Eunice Connolly

(1831-1877)

American/Caymanian letter writer

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Eunice Connolly (December 9, 1831 – September 27, 1877) was an American woman born into pre-Civil War-New England, who left a correspondence archive detailing her life during the period. From a working-class family, she labored in textile mills and as a housekeeper and laundress, when her husband was unable to find work. Hoping for a better life, they moved to Mobile, Alabama, but when the Civil War broke out and her husband joined the Confederacy, Eunice returned to New England. Lack of word or financial support from her spouse, led Connolly into poverty as she struggled to provide for their two children. Learning after the war ended that he had died, Connolly decided to marry a "coloured" British West Indian sailor and move with him to the Cayman Islands. The letters she left, give a glimpse into the struggles of working class life during the period of industrialization and the war, as well as the differences in racial attitudes of American and Caribbean societies.

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Born	9 December 1831 Northfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts
Died	27 September 1877 (aged 45) off the Miskito Cays near coastal Nicaragua
Zodiac	Sagittarius
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