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James Conner Sr. and his wife Nellie Williams Conner
James Sr.
was born in 1841 in Marion, South Carolina.
It is noted
that Nellie's maiden name was determined from what was written
on the death certificates of her sons Allen and James Jr. Although
one certificate listed her as Nellie
James, it is more likely that the other
one listing her as Nellie Williams is correct since the writer
of that certificate was older and actually knew Nellie.
His father,
also called James, had been brought to South Carolina as a slave.
Family interviews indicate that he came on a ship from Africa
into the port at Baltimore, then was carried to Charleston, but
no records are available to document this as factual.
It is here noted that after 1808, international slave trade became
illegal, therefore if James came into Baltimore on a ship, it
was illegal and thus difficult to trace. In Charleston
he was purchased by Michael Conner (whose brother's were John
and William) and taken on to their plantation in Greenwood, near
Marion and Mars Bluff.
As was common
practice, James took the surname of Conner from his owners. As
he was the first of the family to have the name, Conner, he is
deemed James Sr. With the conclusion of the Civil war and the
resulting Emancipation Proclamation, James would have been declared
a free man if he had not already possibly been freed by that time.
It is interesting to note that South Carolina had the highest
number of freed slaves prior to the Emancipation Proclamation,
but ironically was the last state to recognize the Proclamation.
James Sr.
and Nellie had seven children, James Jr.,
Allen, David,
Mary, Sallie,
Nellie and Anna.
The 1880 census shows the family living
in Jeffrey's Township (which was formed from Marion County and
other counties in 1888), Florence County, South Carolina.
The 1900
census lists a stepmother living in David's household, so
we can assume that James and Nellie had both died by this date
and that James Sr. must have married Angie after the death of
Nellie.
Other
than this, there is not a lot known about James Sr. and Nellie.
However quite a bit can be surmised from what we read in the book
"African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina"
by Amelia Wallace Vernon.
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