THE ENRIGHTS AND O'CONNORS

Story continued From Enrights in US

Michael Lawrence Enright, my great-grandfather, was born in Plympton Township, Ontario, Canada on February 4, 1869, the ninth oldest of 11 children born to Catherine and Dennis Enright. He married Annie Lane O'Connor at St. Michaels Church in Grand Forks on January 21, 1903. According to his daughter Dorothy, Michael met his future wife while both were attending St. Michaels. 

Annie Lane O'Connor was born Honora Lane on August 29, 1877. She had one sister. little is known at this time about her birth family. According to her death certificate her father's name was John Lane.

Michael and Annie Enright (seated) Wedding Photo Jan 1903

Her mother's name (as well as her sister's) is unknown to me. It was also unknown to Michael Enright when he supplied the information for Annie's death certificate. There is also some dispute about where she was born.

According to her daughter Dorothy she always claimed to have been born in Michigan and went to Canada later with her father. Her adopted siblings however always claimed she was born in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Her death certificate shows Perth as a birthplace. Since her husband Michael provided this information, he must have felt that her siblings were right. Census records say both Michigan and Canada, depending I suppose, on who gave the information. 

My gut tells me it was Michigan. From reading some of the information and talking to her daughter, I get the sense that Michigan is correct. Unfortunately we may never know. Getting family history documents out of Michigan is like pulling teeth. You need to know the county of birth (I don't) and it can take up to six months to get a response. I know this because my Grandma Voiss' family spent seven years in Michigan after arriving from Sweden.

There is no Honora Lane listed in the Ontario Birth rolls from 1869 - 1895. These records are however incomplete, particularly for the earlier years. There is no Honora Lane (of any age) listed in the Michigan State Census Index for 1880. There was only 1 John Lane in the entire state of Michigan who had two daughters living with him. Those girls were seven and five years (Elizabeth and Katie) old making them too old to fit (Annie turned three in 1880). While the ages could have been mistaken by the Census taker this John Lane was a widower so this family does not fit the profile Dorothy gave me. The single most frustrating aspect of this project has been my inability to trace the Lane line beyond Annie. 

When Annie was five or six years old (circa 1882 or 3) her parent separated. Annie's sister stayed with her mother while her father took Annie to live with his sister in Perth, Ontario, Canada. 

Annie's aunt, Honora Lane O'Connor, took her in, changed her name, and raised her but no formal adoption ever took place. The name change is particularly interesting since Annie was originally named after her aunt. Annie never saw her father, mother or sister again. I do not know if her father returned to Michigan (if that is where he came from) or where he went after dropping Annie off.

Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor had seven children (one girl and six boys) born between 1872 and 1888. In 1886 Honora Lane O'Connor, and her husband Edward O'Connor moved the family (seven children plus Annie) from Ontario to the US. They settled in Americus Township, Grand Forks County, North Dakota. Americus Township is a rural area near Thompson, North Dakota, just south of Grand Forks. Edward O'Connor ran a successful farming operation in Grand Forks County. However by the time 1900 rolled around him and his wife had separated. 

Mrs. O'Connor died in Dec. of 1903 while helping in the birth of Annie's first child, Josephine. She grew weak and pale during the delivery so the doctor who was attending led her to a chair. By the time Josephine was born her grandmother was dead. Mrs. O'Connor was 54 years old when she died. I have no date of death for Edward O'Connor. 

The children of Edward O'Connor had a great deal of success in both politics and business in adulthood and became one of the most respected families in Grand Forks.

One of Annie's adopted siblings (blood cousin) was James Francis Thadeus (J. F. T.) O'Connor. James went by the names, J.F.T., Frank and Jefty. Born in 1884, he is the only person in this history (or in any of the families I have researched) who was listed in Who's Who in America. 

Jefty received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks in 1907. He received his law degree a year later, also from UND. I know one year for a law degree does not seem right but that is how they did it then. In 1909 he received a law Degree from Yale University he also received a Master's Degree from that school in 1910. After spending two years as an instructor at Yale he returned to Grand Forks in 1912. 

