During 1847, John Connellan from Glendree, in the Parish of Tulla, near Ennis in County Clare, Ireland, arrived in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha).
With him was his wife, the widow Mary, her son John Kilfoil, as well as their three-year-old son Jim. Their first home was in the Somerset East district, where Connellan managed the farm Glen Avon for Hannah Brown during the seventh frontier war against the Ngqika, Ndlambe and Thembu tribes.
This war was known as the War of the Axe, because of allegations from a settler that his axe had been stolen by a Xhosa tribesman.
They attacked and wiped out
