Conner Delayed Birth Certificates Abstract

 In 2005, I abstracted Conner delayed birth certificates in McDowell County. Here is the result of that work. Jane B Gouge

Conner Delayed Birth Certificates McDowell County, North Carolina.

Who, Who Are You? UNKNOWN photos

These are photos of people in my mother, Eunice D. Burgin's collection of family photos. Please comment if you recognize any of these people.

Repost of October 26, 2017 from prior site.

Joseph Washington Conner

Repost of September 18, 2014 from a prior site

This report outlines the great-great maternal grandfather of Jane B. Gouge.

I welcome positively expressed corrections and comments.

Joseph Washington Conner Genealogy Report

Elusive Conner Family - Part II: Jackson Conner's Father

Repost of August 19, 2014 from prior site

Researching my lineage of the elusive Conner Family has spanned 25+ years. The “plus” counts as the many stories, trips and visits that I took with my parents as a child growing up. The gaps that drops it to 25 years, it the teenage years that I didn’t want to go anywhere with my parents, did it anyway and just didn’t listen or pay attention to the people we visited or stories they told !

After my 25+ years and hitting brick wall after brick wall with Joseph Washington Conner, I gave up on my research skills and contacted a professional researcher!  As this question remain unanswered…Who are Jackson Conner’s parents?

Let’s start at the beginning of my research. I grew up listening to stories about my grandparents, great and even great, great, great-grandparents. One in particular my grandmother, Ina Beatrice Skipper Davis, (her mother was Adeline Lillian Conner) telling that her mother told about her great grandfather traveling through the area during the “war”, then returning to the area and marrying. Was that her mother’s or her dad’s grandfather? I don’t know.

Then there is the story my grandmother, Ina told about living in a cabin across “the hill from her grandmother”, “crossing the creek on a log bridge to visit” and “coming home in the dark, sometimes carrying a lantern”.

She also told about staying in a cabin with her grandmother, while her grandfather and his father would “peddle” their wares through Lincoln and Rutherford Counties. Once a “pantha” tried to get in the house, they laid awake all night, hearing it scratch at the roof and logs. The next morning her grandmother got out and blew the ram horn for help and someone contacted her husband to come home.

Family stories are the breath of genealogy, making lineage trails less traveled come to life. This blog is my attempt to travel those lineage trails less traveled.

Below is the lineage that I am trying to research:

• Cynthia Jane Burgin (me)
  • Eunice Faye Davis [1924-1994] (my mother)
    • Ina Beatrice Skipper [1896-1973] (maternal grandmother)
      • LillianAdaline Conner [1870-1954] (maternal great-grandmother)
        • Joseph Washington Conner [1845-1917] (maternal great-great grandfather)
          • Jackson Conner [1828 - ?] (Maternal great-great-great-grandfather)

Joseph Washington Conner

I found my second great-grandfather, Joseph Washington Conner, in the home of Jackson Conner. Listed in the 1850 Bill’s Creek, Rutherford County, NC census in household #1462 (HH#). The listing is as follows:

• Jackson Conner, 30, M with the following wife & children:
  • Adaline 31, F;
  • James 15, M;
  • Ervin 10, M;
  • Joseph 7, M;
  • Thomas 3, M;
  • Martha 1, F;
  • Nancy Thomason 65, F.

There is Joseph, age 7, which would make his birth year about 1843. His birthdate on his tombstone at Bill’s Creek Baptist Church is listed as July 15, 1845. Looking at his death certificate (district #81-6085; #3) for Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, NC listed his age as 73 years (months/days are blank); birth year as 1845; parents as Jackson Conner and Adeline Thomas - all three born in Rutherford County. Additionally in the household is Nancy Thomason, 65, my guess is that this must be Adaline’s mother – but that is another family!     I have to keep digging into the Conner Family.

