Mary was born around 1844 in County Cork, Ireland. She emigrated to Philadelphia Pennsylvania with her mother Catherine "Kate" Donahue. Mary married Morris Cronin before September 1868. Morris was accidentally killed at the Baldwin Locomotor works in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. They had a daughter (though Morris was killed before her birth) named Mary Ellen Cronin.
The following is the deposition Mary gave on December 28th, 1895 in Philadelphia. It gives a wonderful account of her life and times.
" I am 51 or 52 years of age, I do not know my exact age, am a housekeeper, residence and P.O. address 2520 Anthracite St. Philadelphia Pa. I am the widow of John Connelly, who enlisted and served under the name of John Fitzgerald in Co. B of the 12th Missouri Calvary in the late rebellion. He died on the 2nd day of August 1894 in this city. I was married to him under (the) name of Mary Cronin by the Rev. Father Duddy on the 28th day of November 1870 in St Joseph's Church of this city. I had been previously married to Morris Cronin who was killed at Baldwin's Locomotive Works May 26th 1869. My husband John Connelly was never married before his marriage to me. He said he was not and I never heard of any prior marriage in his past. I can't state his age when I married him, in fact I never asked him. I was a widow near two years before I married Connelly. My maiden name was Donahue. I became acquainted with John Connelly when he was boarding with John Sullivan who lived at No. 3 Ledger Place, and my mother, now deceased, and myself had rooms over the boarding house. I was a widow about a year when I became acquainted with him, and Mrs. Sullivan, also deceased, told me he used to live with her before the war, and he was a healthy boy or young man and look at him now she says, all crippled up with rheumatism and the "white swelling" settled in his leg from the rheumatism. I know he served in Co. B of the 12th Missouri Calvary from hearing him say so, but I can't say about his discharge certificate because I never saw it and don't know what became of it. I never heard him say he had served in any company or regiment but Co. B 12th Missouri Cavalry. He never told me his purpose in enlisting under (the) name of John Fitzgerald except he claimed to have done so and that he took his mother's name."
EXAMINER: "What was the duration of his fatal illness?"
"He had been complaining for some time of his right chest and he
used to have wheezing in his chest like a bird that would be chirping,
and at times short of breath, but he was never confined to the bed until
his last sickness, though he would be around the house complaining of the
rheumatism all over him and of his chest as I have told you. On May 4,
1894 when he drew his pension there was some mistake about his check and
he had to come back to the agency and have it corrected and that day, he
took $8.00 of the pension and went somewhere in New Jersey. I don't know
where, and he was away over a month and when he came back, he was sick
and the trouble to his chest was bothering him badly and breathing badly.
Dr.
Stean was called and treated him
off and on until he died. He was confined to his bed when he first came
home, but he complained of the heat upstairs, and a week or two after his
being taken to the bed, he came down, and lay in the lounge, portions of
the day he would go out and sit in the shade and this was the way until
the day before he died when he could not rise from the lounge and died
the next day, the 2nd of August 1894. I asked Dr Stean the cause of his
illness but he would not tell me but I heard him say to some others in
the house when he was dying that it was pleurisy or pneumonia. I don't
remember whom he stated this to as the room was full and my husband was
then dying. I did not hear or understand he died from rheumatism. Dr Stean
can tell you all about his sickness. I did not know he had pneumonia. I
did not know he was sunstruck or overcome by the heat, except it was very
warm them days, but he never exposed himself to the heat while he was home
after coming from New Jersey. I don't know what he did in New Jersey. I
am not able to state when he first suffered from this chest trouble. My
youngest child James was
born Nov. 21 1882, and I don't recollect he had any trouble to his chest
then. No, I never heard him complain of his heart, but he would put his
hands on his chest and complain it smothered him. About two years before
he died, I first noticed his chest trouble but he might have had it before
and I do not remember it. He was a man who would not speak of his health
to me as it worried me. He never told me what caused his chest trouble.
I was never legally divorced or separated from him. He was never able for
any work from my marriage to him. All that he did was to go about the country
and peddle court plaster. He used to go off from the house in different
parts of the country peddling. Sometimes he would be away a month or so,
then two weeks or a week or a few days. He never told me where he would
sleep on such occasions except in a boarding house. I don't know whether
he went to New Jersey to peddle on the occasion I have stated prior to
his last sickness, I think not. He was never treated by any doctor prior
to the time Dr Stean treated him, except he occasionally went to see
Dr.