Jefty started his law career in 1912 as a partner in a Grand Forks law firm, O'Connor and Johnson where he practiced for nine years. After that he served four more years (1921 - 25) in the firm of O'Connor and Peterson. While living in Grand Forks, he spent four years (1915 -19) as a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives. He also served as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1916 and 1924. 

After making unsuccessful runs in North Dakota at governor (1920) and the US Senate (1922) he moved to Los Angeles in 1925. Here he joined a law firm headed by U.S. Senator William McAdoo where he served for five years. Jefty had supported McAdoo's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1924.

During this period he made several connections in the Hollywood community. Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM Studios became a particularly close friend. In 1949 Mayer served as a pallbearer at Jefty's funeral. 

During his time in LA Jefty became quite active in California Democratic politics. He managed the California presidential primary campaign of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when FDR was seeking his first term in 1932. As a reward for his early support FDR, when he took office in 1933, appointed J.F.T. to the post of Comptroller of the Currency.

Among Jefty's responsibilities in this post was overseeing the banks that were closed by Roosevelt's Banking Act of 1933. On March 5, 1933, the day after he took office FDR ordered a bank holiday to prevent runs on banks. These runs were being made by depositors trying to get their money out before their bank failed. FDR was forced to close the banks because of similar runs on many banks caused by a panicked public. This panic was created in part by the stock market crash of 1929. Banks were not allowed to reopen until they could prove they had the money to cover all deposits. It was Jefty's job to grant them permission to open. Jefty also oversaw the liquidation of assets by banks who did not meet the government's requirements for reopening. 

In June of 1933 Congress passed the FDIC Act that created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This would allow the government to sell insurance to banks that would cover depositors losses if the banks failed. This was created to calm the panic that had forced Roosevelt to close the banks that spring. Jefty was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the FDIC's organization. He also served as its vice chairman in the early years. He was also a member governor of the Federal Reserve Board during this time. 

While Jefty was a close political ally of Roosevelt's his leanings were more conservative. An example of this occurred in 1934. In that year FDR gave a glowing recommendation to the Democratic candidate for governor of California, a man named Upton Sinclair. The endorsement came after FDR conducted a private meeting with Sinclair at Hyde Park, NY. At this meeting FDR endorsed the radically liberal economic ideas that Sinclair put forth. 

FDR saw Sinclair's candidacy as an experiment to see how liberal the American people would allow their politicians to get. While FDR did not publicly endorse Sinclair, he did lead him to believe an endorsement would be made in a public statement at the end of October. Sinclair, a devoted socialist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, felt FDR's endorsement would sew up the election for him. But the endorsement never came. 

When word of the meeting got back to Jefty O'Connor, he was furious that FDR would even consider endorsing Sinclair. O'Connor, along with another close Roosevelt ally, began a campaign to make sure that Sinclair did not win. This campaign was financed by Louis B. Mayer and other movie moguls to the tune of \$10 million. That was more than both parties combined spent on the 1932 presidential race. 

Jefty and his allies began sending letters to the editors of California papers noting that many communist thinkers were endorsing Sinclair and his economic plan. They noted in these letters that his plan would lead California away from a currency based economy to a barter economy. They released a false poll that showed Sinclair trailing heavily and fake newsreels showing Sinclair receiving endorsements from leaders in Moscow. 

>While this was going on Sinclair sent almost daily letters to Roosevelt begging for the public endorsement. He needed to fight the O'Connor campaign, and believed FDR had promised it. Roosevelt stalled. 

FDR knew what O'Connor and his allies were doing to thwart Sinclair but did nothing to stop them. Roosevelt, ever the political pragmatist, adopted a say nothing, do nothing attitude. Although he was taken aback by O'Connor's campaign he did not want to endorse a candidate who was quickly falling in the polls, lest he meet the same fate. FDR's strategy was not entirely successful. Since the campaign was being run by two of his allies many California voters assumed it was being orchestrated by the White House. 

