Mary was born in Ireland on June 25, 1831, the daughter of Dennis O'Connor. Family legend has it that an elder brother, also named Dennis, was a sailor and arranged to have his family come to America in the middle 1840's.
By 1848, Mary was apparently in the employ of Martin Henry van Hovenberg as a governess to his children by his then wife, Charlotte Reed Phelps. Under some circumstances, a liaison was established, and the following nine children were born:
About Charles Augustus, George Dennis, and Frederick Kiersted we know little. Fortunately, a treasured photograph, framed in gold, and covered with velvet, provides important information. It is now clear that a hiatus of some six years occurred between the birth of the first two children, and that the third, Charles Augustus, must have been born in 1856. It is also clear that Dennis George must have followed the following summer. Of Frederick Kiersted, we have no record at all, except one brief reference in a newspaper article. However, the van Hovenbergs were firmly established in the Paterson area by 1866, and anyone who died there was buried there. Yet no record of the burial of Frederick Kiersted survives.
About Mary Theresa herself we know little and remember little. A terrible legend survives that she lost 2 or 3 of her sons on consecutive days during an epidemic in Baltimore in the 1850's: she was found wandering the streets of the city in shock. This story matches with what we know of the deaths of Charles Augustus and Dennis George. It is also known that the City of Baltimore suffered epidemics of measles and scarlet fever in 1857, and smallpox in 1858, claiming hundreds of lives.
Mary's mother was green in the memory of both Juliette and James Jacob until their deaths, she was described as a sweet old Irish woman who lived into her 90's, who smoked a pipe, danced a jig, and visited Juliette often as a girl to go for walks and give her good advice. She is tentatively identified elsewhere.
Mary died in Haledon, New Jersey, March 29, 1878. The reports indicate a heart attack. She is buried with her husband at Laurel Grove cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey.
From the left: Martin Henry Radcliffe, Mary, Charles Augustus, Alfred Andrew. Probably taken late summer 1856.
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Martin Henry Radcliffe, 1849-1914
From the left: Martin Henry Radcliffe, Mary, Charles Augustus, Alfred Andrew. Probably taken late summer 1856.
