Ellen Kelliher

Ellen Kelliher (1861-1925)

This page has been created with the input of Meghan Hurlburt, a descendant of Ellen’s sister Bridget Delia Kelliher.

Ellen Kelliher was the daughter of Patrick Kelliher, a farmer at Muingaphuca, Killorglin, Co Kerry, Ireland. There is some doubt about her mother as subsequent records only show her first name to have been Mary, but we think it was Mary Lynch. We have not found her birth record to date but it must have been before 01 June in 1863 (the date of the 1900 US census in which Ellen states her age to be 37 and to have arrived in Boston in 1882, possibly on 10 May on board the Italy aged 19).

First marriage

Ellen married Thomas Jeremiah O’Sullivan in Boston on 11 Feb 1883 (click the image to view a larger image):

The couple had four children together before Thomas was killed in a railway accident on 29 Jan 1890 in Boston; from the Boston Globe on 30 Jan 1890:

Their children were:

01. Patrick Peter (b. 24 Mar 1884, d. 29 May 1950 in Sacramento, California)

02. Thomas Joseph (b. 14 Apr 1886, d. 29 Jun 1978 in Framingham, Massachusetts)

03. Mary Ellen (b. 15 Aug 1888, d. 30 Jan 1985 Worcester, Massachusetts)

04. Annie (b. 17 Sep 1890, d. 02 Mar 1895 aged 4 years, 5 months, 13 days of scarlet fever)

Second marriage

Ellen must have been in early pregnancy when Thomas was killed and responsible for her four children. Two years after the death of Annie, her youngest, she married John F Dowling, a teamster, in Boston on 30 Jun 1897 (click to see a larger image):

Six children were born over the following years, but Ellen’s grief continued with the death of their first two sons (twins who survived just a day following their premature birth) and a daughter Ellen (again one of two twins but who died after a one week bout of bronchitis):

05. John (b. 27 Feb 1898, d. 28 Feb 1898)

06. Michael (b. 27 Feb 1898, d. 28 Feb 1898)

07. Delia Ann (b. 24 Oct 1899 Suffolk, d. 21 Aug 1999 in Framingham, Massachusetts)

08. Ellen (b. 25 Dec 1901, d. 15 Feb 1902)

09. Margaret Helen (b. 25 Dec. 1901, d. 15 Oct 1974 in 15 Oct 1974 Hopkinton, Massachusetts)

10. Edward Patrick (b. 11 Nov 1904, d. 21 Jun 1983 in Framingham, Massachusetts)

Ellen died on 03 Oct 1925 in Framingham, Massachusetts, aged 62, when struck by a passing car. This notice of her death from The Brattleboro Reformer was made available by Carolyn Pike, an ancestry.con member:

MRS. DOWLING IS KILLED
Steps in Front of Auto at Framingham – Driver is Held
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Oct. 3 -Mrs, Ellen Dowling of Framinham was killed today when she was struck by an automobile operated by Albert Bennett, also of this town. Mrs. Dowling was the mother of Edward Dowling, a member of the Holy Cross football squad. Bennett said that she stepped from behind another car into the path of his machine. He was held pending an investigation.

In the 1920 census Mary is described as a widow, but we have yet to locate John’s death record.

Second generation from Ellen’s second marriage

07. Delia Ann Dowling married Charles Stephen McDonald

09. Margaret Helen Dowling married Charles Gordon Watts

10. Edward Patrick Dowling married Frances Mary Mullen on 05 Dec 1935 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts

(under development)