Roosevelt was merely hoping the results of the election would tell him which way the political winds were blowing. This information would help him prepare for 1935 and the presidential race in 1936. O'Connor's campaign of lies about Sinclair meant that this race could not be used as the political barometer FDR needed. This did not please Roosevelt. The campaign did however show FDR the power of the mass media in elections. This lesson helped him get elected three more times. 

J.F.T.'s campaign worked. Sinclair, who was way out in front at the time of the Hyde Park meeting, lost to the incumbent Republican by a quarter of a million votes. The Sinclair defeat strengthened the position of O'Connor and his conservative allies within the state's Democratic party, Sinclair's failure also served to radicalize many of his supporters in the Hollywood community. Besides being outraged at Mayer for his involvement, many actors and writers were so infuriated by the way Sinclair lost that they joined the Communist Party. This was the beginning of the communist movement in Hollywood on which Joseph McCarthy, among others, would later build his political career. 

Early in 1938 Jefty left his position in Washington and returned to California where he made a run for governor. Jefty lost in the primary to the eventual governor, Culbert Olson. This probably makes him one of the few people to lose governor races in two states. He also lost in North Dakota in 1920. In 1940 FDR appointed Jefty to a federal judgeship in the Southern District of California. 

In 1944 Judge O'Connor presided at the trial of Charles Chaplain in Los Angeles. Chaplain was being held on four federal indictments that could have led to his being deported from the US. 

Judge O'Connor was also temporarily assigned to the Southern District of New York from Los Angeles in March 1947, to preside at the trial of Serge M. Rubenstein, international financier. Rubenstein was charged with having made false statements to the Selective Service Board in his district of New York. He sentenced the financier to 2 1/2 years for draft evasion with a fine of \$50,000. Jefty served as Federal Judge until his death in September of 1949. Jefty O'Connor never married 

J.F.T. was joined in LA in 1939 by his nephew Edward O' Connor. Edward was the son of J.F.T.'s brother William. William had married the former Etta O'Hara and ran a bank in Grand Forks. They had three children. The children, William Jr., Margaret and Edward, were all born in Grand Forks. Both William Sr. and his wife Etta died around 1937.

After receiving his bachelors degree from UND Edward went to Washington, D.C. where he earned a law degree at Georgetown University. Shortly after getting his law degree in 1939 Edward joined his uncle Jefty in LA. Edward was joined in LA by his brother, William Jr. who joined him in a private law practice until Edward gained a judgeship. 

Edward served as a Superior Court Judge for LA County from 1959 until his death in 1992. Edward's widow still lives in Brentwood, two blocks from O.J. Simpson's mansion. Incidentally Edward was a friend of Lance Ito who presided at the Simpson Trial. 

Another of Annie's siblings was Minnie (O'Connor) Trepanier. According to Census records Minnie, the oldest of the O'Connor children, was born in Maine in 1872. Minnie married C.P. Trepanier in the early 1890's. Together they ran Trepanier Pharmacy in Grand Forks. This was one of the most successful businesses in Grand Forks in the early part of the century. 

Minnie had eight children (five boys and three girls) born between 1896 and 1913. By the time 1920 rolled around Minnie was a widower. Upon her death Minnie left a large parcel of land in Grand Forks to the Catholic Church that they used to build a nunnery. 

Yet another sibling was Michael J. O'Connor. Michael, the oldest son of Edward and Honora, served as Sheriff of Grand Forks County in the early part of this century. This was at the height of the debauchery taking place in East Grand Forks. I do not know much else about him. In 1920 he was living in a house on Demers Avenue in Grand Forks with his brother Jefty. He had never married. He was the only sibling who preceded Annie in death. 

Michael's brother Larry ran a farm just outside of GF. Larry made an unsuccessful run for Grand Forks County Sheriff in 1944. He finished 4th in a primary field of five candidates. Larry was married to the former Mary Kelly, who was born in England. They had two children, Lawrence Jr. and Maure Honore who were born in 1914 and 15 respectively.

