Biography of Wibb Conner, Randolph Co, AR *********************************************************** Submitted by: Bridgette Cohen Date: 1998 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************** SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas Copyrighted and Published 1889 by Goodspeed Publishing Company Captain Wibb Conner, Pocahontas, Ark. A glance at the lives of many representative men whose names appear in this volume will reveal sketches of some honored and influential citizens, who have resided many years in this county, but among them none are more worthy or deserving of mention than Capt. Wibb Conner. On his father's side he is of Irish descent, while his mother was of Scotch-Irish origin. Capt. Conner was originally from Wayne County, Mo., where his birth occurred on the 13th of December, 1837, and is the son of John B. and Jane H. (Robinson) Conner, the father a native of Virginia, and the mother of North Carolina. The grandfather Conner was a native of Ireland, but came to America and settled in Virginia, and afterward on Green River, Ky., in 1806. He followed the occupation of a farmer, also wielded the ferule for some time, and was a brave and gallant soldier in the Revolutionary War. The maternal grandfather, David Robinson, was a native of North Carolina, and was an early settler of the Duck River Country, now in Tennessee. John B. Conner (father of the subject of this sketch) was reared on a farm, but at an early age went as an apprentice to the gun and blacksmith trade, which he learned of Col. Wooly, who, in 1815, organized an exploring expedition to go down the Mississippi River, and up the Red River. John B. Conner accompanied him, and while on the Red River all sickened and died except Mr. Conner and one companion. They started on foot to come through to Kentucky across the country, but while on the way the companion died and Mr. Conner was left alone. He got back as far as Greenville, Mo., but stopped there and started a shop in 1816, and passed the remainder of his days in Wayne County, in that State. His death occurred in September, 1850, at the age of fifty-six years. The mother of Capt. Conner died in 1845, at the age of forty-seven years, and was a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The father was a man who took a great interest in politics, and was prominent in public affairs. He held the office of sheriff of Wayne County, Mo., for four years, and served in the General Assembly two terms. They reared a family of children: Benjamin F., died in Wayne County, Mo., leaving two children; Frances M., wife of John O. Bettis, of Wayne County, Mo.; Philip A. (deceased), left a family of three children; Samuel W., died at the age of twenty-one years; Wibb, and Rachel E. (deceased), wife of Noel Estes, of Wayne County. Capt. Wibb Conner, when nine years of age, was left motherless, and when thirteen years of age his father died. He remained on the home place with his brothers until eighteen years of age, when he went to Greenville, Mo., and engaged as a clerk in a store. At the age of twenty he embarked in business for himself in general merchandising, and continued this until the war broke out. In 1862 he enlisted in Reeves' company, and was attached to the Second Missouri Cavalry, serving in the Confederate army until the 25th of May, 1865. He entered the ranks as a private, and came out as a captain of Company H, Fifteenth Missouri Cavalry. After the war he came to Randolph County, Ark., settled on a farm five miles north of Pocahontas, and there carried on farming and milling until 1867. He then moved to Pocahontas and was there engaged as clerk in a store for some time. [p.386] In March, 1867, he moved to St. Louis, commencing in the hotel business, but a few months later returned to Pocahontas, and again engaged in the mill business, which he ran until 1875. The mill was burned down, and Capt. Conner came to Pocahontas and acted as salesman in a store until 1878. He then was elected sheriff and collector, and served in that capacity for four years, after which he engaged in the real estate business for two years. In 1886 he was appointed, under President Cleveland, special agent of a general land office, and assigned to duty in Florida, where he remained until the 1st of April, 1889. He then returned to Pocahontas, where he now lives, retired. He was first married in October, 1861, to Miss Eliza Bollinger, a native of Randolph County, and to them was born one child living, Samuel A., who now resides at Cressview, Fla., and is a telegraph operator. Mrs. Conner died in February, 1868, and Capt. Conner took for his second wife, on the 15th of December, 1868, Miss V. Ellen Martin, a native of Randolph County, Ark., by whom he has six children: Kate W., Carl, Philip A., Elfleda, P. Mabel and Jennie Ellen. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Heis a member of the Masonic fraternity and K. of H. He is the owner of 500 acres of land, besides town property here and in Florida. He is a temperance man, and is active in church and educational matters.