~1836 - aft. 1880
Indiana
This is Grandma Bess’s Grandmother.
According to the 1860 census, Nancy was born in about 1836 in Indiana. I have not been able to find out who her parents were. There are several possiblities.
First, the Perry County Conners. They are possible because (a) they are in the same general area, and (b) later on her ex-husband had some legal trouble with one of them.
These Perry County Conners (or Connors - the spelling depends on how the clerk chose to write it down) were mostly descended from a Terrance Conner, who fought in the Revolutionary War. (His father was Terrance O’Connor, who was born in Ireland in about 1720.) After the war he married Sarah Speake; they settled first in Fairfax County, Virginia, then started moving west - first to Washington County (which was either Pennsylvania, Virginia OR Kentucky, depending) - then on to Breckinridge County, Kentucky (about 1798) - and then finally to Perry County, Indiana in about 1806 (it would have been Warrick County then).
Terrance had five sons, and two of the sons (Samuel and Terrance) had daughters named Nancy, born at about the right time to be ours. As a matter of fact, Samuel had both a daughter AND a granddaughter named Nancy - the daughter b. 1831, the granddaughter b. 1832! Terrance the younger’s Nancy was born ~1838 and a third son, John, had a granddaughter Nancy, also b. about 1838.
There are problems with all these possibilities;
Samuel’s daughter, b 1831 - is actually the best bet. Nothing much is known about her - and that is also the problem. One researcher does not even list her as a daughter of Samuel. And it does seem odd that all Samuel’s other children - 8 with his first wife and 7 with his second - are supplied with exact birth-dates; only Nancy has an “about” date.
Samuel’s granddaughter, born 1832, married William L Cart, and can be followed through the censuses.
Terrance’s daughter Nancy b 1838 is the second best possibility - nothing much is known about her. But Terrance lived all his life in Kentucky (although he did marry in Indiana, both times) and his children mostly stayed there at least through the 1860 census, so. There is also this problem - I suspect Nancy b 1838 might be the same as Anna C b 1837. There is only room for one daughter of that age on the 1840 census, in 1850 the daughter is called Nancy - and after that she disappears and Anna C appears and continues for ever after.
John’s granddaughter Nancy b 1838 is a wonderful possibility, because John actually lived in Warrick county in 1850. But she also is accounted for - She married Larkin Smith in 1855 and can be followed through the censuses until her death in 1912.
Second, the Texas Conners. They are possible because (a) they actually lived in Warrick county before they all pulled up stakes and left for Texas and (b) the birthdate of their Nancy is really good date for our Nancy.
The Texas Conners descend from Ishmael, who was born in North Carolina. They moved through Kentucky and then settled in Indiana. They were in Spencer County for the 1820 census and then either moved to Warrick Co, or had the county border moved for them (an early Spencer county politician wanted to do away with one of his up-and-coming rivals, so had the county line re-drawn, putting his rival in Warrick county). A couple of them married Lincolns and a couple of them married Hudsons. In the 1840s they pretty much all pulled up stakes and went to Texas.
Abram F Conner (son of Ishmael) and his wife Sintha Hudson had a daughter Nancy b 2 May 1835.
One of my many speculations was that the Nancy who was living with the widowed Charlotte Lusk in 1850 was actually Jonathan’s future wife, Nancy Conner, and not his sister. So add another speculation on to that - that she stayed behind when her people went to Texas.
The only major problem with this - ignoring the minor problem that I’ve made it all up - is that Abram’s Nancy supposedly died in 1840.
Third, the father of John Riley Conner of Dubois County, Indiana. This is a possibility because (a) they are in the same general area (Dubois county is just north of Warrick), and (b) Nancy named her son John Riley, and John Riley Conner named a daughter Nancy.
Unfortunately, I am no closer to knowing who John Riley Conner’s father was than I am to knowing Nancy’s. One file that I’ve seen makes him the son of John Conner, son of William Conner (of Conners Prairie) and his Delaware Indian wife Mekinges - but it’s difficult to document the father John. At the time of the Delaware exile (1820), he accompanied them as far as Illinois, but then set off on his own - he had a great desire to see an ocean - he apparently made it to the Pacific and then he was in Mexico and then Texas for a while and then Kansas and then finally Oklahoma. And yet he supposedly married John Riley’s mother back in Wayne county, Indiana in 1825 - she (or whoever was John’s first wife) died in 1838 in TEXAS - so how John Riley (or Nancy) ended up back in Dubois County is a mystery. A brief outline of his life is given at the Conner Prairie site.
I do not have enough data to choose between all these Nancys - perhaps the data does not exist. And it’s always possible that our Nancy is related to an entirely different set of people.
Our Nancy married Jonathan B. Lusk (son of Andrew Lusk and Charlotte Hull) in 1852.
