James A. O'Connor/Conner
1815–1906
James A. O'Connor/Conner, born 13 February 1815, in Beverly, Randolph County, Virginia; died 26 July 1906, in Washington, D.C.; married 18 November 1841, in Frederick, Maryland, Margaret Haller Moore, born 1822, in Frederick, Maryland; died 17 December 1894, in Washington, D.C. Margaret Haller Moore was the daughter of George Moore, a stonemason, and Margaret Haller, daughter of Tobias and Elizabeth (Heichler) Haller. Margaret Haller Moore’s paternal grandfather, John Mohr, was an immigrant from Germany, who served in the German Regiment of the Maryland Line during the American Revolution and was wounded twice. Margaret’s maternal grandfather, Tobias Haller, served as a lieutenant in the Frederick County Militia during the War of 1812. The Moores and Hallers resided in Fredericktowne (now Frederick), Maryland.
James Conner’s obituary reveals that shortly after his marriage, he removed to Philadelphia, where he was employed as a stagecoach driver. His run was between Philadelphia and Harrisburg and later between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
In 1844, three years after their marriage, James and Margaret Conner removed to Baltimore, where he was hired to start a stage route between that city and Washington D.C., but he gave up the project. The following year the family removed to Washington D.C., arriving on 31 July 1845. There, he worked as a taxi driver. His “hack” licenses for several years appear in the National Archives collection of early Washington City records. James Conner pursued this occupation until 1864, when he tried his hand at carpentry. James bought a horse and wagon and started an express business, carrying freight from the wharves to the stores and houses. After the Civil War when the District began to install indoor plumbing and gas lights, James A. Conner became a plumber and gasfitter. He appears in the Washington D.C. Directory with this occupation beginning in 1867. Later directories show that he pursued this occupation for the remainder of his life. In several editions of the D.C. Directory, he placed advertisements in large bold type offering his services. Sons-in-law, John Alfred Anadale and Thomas Humphrey, and four grandsons followed his lead in taking up the plumbing trade in post-Civil War Washington.
James A. Conner, Senior Citizen.
James A. Conner wrote his first will on 15 November 1892, in which he made two bequests to grandchildren, but he left most of his estate to his wife. He bequeathed a piano to Hattie Dalton and a pocket watch to James Walter Humphrey. Margaret H. Conner predeceased her husband on 17 December 1894. After her death, James A. Conner lived his final 20 years with his daughter and son-in-law, Rosanna and Thomas Humphrey. On 13 March 1902, he prepared his second will leaving all he owned to his daughter Rosanna “because for about seventeen years past she has given me a home and supplied me with food and shelter and this without one cent’s compensation.”
James A. Conner, son of Catherine Crislip, died 26 July 1906, at the age of 90 years. Cemetery records confirm that he and Margaret were buried in unmarked graves at Glenwood Cemetery, in Washington, D.C.
Children of James A. Conner and Margaret Haller Moore
Mary Catherine Conner (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Catherine Crislip3, James A. Conner4) [362], born May 1843 in Maryland; died 9 January 1928; married 1st, 30 September 1862, Henry Franklin Dalton, born 1851, Maryland; died ca. 1915, Washington, D.C. Henry Dalton was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, DC Volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War. He faced a formal court martial in late 1862 and was convicted of “Conduct unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman,” specifically that “he did leave his guard without permission from proper authority and go into a private room and gamble with cards for money with a negro.” Henry was found not guilty of “Disobedience of Orders.” His sentence was dismissal from the service and was read on 5 August 1862. The court martial file (KK 102) is at the National Archives in Washington. He and Mary Catherine Conner married the next month. Mary Catherine married 2nd, ca. 1877, George Robert McClelland, a distant cousin. The son of Robert McClelland and Rosanna Moore, George Robert McClelland, was born in 1851 in Maryland; died ca. 1915, Washington, D.C.
Ellen Rebecca Conner (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Catherine Crislip3, James A. Conner4) [363], born 31 July 1844, Germantown, Pennsylvania; died 3 August 1941, Washington, D.C.; married, 31 October 1865, John Alfred Anadale, born May 1847, St. Mary’s County, Maryland; died 6 June 1906, Washington, D.C. John Alfred Anadale’s ancestors emigrated from Scotland to Virginia before 1725. On 18 April 1861, John Alfred Anadale was mustered into the Union Army, where he served in the D.C. Militia. He was mustered out on 18 July 1861. John and Ellen Rebecca were the parents of five sons, of whom three lived to adulthood. Ellen Rebecca Anadale died at age 97. She is buried with her husband and parents in Glenwood Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
Rosanna Margaret Conner (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Catherine Crislip3, James A. Conner4) [369], born February 1847, Washington City, D.C.; married, 2 March 1864, Thomas Humphrey, born 11 May 1844, England; died 25 March 1926, Washington, D.C. At age 6, Thomas Humphrey immigrated to Washington, D.C. with his parents in 1851. In Benjamin Franklin Christlieb’s family history, Thomas’ surname is spelled Umphrey, a suggestion of a British Cockney accent.