(John H.) Lock for the wax in his ears that made him deaf.
I never heard him say Dr. Lock
had treated him for anything but the ear trouble. My husband
drank occasionally, but never used it to excess. He never drank except
when he drew his pension and then only for a few hours and came in and
sleep it off. I never knew him to have any venereal disease, my children
are all healthy. He was always known as John Connelly, and when renting
a house or transacting business it was always under the name of Connelly.
I used to hear him speak of his commander but I never heard the names of
any that I can particularly recall now. The only photograph of him I have
is that taken a month or so before he died, taken in New Jersey. He has
no relatives whatever to my knowledge and I never heard him say he has
any relatives except an uncle Bill
Connelly, which he said was
dead years ago. I never heard him say where Connelly lived. There were
but two children living under the age of 16 when he died and these are
William,
born May 24 1879 and James,
born November 21 1882, both living. My husband never owned any property
whatever in his lifetime and I have never owned or possessed any and have
not acquired any since his death. I am wholly dependent upon my labor for
support. I take in washing and ironing and support myself that way. I have
not remarried or cohabitated with any man since my husband's death. I do
not know the names or addresses of any man who served in the company with
him or otherwise who can identify him as my husband, and know of no other
witnesses I can name than those who have testified for me. I never met
the man until 1870 when we were married, and where he lived before or what
his manner of life was I cannot say. He was always obliged to use crutches
on account of the rheumatism from the time I first knew him. When I made
his acquaintance, he was small of stature, I think he said he was 5ft 6
or 7, he had grey eyes, though he called them hazel, brown hair and kind
of dark complexion, but before his death he became pale looking. After
hearing explainated my rights during the examination, I do not desire to
be present or represented by attorney. When he would go off selling court
plaster, I never knew of any exposure he passed through, and he never complained
of any particular sickness after he returned from these trips except the
one to New Jersey, a month before he died, and I have no knowledge where
he was in New Jersey or who knew him there. I understood your questions
and my answers correctly stated."
(Further Examination) " I have heard read the testimony in the case and state I never knew or heard my husband state he had served in Col. Patterson's Regiment of the 115th Pa Vols or that he was a deserter therefrom, and I have no knowledge of any service he rendered than in the 12th Mo. Cav. Vols. I have understood your questions and my answers correctly stated"
After John's death, Mary's only means of support had been what she could earn from washing and ironing. In the 1896 Philadelphia City Directory, she is listed as a widow living at 2520 Anthracite Street. Her son Daniel, a presser, was living nearby at 2510 Anthracite Street.
Like her husband, Mary lived through very historic times. She was already a widow when the U.S.A. declared war on Spain in 1898. Upon Spain's surrender, the U.S. demanded freedom for Cuba, and the cession to the U.S. of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. On December 17th 1903 at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, Orville Wright made the first flight of a powered airplane, which lasted 12 seconds and went 120 feet. The Great San Francisco Earthquake struck on April 18th 1906, destroying one third of the city, killing 700 people and leaving one quarter of a million people homeless. In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model T for $850.50. This may sound inexpensive today, but the average textile worker then earned about $400 a year. The average work week was 59 hours, and the average week's pay was under ten dollars. On April 14th 1912, the world's largest ship with 2,223 passengers and crew, was making its maiden voyage from England to New York City, when it struck a partly submerged iceberg. Two hours forty minutes later, the Titanic sank killing more than 1,500 people.
Through the years, Mary continued to try to obtain her husband's pension money. In February 1914, she contacted the Honorable Michael Donohue of the House of Representatives to intervene on her behalf to the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, D.C.. As she had been told many times over the years, Mr. Donohue informed her she was not entitled to a back pension.
Mary was admitted to the Philadelphia Hospital on Jan. 11th, and died 21 January 1916 at 2:10pm. Her Death Certificate lists her cause of death as "Chronic Myocarditis with chronic nephritis, hypostatic (indecipherable word) congestion of lungs". She was buried at the New Cathedral cemetery on 26 January 1916, in an unmarked grave with her husband and children.