Mystery Monday - Murder Mystery

Mystery Monday is a daily blogging theme used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Mystery Monday is where you can post about mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything in your genealogy and family history research which is currently unsolved. This is a great way to get your fellow genealogy bloggers to lend their eyes to what you’ve found so far and possibly help solve the mystery.



There is a family story that I would love to corroborate. It seems my Great Great Grandfather was nearly hanged for a murder he didn't commit.

William McCoy Conner, aka Mack Conner, Mack Coy Conner and Coy Conner, was born 7/24/1861 in Henderson County, NC to Erwin McCoy Conner and Mary A. Rhodes. He had a sister and brother. His father died in The Civil War. His mother met another man and they planned to marry but he was also killed in The Civil War leaving her pregnant with Mack's half-brother.

Mack married Margaret Alice Ensley on 8/3/1885 in Madison County, NC. They had a total of 10 children.

This story begins about 1888-1889. Mack and Alice had thier first child, Lillian Vianna Conner (my Great Grandmother) and maybe their second child, William S. Conner.

The story goes that there was a political rally going on in town (that would have to be the county seat, Marshall, or the next largest town which is Hot Springs, Madison County, NC). According to the family story, there was a pontificating politician being introduced. Mack snuck up to the crowd to listen. When the introduction got to "You'll find no finer man than ______________!", Mack hollered, "Here's one!"

According to the family story, this simple joke made a major uproar and Mack felt compelled to leave the area. He and Alice took their children to Cincinnati, Ohio. If you know anything about this part of the Western NC mountains, you would wonder how Mack ever thought of moving to a big city so far away! Did they just go as far as their money lasted? Was there jobs he had heard about? I know he did move because their 3rd child, Minnie Conner, was born in Cincinnati, OH on 5/19/1889. All the rest of their children were born in Madison County, NC.

It is said that while they were in Ohio, a woman was found murdered. An eyewitness described the murderer and Mack was fingered by the police as matching the description. He was a stranger in town so it would have been a quick and easy solution to pin it on him. But when they brought the eyewitness in to verify that Mack was the murderer, the eyewitness said it wasn't him because the murderer had a scar and Mack didn't. Then the police called the Madison County, NC Sheriff who vouched for Mack Conner saying he was a fine man and "tell him to come on home, nobody's mad at him any more."

Mack and Alice moved back to Madison County, NC and never left again.

This has been passed down so I don't know if this really happened. And if it did, are the details, as I have them, all correct? How do I verify it? I would think there would be newspaper articles about it either in Madison County or in Cincinnati but how do you search them from SC or without knowing the name of the murder victim. If you have any suggestions on how I could research this story, please contact me at Mom25dogs@gmail.com

Isaac Jackson Conner and Adaline Thomason

Isaac Jackson Conner and Adaline Thomason had a son named ...
...Erwin McCoy Conner who married Mary A. Rhodes and they had a son named...
...William McCoy Conner who married Margaret Alice Ensley and they had a daughter named...
...Lillian Vianna Conner who married Bailey Bright Reese and they had a son named...
...Wilford William Reese who married Geneva Margaret Lamb and they had a daughter named...
...Eleanor Elaine Reese who married William Avery Huneycutt and they had ME!

Isaac Jackson Conner was born between 1817-1827 in Rutherford County, NC to unknown parents. He married Adaline Thomason who was born between 1816-1826 in Rutherford County, NC. Her mother was Nancy Conner (see 1850 U.S. Census below) but I don't know her father's name.

1850 U.S. Census of Bill's Creek, Rutherford County, NC, Roll M432_644, Pg 329, Image 201, Ancestry.com, LInes 4-24, Dwelling 1414 and 1415 and 1416, Family 1462 and 1463 and 1464, "Canner, Jackson" and "Cornor, Isaac" and "Conner, William" (sic, it is Jackson Conner, Isaac Conner and William Conner)
Cannor, Jackson (sic), 30 yrs old (DOB would be 1820), M(ale), W(hite), Labor, Real Estate Value $50, Born in NC
Cannor, Adaline, 31 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Cannor, James, 15 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC, Attends school
Cannor, Ervin, 10 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC, Attends School
Cannor, Joseph, 7 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC
Cannor, Thomas, 3 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC
Cannor, Martha, 1 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Thomason, Nancy, 65 yrs old (DOB would be about1785), F, W, Born in NC
Cannor, Isaac (sic), 49 yrs old (DOB would be 1801), M, W, Farmer, $100 Real Estate Value, Born in NC
Cannor, Rosana, 45 yrs old (DOB would be 1805), F, W, Born in NC
Cannor, Susannah, 17 rys old, F, W, Born in NC, Attends School
Cannor, Cyntha, 14 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC, Attends school
Cannor, Samuel, 12 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC, Attends school
Cannor, William, 10 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC, Attends school
Cannor, Sophiar (sic), 6 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Cannor, Calvin, 4 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC
Canner, William, 52 yrs old (DOB would be 1798), M, W, Farmer, $100 Real Estate Value, Born in NC
Conner, Elizabeth, 52 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Conner, Atta, 17 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Conner, Johnathon, M, W, Born in NC
Conner, Albert, 12 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC

1860 U.S. Census of Chimney Rock, Broad River, Rutherford County, NC, Roll M653_913, Pg 368, Image 186, Ancestry.com, Lines 31-39, Dwelling 1344, Family 1344, "Conner, Jack"
Conner, Jack, 33 yrs old (DOB would be 1817), M(ale), W(hite), Labor, $0 Real Estate Value, $0 Personal Estate Value, Born in NC
Conner, Adeline, 34 yrs old (DOB would be 1816), F, W, Born in NC
Conner, Thos, 13 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC
Conner, Martha, 12 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Conner, Wm, 10 yrs old, M, W, Born in NC
Conner, Emily, 8 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Conner, Ersilla (sic), 5 yrs old, F, W, Born in NC
Scott, Tem, 10 yrs old, M, Mulatto, Born in NC
Scott, Dick 12 yrs old, M, Mulatto, Born in NC

1860 U.S. Census of Montforts Cove, Rutherford County, NC, Roll M653_913, Pg 340, Image 130, Ancestry.com, Lines 27-29, Dwelling 940, Family 940, "Thomas, James"
James Thomas, 22 yrs old (DOB would be 1838), M(ale), W(hite), Farm Labor, $0 Real Estate Value, $30 Personal Estate Value, Born in NC
Nancy Thomas, 70 yrs old (DOB would be 1790), F, W, Born in NC
Washington, Coner, 17 yrs old (DOB would be 1843), M, W, Farm Laborer, Born in NC

1870 U.S. Census of Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, NC, Roll M593_1159, Pg 23, Image 46, Lines 30-33, Dwelling 127, Family 127, "Cooner, Isaac J." (sic, should be Isaac J. Conner)
Cooner, Isaac, J. (sic, should be Isaac Jackson Conner or Jack Conner), 53 yrs old (DOB would be 1817), M(ale), W(hite), Farming, $0 Real Estate Value, $100 Personal Estate Value, Born in NC,
Cooner, Adline, 54 yrs old (DOB would be 1816), F, W, Keeping House, Born in NC
Cooner, Emily, 18 yrs old, F, W, At Home, Born in NC
Cooner, Ursilla, 15 yrs old, F, W, At Home, Born in NC

Jack Conner and Adaline Thomason had 8 known children:
1) James Conner (DOB: About 1835 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: ? ) married ?
2) Erwin McCoy Conner (DOB 1839-1840 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: 4/7/1862 in Wilson Hospital, Wilson, Wilson County, NC) married Mary A. Rhodes
3) Joseph Washington Conner, aka Washington Conner or Wash Conner (DOB: 7/15/1845 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD 2/9/1917 in Bill's Creek, Rutherford County, NC; Buried at Bill's Creek Baptist Church, 1475 Bill's Creek Rd, Lake Lure, Rutherford County, NC) married Cynthia Catherine Flynn on 5/28/1865 in Rutherford County, NC. See below for a list of his and Cynthia's children.
4) Thomas Conner (DOB: About 1847 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: ? ) married Sarah Unk
5) Martha Conner (DOB: Bet. 1848-1849 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: ? ) married J.T. Wilson
6) William Conner (DOB: About 1850 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: ? ) married Mary A. Nix
7) Emily Conner (DOB: ? in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: ? ) married ?
8) Ursilla Conner (DOB? ? in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: ? ) married ?

To see more on Ervin McCoy Conner (aka Ervin Conner, Mack Conner, McCoy Conner) and Mary A. Rhodes go to my post at
http://sharonscrapbook.blogspot.com/2009/09/ervin-mccoy-conner-married-mary.html

Joseph Washington Conner and Cynthia Catherine Flynn had 11 children that I'm aware of:
1) Lillia A. Conner
2) Evline Conner
3) Louisa A. Conner
4) Major Henry Porter Conner (DOB: 12/15/1875 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: 4/10/1863 in Rutherford County, NC; Buried at Bill's Creek Baptist Church, 1475 Bill's Creek Rd, Lake Lure, Rutherford County, NC) married Nannie Jane Burgess and they had Cynthia Louise Conner, Dora E. Conner, Rufus Roy Conner, Bessie Alma Conner, Roscoe Conner (aka Joe Conner), George Hampton Conner.
5) Ina Jane Conner (DOB: 1/9/1878 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: 9/23/1954 in Rutherford County, NC; Buried at Bill's Creek Baptist Church, 1475 Bill's Creek Rd, Lake Lure, Rutherford County, NC) married Rollins O. Dalton and they had Joseph Barney Dalton.
6) John A. Conner
7) Mary Louvada Conner
8) Ella M. Conner
9) Coris Columbus Conner (DOB: 4/15/1886 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: 10/28/1953 in Rutherford County, NC; Buried at Bill's Creek Baptist Church, 1475 Bill's Creek Rd, Lake Lure, Rutherford County, NC) married Malinda Fite, aka Lindy Fite and they had Clarence L. Conner, Emma C. Conner, Grover C. Conner and Willie Conner.
10) Edgar Beam Conner (DOB: 6/30/1892 in Rutherford County, NC; DOD: 11/20/1980 in Rutherford County, NC; Buried at Bill's Creek Baptist Church, 1475 Bill's Creek Rd, Lake Lure, Rutherford County, NC) married Lillie M.C. Unk and they had Ellie Conner and Nellie Conner
11) Thomas Twitty Conner

At this time, this is all I have on this family. If you have any comments, corrections or additonal information, please email me at Mom25dogs@gmail.com.