 illoughby Conner -- Born in Prince William County, Virginia,
and after a period in the Green River area of Kentucky, Willoughby Conner
moved to Jennings County from Cincinnati in 1820 with his wife and two of
their eventual 13 children. Facing the unbroken wilderness in Campbell Township,
Willoughby and father, Philip A. Conner carved out a farm & homestead
south and east of Butlerville, near the subsequent railroad. His father,
Philip A. Conner was a Brit who migrated to Virginia just before the
Revolutionary War, and enlisted and served in the 3rd Virginia Regiment of
the Continental Line.He was a prominent and respected lay Methodist minister
in Jennings County, and is shown in the Roster of Rev. War Vets buried in
Jennings County. Eventually, Willoughby assembled farm holdings of at least
1000 acres in the county. On April 1, 1835, Willoughby with son-in-law Richard
Randall, introduced the Vernon Visitor publication, politically neutral,
but a supporter of Wm.Henry Harrison for President in the 1840s. (This
information taken from biography of his son, John Byrd Conner, who left Jennings
County for Marion County, where he served in the Legislature and later as
Indiana State Statistician. The bio was included in "Sketches of prominent
citizens of Indianapolis, by John H. B. Knowland, 1877 ... online via Heritage
Quest 575 pages). Also, history of the Republican Party in Indiana, 1899,
Indianapolis, Indiana History Company.) After sending his five youngest sons
off to fight in the Civil War, Willoughby died at age 79 in September 1864
from complications resulting from being hit by a train as he walked from
his son's home in North Vernon to his own home near Butlerville. Willoughby
and wife Rachel (Johnson) Conner are my Great Grandparents.
Submitted by Great Grandson Richard L. Conner
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