I recently took a trip to Cold Harbor National Cemetery. Here I discovered the final resting place of Sergeant Thomas Wilson. I also unearthed a a tragic tail of Irish immigration. Wilson was born in Ireland around 1834[1], and immigrated to New York to find a better life. Thomas would find a job as an Oyster Shucker at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Here he met Ms. Frances Connor who also worked there as a laundress. They would marry in 1861[2] and shortly after Thomas would enlist.  

He was mustered into “I” Co. 69^th New York as a Corporal on September 17, 1861[3]. Corporal Wilson was in the following engagements: The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Fair Oaks, The Seven Days Battles, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. It is possible he then deserted, as his name is not on the rolls again until June of 1863[4] with a reduced rank. He was present at The Battle of Gettysburg and promoted to Corporal. Wilson was then assigned to guard a “farmhouse”[5], which was presumably a headquarters, in October of 1863[6]. Wilson reenlisted as a veteran volunteer on December 21, 1863[7] and was assigned to “B” Co. 69^th New York Infantry. In 1864 he was promoted to Sergeant. In March of that year, his wife Frances Wilson would have a child named Mary Ellen[8]. Sergeant Wilson would later fight in the battles of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Totopotomoy, and Cold Harbor. Sergeant Wilson was killed in action at Cold Harbor and never laid eyes on his daughter.

Wilson’s wife would eventually receive a widow’s pension of two dollars a month, which is about thirty-two dollars in today’s money. Mrs. Wilson was extremely poor. Her pension was not enough to survive on without taking up work, so she returned to her job at the hotel. Before long it was too hard for Mrs. Wilson to care for Mary Ellen, so she would give the child to Mary Score. Mrs. Score lived in a tenement house on “Mulberry Bend”[9], which is an area known for its overwhelming crime and filthy living conditions. Mrs. Wilson would regularly visit her daughter and would “hold and kiss her”[10]. Mrs. Score would also find it a struggle to care for an extra child and would place Mary Ellen with the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. Mrs. Score told Mrs. Wilson that Mary Ellen was dead, driving Mrs. Wilson to alcoholism. Frances Wilson died of a lung hemorrhage in a hospital on Wards Island in 1872[11] and was buried in a Potters field.

The very much alive Mary Ellen was placed in the Alms House at Blackwell Island on July 10, 1865.[12] Orphanages, at the time had an 85% death rate.[13] Mary Ellen would beat the odds and was adopted by Thomas and Mary McCormick on January 2, 1866[14]. The adoption was granted on the grounds that Thomas McCormick claimed to have an affair with a “no good woman”[15], and that she had left the child (Mary Ellen) at the Alms House.  Although there was no actual evidence of this affair the adoption was never contested. More than likely this is because children at this time had no rights and were often adopted for use in household labor. Thomas McCormick died of cholera in August of 1866.[16] Mary McCormick would remarry to Frances Connolly in August 1867.[17]

While under the care of Mary (McCormick) Connolly and her new husband, Mary Ellen would suffer severe abuse. She was made to sleep on a small cloth in the corner, had only one set of cloths, made to do strenuous labor, and beaten. In 1874[18] the neighbors suspected abuse and called Etta Angell Wheeler, a Methodist missionary who worked in the area. Ms. Wheeler checked in on the child and what she found was shocking. Ms. Wheeler contacted the police but due to the lack of child abuse laws on the books they were not able to do anything. So, Ms. Wheeler decided to contact Henry Bergh, who was an advocate for the animal humane movement and the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Bergh was instrumental in getting Mary Ellen removed from the home and charges brought against Mrs. Connolly. During the trial shocking eyewitness testimony was given about the abuse,

“During the first week after the Connolly’s came there witness saw the cowhide lying on the table; it is like what a man uses when on horseback; it is about two and a half feet long; it has lashes (she doesn’t know how many) about the size of a finger, something like a cat-o-nine-tails; she used to hear Mrs. Connolly licking the child every morning “up and down, up and down” the room, the child crying “Oh, Mama! Mama!” all the time;”[19]

Mary Connolly was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to one-year imprisonment with hard labor.

Mary Ellen Wilson would live till the age of 91. Her case was the was the first documented case of child abuse in the United States. It also led to the founding of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. It is amazing to think that out of so much tragedy good could come out of it. The events in this case were and continue to be instrumental in saving many more children.  

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[1] “Wilson, Thomas (26) Page 1 New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts,” Fold3, accessed July 10, 2020, https://www.fold3.com/image/315769745.

[2] Eric A. Shelman and Stephen Lazoritz, The Mary Ellen Wilson Child Abuse Case and the Beginning of Children’s Rights in 19th Century America (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2005). Pg. 20

[3] “Wilson, Thomas (26) Page 1 New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts,” Fold3, accessed July 10, 2020, https://www.fold3.com/image/315769745

[4] “Wilson, Thomas (27) Page 1 New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts,” Fold3, accessed July 10, 2020, https://www.fold3.com/image/315769764.

[5] Ibid

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid

[8] Eric A. Shelman and Stephen Lazoritz, The Mary Ellen Wilson Child Abuse Case and the Beginning of Children’s Rights in 19th Century America (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2005). Pg. 21

[9] Ibid, Pg. 22

[10] Ibid

[11] Ibid. Pg. 107

[12] Ibid. Pg. 23

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid. Pg.24

[15] Ibid. Pg. 23

[16]. Shelman, Eric A.; Lazoritz , Dr. Stephen. Case #1: The Mary Ellen Wilson Files (Kindle Location 575). Dolphin Moon Publishing. Kindle Edition.

[17] Ibid

[18] Shelman, Eric A.; Lazoritz , Dr. Stephen. Case #1: The Mary Ellen Wilson Files (Kindle Location 1896). Dolphin Moon Publishing. Kindle Edition.

[19] “Mary Ellen Wilson Further Testimony As To The Child’s Ill Treatment By Her Guardians,” New York Times, April 12, 1874, p. 12.