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Author: Thomas Lesser
John Connelly was born in 1737 in Rowan County, North Carolina, to John Bryan O’Connelly and Mary Foley, who were Irish immigrants. He had eight siblings, including Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Joseph. John Connelly married Rebecca Jane Ballew in August 1773. She was the daughter of Joseph Martin Ballew, a marshal in the Bedford region, and Diana Lightsky, a Cherokee woman. John and Rebecca had twelve children, including William, Joshua, John Wesley, George, Allen, Caleb, and Joseph.
He served as a captain in the North Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War and fought in several battles, including the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, where he was wounded, and the Battle of Cowpens in 1781.
After the war, he settled in Burke County, North Carolina, where he owned a large plantation. He died on July 16, 1826, and was buried at the Methodist Church Cemetery near Sevier and North Cove in McDowell County, North Carolina.
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