hidden-metaphor

Manx Genealogy

Re: John James Kelly and Mona Lawson

Hi Barbara, I suspect John James Kelly & Mona returned to Laxey because he was seriously ill, probably from working in such an unhealthy environment. He was due an insurance payment on his demise - he stipulated in his Will - "....I leave devise and bequeath to my wife Mona Kelly the sum of two hundred pounds for the purpose of erecting [or] buying a suitable dwelling house, payable out of the money due at my decease from the Ancient Order of United Workmen in the United States of America...."
He died in late June 1897, and in the IoM Official Holiday Guide of 1898 his wife [Mrs Kelly] and her sister Jane Casement Lawson [Miss Lawson] were the proprietresses of "Montana Villas, Seafield" offering board and lodging in two properties, both with "Good Sea View", each of 3 sitting rooms and 9 bedrooms. Seafield still has a "good sea view", and has been converted into flats. I have a photograph from ~1905 which shows the large semi-detached boarding house ["Duplex" in the USA], taken from the headland [Cairn] showing that Laxey Beach was not a pretty [or healthy] site then either [the ore from the mines was stored on the sea front area].You are welcome to a copy of the photograph via e-mail.
I don't know if Mona Kelly had Montana Villas built or if she bought & re-named it. Both houses were always called just "Seafield" post-WW2.
Do you have any information on the death of John James' father John Kelly? He last featured in the 1881 Census, although his wife claimed still to be married in 1891 and 1901; in 1911 she was registered as a widow.
Rgds
JohnL