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Submitted by Cheryl Van Wormer.


				    JAMES G. CONNER, M.D.
				MRS. ANNA P. (CLASPILL) CONNER.

JAMES G. CONNER, M. D.  The city of Ionia, Ionia County, has been the home of Dr. Conner but a 
few years, but he has obtained a good following and is advancing in medical ranks.  In September,
1890, he formed a co-partnership with Dr. Arthur P. Crofts who is one of the most promising 
young physicians of the city and is able to relieve the senior partner in many ways, while each 
works for the mutual advancement and brightens the mind of the other by discussion of scientific 
principles and theories old and new.  Dr. Conner had a thorough education in the English branches
before entering upon his medical studies, and took his professional course in schools that are 
of national reputation.  His practice has extended over a score of years, during which period he 
has been thoughtful and judicious in his treatments.
	Pennsylvania is the native State of Dr. Conner and is that in which his parents, John 
and Nancy (Moon) Conner, were born.  His father was Justice of the Peace for many years.  He 
died in 1851, when his son James was but ten years old, the latter having been born at Landisburg
June 16, 1841.  Our subject is one of two surviving members of the parental family, the other 
being William M., a merchant at Indianapolis, Ind.  First in the common schools and then in Mt. 
Dempsey Academy, James G. Conner pursued his studies, and at their conclusion he entered upon 
the profession of teaching.  The outbreak of the Rebellion roused him from his peaceful pursuit 
and ere many months he had determined to abandon it in favor of military life.
	August 8, 1862, Mr. Conner was enrolled in Company G, One Hundred and Thirty-third 
Pennsylvania Infantry, becoming Fourth Sergeant.  He had little personal knowledge of battles as
the command of which he was a part had the fortune to reach the scenes of combat the day after 
the engagement more frequently than the day before.  He had other experiences which belong to 
the life of a soldier during the months in which he remained in the South.  He was discharged 
March 10, 1863, on account of hernia, and returned to his native State, becoming connected with 
the Fifteenth District of Pennsylvania as Enrolling Officer and Deputy United States Marshal.  
He held the position during the three drafts that were made in the State.
	Mr. Conner began his medical studies in the office of Dr. James Galbraith at Landisburg, 
and after two years' reading attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia 
in 1864-65.  He then began practicing at Indianapolis, Ind., but not being satisfied with his 
professional schooling, he left the city in 1866-67 and gave his attention to lectures in Rush 
Medical College, Chicago, from which he was graduated the ensuing spring.  He then went to 
Sangamon County, Ill., and for two years was located at Pleasant Plains, after which he traveled 
as a specialist in diseases of the eye and ear until 1873.  That year he located at Belding, this State, which was the center of his practice until 1882, when he went to Kaukauna, Wis.  In that place he remained until September, 1887, and then located in Ionia.
	Dr. Crofts, partner of Dr. Conner, is a young man of liberal education, having taken a 
literary course at Ypsilanti and a medical course at Ann Arbor, and continued his professional 
studies in the Long Island Collegiate Hospital, from which he was graduated in March, 1890.  He 
opened an office in Detroit and practiced there three months, then came to Ionia and formed a 
connection with Dr. Conner.
	Dr. Conner was married in 1869 to Miss Anna P. Claspill, and their union has been blest 
by the birth of five children, named respectively:  Virginia B., Leona, Nannie; Isabel 
(deceased); and Grace.  Dr. Conner has been a life-long Republican, his first Presidential ballot
having been cast for Abraham Lincoln.  He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic and to the 
Royal Arcanum.  He is not only a reputable physician, but a good citizen and a highly regarded 
member of society.



This biography is taken from "PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, 
MICHIGAN."  Chapman Brothers.  Chicago, Illinois.  1891.  Pages 386-387.