A challenge to anybody who enjoys genealogy and/or history!?

I want to find out more about my family’s history, but I have no idea how to go about doing that! I’m researching my great-great-grandad whose name was John Connolly (later shortened to Conley). He and his family came from Ireland in the late 1800′s to the early 1900′s, and settled in Brockton, MA. I also know that my great-great-grandad had six children and eventually started a bakery on Main Street in Brockton, MA. According to my grandfather, John Connolly (later shortened to Conley) also bought a 13-room house after the bakery business took off! Any information you can find about my great-great-grandad would be so helpful! Public records, newspaper articles…anything! Thanks so much!!

Well, with a quick check, I found your great-great-granddad in the 1910 Census. It shows a John Conley (born in Massachusetts in 1865), who is a Baker in his own shop, with wife Ellen (born 1861 in Massachusetts) living with six children (John, Helen, Mary, Grace, Charles, and Catherine) at 374 Pleasant St. I’m sure he could be found in additional Censuses with a little looking. The 1910 Census says he was married around 1889, however I couldn’t find the marriage in Brockton from looking at the MA Vital records.

With the information you know and have, ancestry.com and newenglandancestors.com would likely be very helpful in your search. Both are pay sites, however, many libraries have them available for free.

Rorie Jenson Help You Write Your History! Great way to start your personal history!

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