Looking at the Heads of Households (HOH) in 1850 Bill’s Creek, Rutherford County, NC census in household (HH#). The listing is as follows:

• Jackson Conner, (HOH #1414/#1462) age 30 with wife Adaline 31, F; James 15, M; Ervin 10, M; Joseph 7, M; Thomas 3, M; Martha 1, F; Nancy Thomason 65, F.
• Isaac Conner (#1415/#1463) age 49; Rosana, age 45; Susannah – 17; Cyntha – 14; Samuel – 12; William – 10; Sophiar – 6; Calvin – 4.
• William Conner (HOH #1416/#1464), age 52; Elizabeth – 52; Atta – 17; Johnathan – 15; Albert - 12.
• Paul Flinn (HOH #1417/#1465)
• Hansel Flinn (HOH #1418/#1466)
• Marcus Crawford (HOH #1419/#1467) age 28 with wife Martha Patty Conner Crawford – age 25

Name	1850 Census Age	Est birth year	Age at birth of Jackson
Jackson	30	1820	-----
Isaac	49	1801	19
William	52	1798	22
Martha Patty	25	1825	-----

•  Are Isaac and William brothers?
• Who would be their father?
• Either William or Isaac could be the father of Jackson?
• Are they brothers? Nephews and Uncles? Sons and Fathers?

Who can help solve this puzzle – -Who is Jackson’s father? It has been hinted that there is a Conner family Bible for this branch of the Conner family.  Having searched through genealogical societies, libraries, court houses and talked with everyone that I know who is interested in the Conner family, I came up empty. I even drug my wonderful Aunts – Katherine Davis Noblitt and Beatrice Davis Vess to Bill’s Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Rock Springs Cemetery, Big Level Church Cemetery and Cherry Springs Baptist Church Cemetery (old and new) to confirm where our family is buried.

Clifford Conner, son of Edgar Beam Conner, graciously gave me all of his research, shared theories and worked tirelessly to move past this question. After 20+ years of hitting a brick wall, I broke down and hired a professional genealogist, wondering if my amateur skills just didn’t cut it!

Well there were no public records that confirm the father of Jackson Conner. 

I have to confess that it felt really good to know that none of the public records, that I had already searched, confirmed Jackson’s paternal identity. Maybe my research skills were not so undeveloped after all.

This surface research, left lots of questions unanswered, while confirming that current public documents are not linking the dots. Unless there is a family Bible, deed, land grant, court records, etc. that links Jackson’s father with William or Isaac, in the possession of someone willing to share, we may never know which one, if either one is Jackson’s father.

The Elusive Conner Family - Part I

Note: I am changing blog host and will be reposting from there to here. "Repost of August 4, 2011 from prior site" will indicate a post moved over. Thanks for visiting

Repost of August 4, 2011 from prior site

Are you hitting brick wall after brick wall when researching the Conner Family? How about dead-end web searches? Non-responsive forum queries?  Well so have I, which is why I have started blogging about my Conner research.

You see, I've been researching the Conner family going on 25+ years and walked so many twisted paths and twirled in so many circles till I am dizzy. I have looked through so many documents that people have given me that did not have sources cited and could not be verified.

Cousin Clifford Conner shared his immense knowledge and collection with me. I am forever indebted to him for his generosity. It has been the most accurate and verifiable.

I've heard of good report that there is a Conner Family Bible in Rutherford County, NC, and the family is very protective of it. I understand wanting to protect a wonderful piece of Conner Family History. If you know them, please let them know that I would really appreciate the opportunity to see this great family history piece.

I have found several spellings of the Conner name - Conner, Connor, Coner, Conor, O'Conner, O’Connor. For the sake of clarity, I am using one spelling à Conner.

My interest in the Conner family was inspired by my mother, Eunice Faye Davis and her siblings - Lawrence, Eugene, Katherine and Beatrice. Even though I never knew Lawrence, it seems as if I did from the stories told me by my mother and her siblings. I have confirmed my family back four generations to Jackson Conner.  In the Bill's Creek Township of Rutherford County, NC of the 1850 census in the household numbered 1462....  Jackson is the father of Joseph Washington Conner.

Joseph listed as a 7 year-old and Jackson Conner is listed as a 30 year-old, which would indicate that he was born about 1820.

This is where all the questions start…

• Is Jackson in the 1850 census….Jackson Isaac? Jack?
• Who is Jackson's father?
• Are the Rutherford County, NC Conner's connected to the Conner's who migrated to Ohio and Texas.
• What year did the Conner's migrate to America?
• What ship brought them across the ocean?
• Which dock did they step upon when arriving in America?
• What brought them to America - religious freedom? Famine?
• Were they transported across on convict ships?

I have reviewed my collection of documentation many times. Read and re-read, read it again, then over and over when a note hand written and lopsided on the page caught my eye.

Written on the page of Clifford Conner's research was the following sentence, "Uncle Edgar Conner said that his father - Joseph Washington Conner - was a 1st cousin to my grandfather - Felix Crawford, whose mother was Martha (Patty) Conner" - said by General Dalton.

