John Joseph Conlon

Born John Hutson Conlon, grandpa changed his middle name to Joseph when he became an adult because he wanted no connection with his mother, whose maiden name was Hutson.

John wasn't close with his parents or siblings. He grew up in Springfield, Mass., and his father would leave to work in the stone mills in Bedford, Indiana because there were no jobs in Springfield. His mother would place all the children in an orphanage after Peter would leave to go work in Indiana. He would come home and get them out of the orphanage and bring them home. The children would only see their mother at a cousin's house (Bouvier) and remembered only seeing her a few times.

Online research indicates that in the early 1900s it wasn't uncommon to temporarily place your children in an orphanage. Between 1900 and 1915, 51 new Catholic orphanages were opened in Massachusetts! By 1910, there were more than 100,000 children in American orphanages. Children of parents who were still living but had problems with finances or alcohol found the institutions safer and better than life at home.

When John and his brothers were old enough, Peter would take them to Indiana with him to work. John, the oldest boy, ended up living in Bedford permanently becoming a master stone carver.

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The following information was provided by John A. Conlon, grandson of John J. Conlon:

There is one photo that I think is Grandpa Conlon in a book of old photos called "Looking Back, Pictorial History of Lawrence County, Vol. II". I got it several years ago from the Bedford Times Mail which published it. On pg. 62, there is a group of men identified as "stone carvers." One of the men is identified as "John Conley." When I get around to doing some scanning, I will send it to you to see what you think.

I also got a couple of books a few years ago from the Lawrence County Historical Society in which Grandpa Conlon's name is mentioned. In "A Quarter Century In Lawrence County 1917-1941" by James Guthrie at pg. 146 in discussing working conditions in the Depression, the author wrote that "In '32 a group composed of Ira Emery, Henry Klump, and John Conlon, representing the Central Labor Body, asked city and county officials to employ only local men and to use as many as possible due to conditions." I recall that years ago my dad had told me that Grandpa Conlon was very active in the Stone Cutters Union.

In another book, "History of Lawrence County, Indiana, Vol. II", there is a section on stone carvers from Lawrence County with extensive bios on many of them. On page 22 under the heading "Carvers That Had No Further Information Submitted," it states that "John Conlon was living at 2016 "I" Street with his wife Trava Lee in 1925."

The Lawrence County Historical Society has quite an extensive collection of genealogical material at its building on the North side of the square in Bedford. ..... they had files on the Quackenbushes.

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