James Alexander Conn and Nancy Erwin Conn

Background for James Conn and wife Nancy Erwin Conn.

James A. Conn (1780-1826/7), was the child of  Elisabeth Alexander Conn (1760-1845) and her husband, William Henry Conn (1760-1836), who had been a "Private, Calvary and Infantry" in the Revolutionary War.

Father William had been born in New Jersey, and Elisabeth in North Carolina, which is where they married in 1778.  This is recorded in North Carolina Marriage Records 1741-2004, Tryon and Lincoln Counties, Dec. 6, 1778, page 33.

James A. Conn was born sometime between 1780-85, living till 1826/27.  His birth was in North Carolina, (Lincoln County probably) while some of his siblings were born (or at least recorded) in Russell County, Virginia.

Lincoln County NC is known for a Revolutionary war incident perhaps in the year he was born:

The Battle of Ramsour's Mill took place on June 20, 1780 in present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina, during the British campaign to gain control of the southern colonies in the American Revolutionary War. The number of fighters on each side of the battle is still an issue of contention, but Loyalist militiamen (many of them German Palatine emigrants and settlers in the local area) outnumbered Patriot militia and had captured a group of Patriots who they were planning to hang on the morning of June 20.

The one to two-hour battle during the foggy morning of June 20 did not involve any regular army forces from either side and was literally fought between family, friends, and neighbors with muskets sometimes being used as clubs because of a lack of ammunition. Numerous cases of fratricide occurred during the battle. William Simpson, a patriot scout, rushed to the battle to kill his brother Reuben, and Peter Costner, a loyalist, was killed by his brother Thomas who buried his sibling's corpse after the fight.^[2] Despite being outnumbered, the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalists.^[3]

The battle was significant in that it lowered the morale of Loyalists in the south, weakening their support of the British.

Souce: Wikipedia 

James Conn married April 6.1810, to Nancy Erwin  (Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Compiled Marriages, 1802-1850 .)  

This wedding was in Henry County, Kentucky, the first record I've found of his move there.  His father (William Conn) has a child born between 1790 and 1794 in Kentucky, James' sister Rachael.  However the next 2 sisters births were recorded back in North Carolina.

In 1810 James and Nancy Conn first appear in a census, in Henry County, Kentucky, having a household of just 2, to show the newlyweds have set up housekeeping on their own.  Henry County Kentucky was formed out of Shelby County in 1798. Shelby County was the location of many other Conn ancestors who might have been cousins.

James and Nancy's child Hannah Conn (to marry William Booth when grown) was born in Henry County KY on April 13, 1819.  In the future her daughter, Annie Booth Attaway lived until 1948, and is mentioned in the link about her (Hannah Conn Booth's) grave, as well as other children:  Lucinda Booth, Elizabeth Booth, Conn Booth, and Frank Booth. (Find a Grave HERE) states she was born in Henry County KY, and died in Hillsboro County, Texas  in 1885.  This entry at Find a Grave, was entered by my third half (?) cousin Cheryl Richardson, who states James and Nancy Conn were Hannah Conn Booth's parents (posted 2009). 

While living in Kentucky in those early days of the nineteenth century, James Conn was probably farming.

Nancy Conn, widow of James, is listed as head of household in the Census of 1830 on Henry County KY and 1840 in Jackson County, IN, the last document of Nancy's life that we have at this time. There are no names listed, but a family listing of 9 people in 1830 and 11 people in 1840.

Jackson County IN is also the county where Nancy's daughter Hannah married William Lewis Booth in 1843. They were my 3 times great grandparents, though it was William's second marriage. His first marriage is the link I have to another Ancestry researcher, Cheryl Richardson, thus she's a half-cousin, three time removed, or something like that. I'm very thankful for her careful research of the Booth families.

Today I want to focus on Nancy Erwin Conn. Of course it's sad that her husband probably died in 1826/27. Nancy had 8 children from 1811 to 1824. However the records first came up with two children with the year 1818 listed for their births, Matilda and Bartholomew. Matilda doesn't have many records at all, but probably married a Fowler and had a daughter, and Matilda's name comes up on the daughter's death certificate. But Bartholomew of 1818 also is more flexible in his birth date as several other Ancestry trees state he was born ABT. 1818.

Since my great times 3 grandmother (Hanna Conn) was born on April 13, 1819, her mother, Nancy Conn must have had Matilda before July in 1818. The next previous child had been born in 1815, so I'm betting that Bartholomew had been born sometime in 1816-17. Of course these could be completely reversed, but Nancy didn't have two children in 1818 anyway!

See what fun this ancestry stuff is? Well, I was really trying to see which relatives of Nancy Conn might have lived in Indiana, since she moved there when her husband died. Since her daughter married William Booth there in 1843, that narrows the move down between 1840 and 1843! 

Nancy's two older sisters did move to Indiana. Mary "Polly" Erwin Burcham (1782-1840) married Samuel Burcham Sr (1766-1845) and her unmarried sister Margaret "Peggy" Erwin, may well have lived with them (a jump on my part.)

The Burcham's probably moved to Indiana around 1800, though their second son may have been born in 1801 in KY, their first was born in 1800 in IN. But there isn't much to substantiate the dates and places. The later children were born in Vallonia, Jackson County, IN a town which was incorporated in 1811.

Which leads me back to my ggg grandmother Hannah Conn Booth, meeting and marrying the attorney William Lewis Booth in Jackson County in 1843! She was 23, and he was 24, but also had family around him. They were both somewhat newcomers to that area. But then most people were moving into new territories all the time.

And then they moved even more...see my post about their families going to Illinois and finally to Texas...last week HERE.

Sharing with 52 Ancestors, 52 weeks at Facebooks' Generation's cafe group for Week 42 (Oct. 15-21): Friends.