After Annie and Michael Enright married, they moved into Michael's home that was located on the original Enright Homestead. Shortly thereafter Catherine retired from farming and moved into a home at 216 2nd Street in EGF with her two youngest children, Edward and Margaret. She lived here until her death in Oct. of 1905. Her oldest son Richard also moved into the home. This is according to the 1905 Minnesota State Census. After his mother died Richard returned to the family homestead where he moved in with Michael and Annie. 

After Catherine died, Margaret stayed on there and married George Tinkler circa 1910. Margaret had a son Paul born in 1911 and adopted a daughter, Mary I. , who was born in 1918. I do not have a date of death for Margaret. At the time Michael died in 1949 she was still living in EGF and when Edward died in 1965 his obit listed no surviving siblings. This would place her death between that of Michael and Edward. 

Edward, who was the best man at Michael's wedding, married sometime between 1905 and 1909 to Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) who was born in Illinois in 1883. After their marriage they moved in to a home next door to Margaret at 220 S. 2nd St. Edward later moved on to Detroit. While I have not learned exactly when this happened he was still in Polk County in 1920. Edward died in Detroit in July of 1965. Edward and Elizabeth had seven children, the first of which was born in 1909. The children, In order of age: Monica, Joseph, Leo, Edward Jr., Richard, Catherine and John. All of the children, except John, outlived their father. Edward was also preceded in death by his wife. 

In 1904 James H. Enright, the 8th child of Dennis and Catherine, sold a 160-acre plot of land to his brother Michael. The land had been given to James by his mother Catherine in 1895, the same year in which he was married. In the 1900 Census James and his wife Roseanne were living on this land in Huntsville. After he sold the land to Michael in 1904 he moved to a home in EGF. The 1910 Census lists his occupation as merchant. 

James and Roseanne had two sons (William and Stephen) and two daughters (Catherine and Ellen Louise) born between Jan. 1896 and 1902. In 1910 James and Roseanne also had three servants living with them. Most of the Enrights had, at one time or another, servants who lived in their homes. Shortly after 1910 James, like his older brother Jeremiah, moved on to Alberta, Canada. Like Jeremiah's family I lost track of this family at this time. 

According to the land records I have obtained Catherine, in 1904, in two separate transactions, sold 320 acres of land to Michael at a cost of \$6000/160 acres. Michael, as mentioned above, also bought 160 Acres, in the same year, at a cost of \$6000 from his brother James. Catherine also sold to her son Edward, again in two separate transactions, 320 acres of land at the same price. She also sold 180 acres to her daughter Margaret for \$3200. 

All of this land was located in the northeast corner of Huntsville Township. All these transactions took place in 1904. However when Catherine retired, Edward and Margaret moved to EGF with her so I do not know who farmed the land they bought from their mother. The land was adjacent to the original homestead, which was run by Michael so perhaps he farmed that for them as well. Incidentally Catherine signed all land documents with an "X " suggesting she was probably illiterate. She was the only member of the family who did so.

Michael and Annie Enright raised 10 children (three boys and seven girls) on the original Enright Homestead in Huntsville Township. Michael ran a quite successful dairy farming operation that became known as Edenvale Dairy. The operation spanned over 500 acres. The farm was split by Highway 2 as it ran through Huntsville Township. It was bordered on the southern end by the Red Lake River. Michael also served as president of the Sanitary Milk Company in Grand Forks where his products were processed. While Michael managed the farm most of the farm labor was done by hired hands. 

Michael continued to farm the land there until his retirement in 1943. At this time Michael & Annie moved to a home in East Grand Forks. Annie O'Connor Enright died on January 19,1945 at her home in East Grand Forks. Her death ended a year long battle with breast cancer. Michael survived until March of 1949 when he fell victim to another cancer - leukemia, he was 80 years old at the time of his death.

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