William Henry Conn (1760-1836)

More on the Kentucky Conn families.

William Henry Conn traveled about quite a bit. Or there was more than one man by the same name...and he is frequently confused with a brother named Henry Conn (1764-1835)  They also had another brother, James Conn (1765-?)   Henry is noted for also serving in the Revolution. There's very little information about James, though I did just find his wife's name, and a lot of children as well.

As of today (with the flexible nature of my research at Ancestry) William had been born in Somerset County, New Jersey, possibly as early as 1757.

On Dec 6, 1778 he married Elisabeth Alexander (1760-1845) in Lincoln County, North Carolina, probably in Lincolnton, the main town. That's a long way from New Jersey.

He had served in the American Revolution at some time, under the Virginia State Troops, as "Pri, Cav'y & Inf'y," (Private, Calvary & Infantry) for which he received pensions starting in 1834 in Henry County, KY, (The Pension Roll of 1835, Vol· III, 10 Kentucky).

Lincoln County NC was formed from Tryon County NC in 1779, and his marriage record there is for a bond for marriage in 1778.  The county was named for General Benjamin Lincoln of the Revolutionary War.

William and Elisabeth Conn had eight children, and it looks as if some were born in Virginia, some in North Carolina, and some in Kentucky.  The sources of this information are from other ancestry trees, and seldom from original documents. For instance, Elisabeth is noted to have been born in Guilford County, NC in 1760, but the Guilford County, North Carolina records didn't begin until 1771 when that county was formed out of 2 other counties.

They did both live their later lives in Kentucky.  Henry County, Kentucky was formed June 15, 1799 out of portions of Shelby County, KY.  About 12 counties came into existence in the KY legislature at the same session in 1798.

My ancestor was his son, James A. Conn who I spoke about HERE.  

I'll be climbing up the branches of this tree for a while now...in hopes of learning more about the Conns, or Konns, as they immigrated to America.

Those Kentucky and Indiana (and NC) years for the Conns

James A. Conn 1780-1826, was the 3rd child of 9 born to 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 marred 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 in 1780, having a pretty short life till 1826 or 1828 (or at latest 1830.)  His birth was in North Carolina, (Lincoln County probably,) while some of his siblings were born in Russell County, Virginia.
Lincoln County NC is known for a Revolutionary war incident...

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.

James Conn married April 6 1810, to Nancy Erwin  (Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Compiled Marriages, 1802-1850 [database on-line].)  This wedding was in Henry County, Kentucky, the first record 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 were born back in North Carolina, though their dates are approximate also.  So I think it's also possible that their birth places are somewhat flexible as well, though they were probably given on a census at some future time.
And 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 of the other Conn ancestors located on my former family tree for Hannah Conn Booth.  But I don't find evidence (yet) of any cousin connections.

James and Nancy's child Hannah Conn (to marry William Booth later) was born in Henry County KY on April 13, 1819.  Her daughter, Annie Booth Attaway lived until 1948, and the link about her (Hannah Conn's) grave  (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 her parents (posted 2009). Until this week I had not read anything that substantiated this to me, so I've been mistaken all this time apparently.

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 Hannah married William Lewis Booth in 1843.  In my old Conn family tree, I've never figured out how she could have been there when the rest of the John Thomas Conn family was moving to Texas from Missouri, so this helps immensely in the location problems.

More next post!!!