I am writing this so that your great grandfather, Michael Condon is exonerated. Jumping to conclusions like we usually do, we assumed he did something really bad (like murder) because he was in Sing Sing when he died.

Michael Condon was born in Kilworth, County Cork, Ireland in 1866. His father was John Condon and his mother was Jane Martin. He emigrated to America as a young man and worked as a shoemaker in Salem, MA where he met his wife, Margaret Meithan and where they were married. They then moved down to New York and had three sons: Edward, James and John (your grandfather). He was a NYC firefighter for a time.

His fault was that he was a drinker. He had a few scuffles with the law for public intoxication and fighting in barrooms. I will post some newspaper articles about his arrests at a later time if anyone wants me to. Uncle Richie has done some research and found the court records and the prison records for Michael Condon. He was sent to Sing Sing in 1909 for stealing 65 cents.

He had no attorney to represent him and he was an Irish Immigrant - they were not very popular in our country around the turn of the century. So for stealing 65 cents from someone he was sentenced to 7 and a half to 15 years in Sing Sing. Pretty heavy penalty for petty larceny. He died in Sing Sing in 1913 at the age of 47. Your grandfather and his mother and brothers visited him every week - they took the train up to Sing Sing. Your grandfather was nine years old when his father died.

I just wanted to straighten out our assumptions about this man. As far as I know there are not any murderers in our family.

Click here for more information on Michael Condon

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