Johanna Cussen/Cushing O'Connell of Lodi, Wisconsin

I've found the last of the known daughters of Dennis and Catherine Casey Cussen/Cushing.

Johanna was born in Galbally in 1836, travelling with her family to Newfoundland, Boston, and Fort Winnebago by about 1848. In about 1858 she married George O'Connell, I believe a recent immigrant from New Brunswick, Canada, and they settled in Lodi, about 25 miles south of Fort Winnebago. They were farmers. From 1860 to 1876 they had thirteen children in Lodi: Katie (1860), Ellen (1861-1931), John F (1863), Mary E. (1864-1937), George, Jr. (1865), Joanna (1866, m. Edward Kerrigan), James E. (1868), Maggie (1869, m. John Bastian 1906), Frances (1871, died 1873), William (1873, died at 6 weeks old), Daniel (1874, died in 1888), Alice (1875), and Mark (1876). George, Sr. died in 1877, leaving Joanna with 11 children between the ages of 4 and 17 and a farm to run.  I have no records over the next 20 years, so don't know how she managed. By 1900, Johanna was living in Portage, near Fort Winnebago, with only James remaining at home.  She remained in Portage until her death, in 1923, and is buried with her family in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Lodi.

A side note: In 1860, 27 year old Michael Welch, also from New Brunswick, was living with George and Johanna.  Ten years later he married Johanna's younger sister, Ellen Cushing. A brief google indicates that Michael's mother's name may have been O'Connell, so he and George may have been cousins.

Another side note: As I research Johanna's family, I find that their last name is O'Connell only on the markers of their Lodi graves. George O'Connell's marker looks to be an original tombstone, strong evidence of the last name O'Connell.  Nonetheless, every other record I've found, for generations, gives a last name of Connell and I've decided to use this as the family name.

Ellen Cussen Welch

[posted 11 Sep '14; added to web site 22 Jan '15] Ellen was the youngest of Dennis Cussen and Katherine Casey's Irish-born children, born near Galbally, Limerick co., Ireland in 1841. She was living with her family in Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin in 1850 and 1860. In 1869 she married Michael Welch, a butcher from nearby Juneau co. They settled in Necedah where twins Katie and William were born in 1870.  Ellen's sister, Mary Cushing Lupient, also lived in Necedah in 1870. I believe that Necedah was part of land recently (ca. 1840s) purchased from Native Americans and was experiencing rapid settlement and growth. It is located on the Yellow River, which flows into the Wisconsin River near Portage, so perhaps there was a fair amount of river traffic to and from Portage, and that is how Michael and Ellen met.

In 1883, Katie died.  In 1886, the "M.W. Welch building" was destroyed in a major fire in Necedah. It looks like they sold their home and moved away shortly thereafter. I can't find any record of them until Ellen Walsh, a widow, dies in Chicago in 1913.  She is mentioned in her brother's death notice in Chicago in 1908, so was probably in Chicago at that time.