If this is true, that makes Jackson Conner and Martha "Patty" Conner siblings and William Albert Conner, Sr. their father.

Wow! Doesn’t that open up a whole new theory on where Jackson Conner (b. abt. 1820) is from and where the Conner family originated?

Descendants of Joseph Washington Conner

So excited to hear that several of you may be related. I linked a page of a portion of my research that may be able to help. Check out the side bar for pages.
The formatting did not copy very well, so please excuse the occasional jumble.
Email me your email address if you think the information may be helpful.
Happy Trails!

Trip to Rowan County, NC

Rowan County Public Library has an extensive "History Room". If you have never been, it is worth the trip if you are researching early North Carolina history and families.
I spent from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. there and could spend days there. They had a specific sections for family research, NC counties, Salisbury newspapers, Virginia research and more!
I confirmed several things that were only theories for Conner research and look forward to going again really soon.
My wonderful mother-in-law was related to the McCanless family and I found a wonderful book that I would love to own. If anyone knows of a copy of The History of the McCanless Family in the United States for sale at a reasonable price, please let me know. It includes the documentation of her relative - D. C. McCanless murder trial when Hickock and two others were charged with the murder!
Many theories as to where the Conner family came from exist and that they were O'Conner/O'Connor before becoming Conner/Connor.
The puzzling thing is that in 1840 there is only one (1) O'Conner/O'Connor shown in the United States by Ancestry.com. That O'Conner/O'Connor lived in Maryland.
By the US Census, the Conner/Connor families were already established in the Carolinas with Conner families in the 1790 Census.
I would love to hear you thoughts on this idea and suggestions for further research.

Time Together #1

One of my most favorite genealogy travels happened in 2001.
About 8 p.m. on a July night, I called my Aunt Bea (my mother's youngest sister) and ask her to take me around to the cemeteries where our Conner ancestors are buried. Cemeteries like Bethlehem and Bethel-Cherry Springs!
What a day we had! I picked Aunt BeBe up about 7a, so the cool of the morning would comfort us and we would be finished before the heat overwhelmed us.
Walking the grassy rows of the cemeteries, she told me stories about her mother and things she remembered about her grandmother - Addie Conner Skipper.
I am so thankful for the time that I spent with Aunt BeBe while she shared about the different Conner's.
We arrived home about 10 a.m. - tired, hot and happy.
After dropping off Aunt BeBe, I picked up Aunt Katherine (mom's other younger sister) for a trip into the low country...Rock Springs, Big Level and Bill's Creek Cemeteries. Aunt Kat continued to tell stories about each of the cemeteries and tombstones.
Along the way I took picture after picture of tomb stones of Conner ancestors. After returning home, it turns out that the pictures were invaluable for checking dates on ancestors and creating time lines.
Several of the pictures created more questions of who is who? Where did they come from? How are they related?
More Conner Trails to follow!

Where To Begin

Where to begin with the Conner Family? For me I began with Lillian Adeline Conner, my great grandmother. She was the daughter of Joseph Washington Conner and Cynthia Carolina Flynn. I was named after Granny Cynt. I have a copy of the Widow's Application for Pension and a copy of the "Report and Settlement of Estate of Cynthia Conner" filed 09/24/1938 in which all her children are named.
Joseph Washington Conner was born 15th of July 1845 in Bill's Creek, Rutherford County, NC. He is listed in the home of Jackson Conner as a 7 year old in the 1850 census of Bill's Creek. Jackson Conner was born about 1820 and married Adeline Thomson.

Introduction

Hi,
I'm Jane and I started this blog to publish tidbits of research on the Conner family of North Carolina. My hope is that others will read  the tidbits and match it with one of their tidbits to complete the puzzle of the Conner Family.

Where did they first migrate from into the North Carolina territory?
Which dock did they first step onto when immigrating to the Americas?
Is there a Conner Family Bible for the Conner Family of Rutherford, Lincoln and McDowell Counties of North Carolina?
Who else is researching the Conner Family?
I have found Conners who migrated to Indiana, Missouri and Texas....Are they connected? How?

So... you can tell that genealogy is a pass-time for me, especially the Conner Family.

I can't wait to share some of the tidbits I have in my 6,000 name genealogy collection with the anticipation of finding out what tidbits are out there.

Give me a shout if you have interest in this family.