Thomas NEELY was born in the HolyCross area and baptised there in April 1848. He was the son of Richard NEELY and Johana DONOVAN, who were married at HolyCross in 1837. Thomas had 9 siblings, who were all baptised at Holycross between 1839-1859 : Mary, John, Margaret, James, Thomas, William, Richard, Elizabeth, Patrick and Michael. Six of the 10 siblings immigrated to Yonkers NY; Thomas and John about 1865 and the others about 1880.
Thomas was a typical "blue-collar" worker who owed a livery stable in Yonkers. But he also quietly bought and sold real estate in Yonkers and did quite well for himself. Unfortunately, he lost it all in the market crash in the 1920s.
About ten years after arriving in Yonkers, he married Mary Gallagher in 1877. Mary immigrated about 1870 from the Swinford area of County Mayo. They had 6 children, born 1878-1889 : Richard Aloysius, John Andrew, Thomas Francis, Katherine Ann, Mary Elizabeth and Bridget Bessie Mary. Thomas died in 1936 at the age of 88. Mary predeceased him in 1923, at the age of 66.
An unexpected finding was that Thomas wrote poetry. He wrote about growing up in Tipperary and walking in the Marl Bog ; being an Exile of Erin; family pride, a poem to his wife and an ode to the Kelly Pickle Factory in Yonkers.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 25th Apr 1848 | |
| Date of Death | 2nd Jul 1936 | |
