Connor/Conner

For this name also see Cormer & Comer b/c it was sometimes difficult to read the enumerator's handwriting.

I only have 24 entries for this name:

One family was headed by Eugene "Leonard" Conner. He was the husband of Eliza J. Baker Conner who he married in Monroe County on January 10, 1900 when he was 30 and she was 26. He was born in Greenbrier and she was born in Augusta, Virginia. The informant for the marriage was James Lewis. The officiant was Rev. Joseph W. Jackson (Minister of the M.E. Church). They were married in Alderson.
He appears on the 1910 Census in Greenbrier, Blue Sulphur Township, as a Black Male, age 38, hotel waiter in the dining room, husband of Eliza J. (3)) and with Mamie R. (14) & Ralph W (infant). In this census he is enumerated as E. Leonard.
He appears in the 1920 Census at the same location, now 49 y., laborer, with Eliza (45), Mamie (24) & Ralph (9). In this census he is enumerated as Eugene L.

W.J. Conner was the husband of Rosa L. Manns Conner and he was the son of R. and Sarah Conner. W.J. and Rosa married in September, 1900 at Summers County. They were both originally from Virginia (he from Pulanski). He was a machinist.

Thomas D. Conner can be found in WV Death Certificate # 7882. He died on 5/23/1936 at Monroe at 78y. He was born at Pulanski on 10/14/1857. He was a farmer.

Sally Conner/Comer died in Greenbrier in 1903/1904 at 52 y & she may be the same Sallie Connor who appears on the 1880 Census, Greenbrier, Black Female, 27 y, domestic servant (with Henry Brown - 35).

A Rev. H.C. Conner performed many marriages of Black residents but I am not sure of his race. Sometimes his name looks like Comer.

Esther/Estelline/Estra Conner married Frank A. Perkins. Her father was Abe Conner. (He was also the father of Matilda (?Conner) Lee, wife of Thomas Lee). Esther's mother was Lucinda Conner.

A James R. Conner appears in Larry Shuck's Greenbrier County Marriage Records on page 92.

Josephine French Connor was the daughter of George and Agnes French. She appears in WV Death Certificate # 6765. She died on 5/24/1951 at Summers County at 73y. She is buried at Hill Top.

A Julia M. Connor is buried at the Mount Carmel Cemetery at Ballard. 6/22/1857 - 5/1/1936.

A Lin Connor married Barney Raglin.

A Rommie Conner appears on WV Death Certificate#16408 and she was the informant for the death of Ballard French (Summers County 1926).

Wade Conner appears on the 1920 Census, Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs District, as a mulatto male, age 24.

John Wesley United Methodist Church - Lewisburg - Pages 3 & 4 & Mary Lucinda Page Kelly

This history of the John Wesley Methodist Church was written by Mary Lucinda Page Kelly. She was the daughter of Frank(lin) Winfield Page (who is credited with breaking the famous horse "Traveller" ridden by General Lee). She is also the daughter of Sarah Freeman Page. She was the wife of Samuel Kelly (my greatgrandmother Mary's brother). She was born on 12/17/1892 in Lewisburg. She appears on the 1920 Census in Greenbrier County, Lewisburg District, as a Black Female working for the Price sisters (Margarett & Jennie - who were the sisters of Samuel Price who was a lawyer and the former Lt. Governor of Confederate Virginia & who my ancestors also worked for). She appears in the 1920 census as a Black Female, 27, wife of Samuel Kelly & in the 1930 census as a Black Female, 37, wife of Samuel Kelly, first married at age 17. See Journal of the Greenbrier Historical Society, Vol 7, #6, 2004, page 29. She died on 9/22/1994 and she is buried at the Lewisburg Cemetery. Her daughter Harriet Olive Kelly Miller Williams was of great help to me in researching the area.

John Wesley United Methodist Church - Lewisburg - Cannonball

John Wesley United Methodist Church - Lewisburg - photos of site of staircase for enslaved members & where cannonball hit

John Wesley United Methodist Church - Lewisburg - page two

John Wesley United Methodist Church - Lewisburg - Page One (inside cover)

170th Anniversary of the John Wesley United Methodist Church - Lewisburg, West Virginia - Program Cover

This is a church that was, and still is, attended by many members of the Lewisburg Community. It is the church that my ancestors attended.

This photo was given to me by a Haynes/Dickerson family member. However, no one knows who they are.

