William Conner (Mississippi politician)

William Conner (c. 1771–December 19, 1814) was a planter and the speaker of the Mississippi Territory House of Representatives in 1803.[1] He was married to Mary Savage, a granddaughter of pioneering Mississippi colonist Tacitus Gaillard of South Carolina.[2] Conner and his wife moved to the Natchez District in about 1790, according to a finding aid for Conner family papers held at Louisiana State University.[3] This was reportedly shortly after their marriage, and once they arrived they "...were domiciled at Oakhill, a part of the Spanish grant to Tacitus Gaillard, just across the creek from Beau Pres. Later they resided at Berkeley, a grand house having been built by [his mother-in-law] Anne Savage, and there they reared a large family of children. William Conner was elected to the first territorial legislature...but political life not suiting his trend of mind, he soon retired from this position and followed his scholarly bent, finding in classical literature and the studies that his own library afforded him all that made life happy and interesting to his high mental calibre. He and his wife were buried in the family graveyard at Berkeley, and on their marble tomb are two wonderful busts of them, sculptured, in Italy."[2] He had a plantation along the Homochitto River.[4] He also had business connections to the Northeast United States through his wife's family.[5]

Personal life

William Conner and Mary Savage had "several" children.[6]

  • William Carmichael Conner (c. 1798–1843) m. Jane Elizabeth Boyd Gustine (b. Carlisle, Pennsylvania)[6] He was a wealthy planter in Natchez, and his wife purchased Linden after his death. His descendants still own this house.[3]
  • Henry LeGrand Conner m. Sarah Baker, daughter of Joshua Baker;[10] Henry L. Conner legally owned "about" 109 enslaved people when he died in 1850[11]
  • Anne Frances Conner m1. Egbert H. Bell,[12] m2. William Hopper Ruffin,[13] m3. William St. John Elliot[14]

References

  1. ^ Rowland, Dunbar (1925). History of Mississippi, the heart of the South. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. p. 476.
  2. ^ a b "Beautiful Homes of Old Natchez". Natchez Democrat. April 25, 1915. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  3. ^ a b "Lemuel Conner and Family Papers" (PDF). Louisiana State University Libraries. 2021 [1991]. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  4. ^ "Died, at his plantation". Natchez Gazette. January 4, 1815. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  5. ^ Scarborough, William (April 14, 2018). "Natchez Nabobs". Mississippi Encyclopedia. Center for Study of Southern Culture. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g n.a. [Goodspeed] (1891), p. 580.
  7. ^ n.a. [Goodspeed] (1891), p. 581.
  8. ^ "Captain F. B. Conner". Natchez Democrat. March 26, 1904. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  9. ^ "Mrs. Maria Chotart Conner". Natchez Democrat. December 7, 1912. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  10. ^ "Z 1575.000 Conner (Louisa Russell) Memoir".
  11. ^ "Take Notice". Natchez Democrat. November 15, 1850.
  12. ^ "Egbert H. Bell, 1821". Mississippi Marriages, 1800–1911 – via FamilySearch.
  13. ^ "Beautiful elegant dresses seen in wedding gown revue". The Town Talk. March 30, 1951. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
  14. ^ "Anna F. Ruffin in entry for William St. John Elliott, 1828". Mississippi Marriages, 1800–1911 – via FamilySearch.

Sources


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.