Lusk, Jonathan B to Conner Nancy Jane 20 Oct 1852 by Mitchel Bryan JP
-Warrick County, Indiana - Marriage Book 2
She and Jonathan had three (possibly four) children:
Emily Rebecca (Great Great Grandmother Becky) b. 25 June 1852 in Pikeville, Pike, Ind
Charlotte b. about 1855
John Riley b. 17 April 1858
The possibly fourth child is Mollie. She was born after the divorce, but she used the Lusk name on her marriage license.
Mary E (Mollie) b. 14 February 1864
Jonathan and Nancy were in Warrick County for the 1860 census:
1860 - Indiana, Warrick, Skelton Twp 008 -
Jonathan Lusk 27 farmer Ky
Nancy 24 Ind
Rebecca 8
Charlotte 5
John Riley 3
In 1862, Jonathan and Nancy divorced:
Lusk, Nancy v Jonathan Mar 1862
- Warrick County, Indiana - Civil Order Book 5 - March 1860-Aug 1866, p. 259
Jonathan enlisted in the Civil War (Co D 120 Ind Inf) in 1864, was mustered out in 1866 (Jan 8), and married Elizabeth Burnett in March.
1866 March 3 Lusk Jonathan to Burnett, Elizabeth by Henry Kelly JP
- Warrick County, Indiana - Marriage Book 3
Also in 1866, John Lusk was involved in some legal problem with Torence Conner
Conner, Torance v Lusk, John 1866 1061
Index to records, Clerk's Office, Warrick County, Ind. / Warrick Co. Chapter DAR.
Utica, Ky. : McDowell Publications, c1981.
I have been tempted to assume that this had something to do with Nancy - some unhappiness connected with Jonathan's remarriage, or possibly something to do with an inheritance - the Kentucky Terrance died in 1866. [I tried to look this up the one time I was in Warrick County, but it is one of the records that is in the basement of the old courthouse, and I didn't have time to look for it.]
Shortly afterward, Jonathan moved to Wayne County, Illinois, where he died, some time around 1870 (he is buried in Old Yohe Cemetery, but there are no dates on his stone). His wife married Humphrey Bullock in 1869 (Feb 7) and Becky and John Riley had a guardian appointed for them in 1871:
Letters of Guardianship - State of Illinois, Wayne Co
In the County Court, July term 1871
David Holmes - 20th July 1871 - named guardian of:
Rebecca E Lusk, 17 years old on June 25, 1871
John R. Lusk, 13 years old on April 17, 1871
witness Oliver Holmes, clerk of county court
You will notice neither Charlotte nor Mollie is mentioned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
According to Mabel Rowe, Nancy also remarried - a man named Schmitt - and had one child with him, Annie (Mabel’s mother). Annie was left an orphan at a fairly early age, and had an unpleasant childhood, living and working in various foster homes. Annie eventually married Dan Heugel and had two children - Mabel, who married Norb Rowe, and Grace, who married George Newby.
Also according to Mabel, Mollie married a man named Simon (Sim) Beasley and had two children, Evie (married Enos Jones) and Allie (a boy, died of TB).
So.
I have not been able to find Nancy - either Nancy Lusk or Nancy Schmitt in the 1870 census. In 1880, I found what looks like Nancy, Mollie, and Annie living with Mathias Smith (not Schmitt):
1880 Indiana Spencer Clay p. 33 (245b) - SD1, ED54 - June 2 - 280-289
Smith Mathias wm56 Pa miner
Nancy J wf 49 Ind
Mary E wf 17 Ind
Anna C wf 4 Ind
but in 1870, Mathias was not living with Nancy:
1870 Indiana Marion Indianapolis 8w - p. 57 (504a) 16 May
Smith Mathias 44 mw harnessmaker Pa
boarding with Huffon??? James, saddler 45 OH
And that is the last trace, if trace it is, of Nancy J Conner Lusk Schmitt. It is possible that she died shortly after this.
Update: I found this at the Warrick County website:
Surname, Given Name, Sex, Color, Age, Date, County, Locality, Book, Page, Fiche
SMITH, MATHES, M, W, 76, Feb 15, 1902, Warrick, POOR FARM, H-20, 39, 4308
SMITH, NANCY J, F, W, 73, Sep 29, 1912, Warrick, Newburg, H-15, 23, 4308
Mathes might be Nancy’s husband, but this Nancy is probably the other Nancy Conner, who married Larkin Smith - although according to another source, she died 19 Sept 1912 and was buried in Sharon Cemetery, Ohio Twp, Warrick. It would be just like the two Nancys to die in the same month and year!
Back to Conner Home
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Forward to Nancy's Children
with Jonathan Lusk
with Mathias Smith
Forward to our next ancestor, Emily Rebecca Lusk
Questions, comments, additions, corrections? Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 5 Nov 2007