Revisiting Records

Ancestry. Ohio Wills & Probate Records.

The section above is from the will of my 5th-great-grandfather John Conner, written 3 January 1825 in Guernsey County, Ohio. I wrote about this back in February 2014. At the time, I didn't pay close enough attention to the text. In the line I've highlighted above, John left his daughter Jean (my 4th-great-grandmother Jane Conner) a horse, saddle and bridle valued at $57, a cow, and one bed and bedding. She was seventeen at the time. Jane later married my 4th-great-grandfather Azariah Davis in Guernsey County on 12 January 1832.

When I wrote about the will in 2014, I didn't follow up and write about the rest of the Conner family, so I'll do that now.

John Conner Sr. was born in Pennsylvania. He married Mary Stevenson, and they had the following children:

- Rebecca Conner (1787-1854)

- James Conner (1788- )

- John Conner Jr. (1790-1873)

- Joseph Conner (1792- )

- Catherine Conner (1793-1874)

- Thomas E. Conner (1796-1876)

- Robert Conner (1800-1870)

- Mary S. Conner

- Eliza Conner

- Jane Conner (1808-1842)

Mary Stevenson Conner died in 1840. The Portrait and Biographical Record of Guernsey County, Ohio (available on Archive.org) mentions the Conner family and has a section on John S. Conner (grandson of John Conner Sr.). Based on the will, there appear to some errors in this recap on the family history. The text states that John Sr. was born near Pittsburgh, and in his early life he was a tailor, but later devoted himself to farming. In 1808 he settled near Claysville on 160 acres in Guernsey County, Ohio, and acquired a similar sized plot of land in Spencer Township, which he gave to his sons.

A screenshot of his land patent from Guernsey County is below.

BLM Land Patent, 26 Oct 1820.

His son John Conner Jr. served in the War of 1812 and has a large pension file (54 pages) available on Fold3.