James and Nellie Conner and their sons. Therefore, much of this current session focused on learning more about the sons of James and Nellie Conner. With regard to researching James Conner Jr. and Allen Conner, researching them was not so much intended to discover informa- tion about their descendants (because this information is already known), but rather was intended to help identify their sisters after 1880.

Local Histories

The first step in any research session is to review the information that is already known. The next step is usually to determine what records are available that might hold additional in- formation. As the Family History Library catalogue was searched to see what records were available in the adjacent counties of Florence and Marion in South Carolina, it was noted that there were a couple of local histories for Florence County. One of these is entitled African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina.

The title of this book was very promising. The information found in it is fascinating and gives some excellent insights into the area in which the ancestral family lived, but no reference to any member of the ancestral Conner family was found. One comment was noticed in this book that might be of use as research continues: "Many Mars Bluffinhabitants were members of Hopewell [Presbyterian] Church..."¹

David Conner

The client provided a copy of the 1880 U.S. census enumeration of James Conner and his family. This census identifies the seven children of James and Nellie Conner and gives their ages at that time. David Conner was five years old in 1880, which places his birth about 1874/1875. Of course, ages as found recorded in U.S. censuses are often off by a year or two or sometime more.

The family lived in Jeffreys Township in 1880. At that time, this was part of Marion County, but it is now part of Florence County, which was formed from Marion County and other

¹Amelia Wallace Vernon, African Americans at Mars Bluff South Carolina (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1993),40, FHL Book 975.784/MI F2v.