GEORGE DANIEL CONNER

Sacramento County

Biographies

GEORGE DANIEL CONNER

GEORGE DANIEL CONNER was born on the Sandy River, in Greenup County, Kentucky, December 20, 1827, his parents being William and Sidney (Davis) Conner. His grandfather Conner, who was born in Ireland, built the first blast furnace in Kentucky, on the Licking River, in Bath County. The father George D. was a member of the Legislature for sixteen years, serving successively in both branches. A great-grandfather on the mother’s side was the Captain Bragg, of Washington’s time, who was married in the home of Washington, and afterward rose to the rank of General in the war of 1812. General Bragg, of the Civil War, is also a great-grandson of the same. Mr. Conner’s maternal grandfather was George N. Davis, a member of Congress, and previously was sheriff of the county for many years. An uncle, Alfred Davis, was a graduate of West Point, and served in the Mexican war; another, Colonel J. W. Davis, was engaged in the late war, on the Confederate side. He moved to Virginia after the war, and was there elected to Congress. The two brothers married sisters of the Stewart family, residing near Sulphur Springs. A third brother, Alexander, was mixed up in the Kansas difficulty, on the Southern side. He afterward became a lawyer in St. Louis, and was elected to the Legislature of Missouri. Mr. Conner first came to California in 1849, and went to mining in Auburn, Placer County, in the winter of that year. In the spring of 1850 he engaged in teaming and trading to and from the mines, and afterwards fitted up teams and wagons, selling the outfits complete. In less than two years he had accumulated about $15,000. On December 5, 1851, he sailed from San Francisco for New Orleans, and thence went up the Mississippi and Ohio to his home in Kentucky. After a short stay there he went to Missouri, and bought cattle, which he drove across the plains in 1852. He sold 100 head for $10,000 in Sacramento, and though he suffered loss by fire and flood in that city he sailed from San Francisco, June 3, 1853, with $30,000, for New York, whence he went to Kentucky. November 22, 1853, he was married to Miss Sarah J. Welsh, a daughter of Thomas G. Welsh, proprietor of the Oakwell Iron Works, situated on the Cumberland, about twelve miles from its mouth. She was then in her twenty-first year, having been born in Davidson County, Tennessee, about twelve miles from Charlotte, and only one mile from where her parents had been married. Her mother, Eliza J. Thomson, was a daughter of William and Jane (Brewer) Thomson. On her father’s side she is of mixed English and Irish stock, and related to the Welsh family of Philadelphia, one of whom was our minister to England some years ago. Her grandmother, Brewer, was a sister of Sterling Brewer, a member of Congress from Tennessee, a man of considerable wealth for the time in which he lived. Her grandparents, Thomas, were also of the wealthiest families of Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father was born near Baltimore, Maryland, in September, 1805. His parents afterward lived near Philadelphia for a time, and later, moved into the iron region of Pennsylvania, the father being a skilled workman in some branch of the iron industry, and was usually engaged as foreman. The son learned the special trade of hammerer. In time he moved to Kentucky, and worked at a forge on the Little Sandy, two miles from Ohio. He then went successively to Tennessee and Alabama, working at his trade. Returning to Tennessee he bought of Neblett Bros., the Blooming Grove forge on the Cumberland, about twelve miles from Clarksville, with William Phillips as partner. He bought four slaves and taught them his trade, and while they manufactured the household goods for the local trade, he peddled them around and made money. Afterward he purchased the Rough and Ready Iron Works, also on the Cumberland, in Stewart County, keeping it only one year. He had two partners in that enterprise,—Dr. Cobb, of Clarksville, and Captain Sam Cook. Selling his interest he moved to Kentucky in the fall of 1852, investing his money in the Hopewell Iron Works, which were burnt down in 1854, with heavy loss. He had invested largely in improvements only a short time before. He rebuilt, and his son-in-law, George D. Conner, became partner in 1856, under the style of Conner & Welsh; but iron had meanwhile fallen from $40 to $22 a ton, leaving but a very narrow margin for the manufacturers. Having met a series of reverses, coincident with the depression, they surrendered the business to their creditors, Gibbon and Haynes, in 1859, and both families started across the plains for California. After a four months’ trip they arrived in the Golden State, August 3, 1859, and settled on the Cosumnes. Two years later they purchased 1,000 acres in the Hartnel Grant, with a frontage of half a mile on the river. About 1870 Mr. Conner bought out Mr. Welsh’s half interest, and at different times made other purchases, until he now owns 4,000 acres, in one body. Mr. Welsh and his son, Charles R., moved to Hill’s Ferry, in San Joaquin County, investing some $3,000 in Government land and improvements. Disheartened by drouths they abandoned it a few years later, and lost their time and investment, being unable to sell. They then moved to Tulare County, near Visalia, where they purchased 400 acres of good land. After four years of joint occupancy the father sold his half interest to Mr. Conner, and came to reside with him. He has made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Conner for many years, with the exception of the five or six years mentioned. Mr. And Mrs. Conner are the parents of the following children, of whom the three oldest were born in Kentucky, and the others in this State: Alma, in 1854, now Mrs. L. F. Ward, of Fresno, and the mother of a boy and girl; George T., in 1857, married and living in Tulare City, in the real estate business with his uncle, J. B. Welsh, since 1886; William W., in 1859, was just six months old on his arrival in California; Robert Lee, in 1861, now farming in Fresno county, is married and the father of one boy; Sallie W., died in August, 1886, aged twenty-one years; Alfred S., 1869; Eugene, in 1875; Pauline, in 1878. William W. and the three younger children are living at home.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 688-690. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.