could not read nor write. A clearer image of the census page can be seen here. Records of Thomas' voter registration can be seen here.
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U.S. Census 1880 - Goodyear's Bar, Sierra County, California - 6/1/1880 - Thomas Shally (Shelley) listed as ' Can not read" and Can not Write".
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Death
After 1888, the only thing we know about Thomas is the circumstance of his death. On January 26 1894, Thomas was working along the Yuba River in a hydraulic mining operation. The hillside gave way entombing Thomas and John Crowley, one of the owners of the mine. The bodies were recovered, and Thomas was buried in Sierra City. News of the accident were carried by at least four newspapers. So little is known about his life, it is ironic that his death would get so much attention.
Mountain Messenger (Downieville) - 2/3/1894
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Sacramento Bee - 1/27/1894
Mountain Messenger (Downieville) - 2/10/1894
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San Francisco Chronicle - 1/?/1894
Fresno Morning Republican - 1/31/1894
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