Photo of Soldier from Dunsmore box of photos

Liggons, Ligging, Liggin, Liggins, Leggens, Leggons, Ligens & Ligons

These names are all "intermingled" in my compilation. People show up in various censuses with various spellings. On January 6, 2010, Jim Talbert of the Greenbrier HIstorical Society mailed me a copy of an undated newspaper clipping:
AGED COLORED WOMAN DEAD - "Aunt" Zebby Terrell, a well-known colored resident of Lewisburg, died on Monday morning. It is said she had reached the advanced age of 93 years. She was a slave of Captain Alex McClintic of Bath County, Virginia and after the civil war she and her brother, Sam Strain, came to Greenbrier County and were tenants on the Captain Alex Arbuckle farm near Maxwelton later moving to "Straintown" in the Teaberry Section of Lewisburg. "Aunt" Zebby was twice married, her first husband being named Liggins and her second husband's name being Terrell. She leaves two nephews Asbury and Dick Strain of Lewisburg.

***

Was "Aunt Zebby" the Debora B. Strain Liggons who was the wife of George W. Liggons? Debora appears on the 1875 Greenbrier County Register of Marriages. On 9/9/1874 she married George W. Liggons (age 24). She appears in the 1880 Census in GC at Fort Spring District as a Black Female, 28 years old, keeping house, wife of George Liggins. She appears in SHUCK's records (Marriage Records - pages 219 & 713 - see Leggens). She appears on WV Death Certificate # 11289 as the mother of the decedent, Mary Lavenia Johnson.

George W. Liggons died in GC on 2/23/1891. He was the brother in law of Pollie Bush.

Payne enslaver - Jesse Payne - Monongalia, WV

My greatgreatgrandmother was Martha Ann Payne and she was from Fayette County, WV. It is said that she was "married" to Burton Payne (during slavery) but that he was sold off. Since her name during slavery was Payne she must have been owned by a Payne. I think I found Burton Payne after 1865 in Virginia (he had married another Martha). I have not yet researched who owned Martha and Burton in Fayette(and, therefore, also my greatgrandmother Elizabeth Jane Payne Haynes).
Today, however, I read something that was intriguing. In the book: The Bridge - The Life and Rise of Barak Obama - the author states "And as a genealogist at the Library of Congress, William Addams Reitwiesner, discovered, Obama's ancestors included Jesse Payne, of Monongalia County, W.V. who in the first half of the nineteenth century, owned slaves named Moriah, Isaac, Sarah, Selah, Old Violet, Young Violet, and Little William".
I guess I will have to see where Monongalia is and, perhaps, research Jesse Payne.

Charles Henry Clay Hoover

Charles Henry Clay Hoover was the husband of (1) ? and then (2) Lula Bell Pack Hoover. He was the son of Perry Hoover and Julia Johnson Hoover. He appears in the Greenbrier County Register of Births as having been born in 5/1874. He appears on the 1880 Census in Greenbrier County, Blue Sulphur Township as a mulatto male, age 6. On 6/13/1899 he married Lula Bell Pack. He was 25 and she was 23 (she was born in Monroe County). The informant for the marriage was Josephine Pack. The officiant was Rev. Jeffries. They married at Alderson. He appears in the 1900 Census in GC, BST, as a Black Male, age 26, married for one year to Lula (24). He was a farm laborer. Also with the family is their son, John P. who was born in 5/1900. He can be found in the GC Birth Book as the father of Charles J. Hoover (b. 8/21/1906). He can be found in the 1910 Census in GC, BST, mulatto male, age 36, farm laborer, married twice, this time for ten years to Lula B (34), with John P. (10), Mary A. (8), & Charles J. (3). Also in the household is Maxwell Kenney (8). He registered for WWI and his card indicates that he was born on 3/17/1874. He lived at Glen White, Raleigh County. He was 44 y.o. He was a miner at E.E. White Coal Co. He was medium height, medium build. He registered on 9/12/1918. On the 1920 Census he is listed at Raleigh County, Glen White. He is a mulatto male, 44, with his wife, Lula B. age 44, and with John P (19), Mary V. (18), Charles J. (13) and George C. (8). WV Death Certificate # 4957 indicates that he died on 9/24/1921 at 47y6m0d at Raleigh, BM, married, b. 3/24/1874, occupation was miner, son of Perry Hoover and Julia Johnson Hoover, cause of death - pneumonia. The informant was Lula. (On his death certificate he is listed as "Charley"). On WV Death Certificate # 14414 he is listed as the father of the decedent, John P. Hoover (on this certificate he is listed as Charles C.).

Unidentified Baby

This photo was contributed to this compiler by Elaine Carter (descendant of Socrates Haynes - who was my greatgrandmother Elizabeth's brother). The photo was in a box that was taken from the Ola Dunsmore home on Brushy Ridge, Greenbrier County, WV. So, it is a Dunsmore baby or friend of a Dunsmore's baby.