Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsRev. Elder Wilson Conner Had Troubles Too
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
Some characters in history just plain get your attention. Rev. Elder Wilson Conner was one of those. He evidently had a large family connection around the bottom part of Montgomery County and other areas as well. The colorful pioneer had many parallels with the famous Andrew Jackson. Jackson was born on the frontier of South Carolina in 1767; Conner was born near him in the same state in 1768. Conner died in 1844; Jackson died in 1845. Both men, as Starr Smith of Jacksonville, Georgia, used to say, "had enough fire in them to burn a wet mule." They were not short on energy and strong will.
As author Sid Johnson says, "Among the early settlers of Lower Montgomery County, one of the most prominent was Wilson Conner. He was, as the dictionary defines "prominent", widely known. He was loved, almost revered; he was disliked, almost hated; he was compassionate, yet petulantly confrontational; he manifest a character which was varied and mercurial."
We must remember that Conner, and Jackson, came along at a time our young country was fighting for its very life. Mother England was doing all she could to keep us fettered to her. But it was not to be. Even the very young at the time, Wilson Conner and Andrew Jackson amongst them, had the fire ants of freedom biting them often and convincingly - enough to forge within them the characters saying, "I am ready to fight to the finish no matter what." They hardly had time to catch a breath between the Revolution and the War of 1812, partly because their wandering eyes had become magnetically drawn south - to Florida.
"Longpondium" by Sid Johnson continues, "Conner was of a generation some sociologists have called the Compromiser Generation -- a generation which, collectively, did not want to rock the boat, but individually were rowdy and contentious. Some said that they were all fated to careers of secret turmoil and hidden frustration."
"Wilson Conner lived through momentous times and he involved himself in what was going on around him. He is a character of particular interest to almost all of the pioneer families in south Georgia because he had a large family. Thus, Wilson Conner is a progenitor of an extremely large family connection throughout Georgia and beyond."
Reading that passage reminded me of my wife's grandmother - Abbie Conner Yearty. Abbie Conner's roots were around Uvalda and the Dead River and Long Pond areas. Some of them are in a Conner Cemetery over that way. I suspect, even though I haven't run it down - that Abbie Conner was descendant-type kinfolk of Wilson Conner or some of his lines. I know one thing for sure - she had the indomitable will of Wilson Conner. Well do I remember the day she found a big wharf rat in her room. Presumably he had come from a grocery store next door and thought there were more groceries to be had at Grandma's place. He was right about that. But Grandma Abbie Conner Yearty did not take kindly to sharing her bedroom with a wharf rat. Going into that room with a broom fit for battle she instructed us to close the door and keep it closed until either she or the rat won the battle. Needless to say, after all the slam-banging you ever did hear, Grandma opened the door and presented us with a big, bad looking, but quite dead, rat. She was strong and determined and lived to be almost 97. She was an example of strength.
Apparently, Rev. Elder Wilson Conner went into many a situation with the same approach - "close the door and after it's over, one of us will come out." Or, "I am ready to fight to the finish no matter what."
Now, that is not to say that the Rev. Elder Wilson Conner was perfect. As author Johnson says, "For reasons which are not specifically identifiable, Conner became a Methodist minister and was ordained in the Marlborough (SC) area when he was about 21 years of age. There is no known record of his early ministry. However, he apparently became disenchanted with the Methodists and became a Baptist." I am not here connecting his choice of first or second denomination with the ideal of perfection but am merely saying that this was an indication that his ministry was going to be somewhat controversial at times.
I was visiting with a Methodist congregation the other night (I am Baptist) and one of the ladies was interested in the early churches because one of her ancestors had been a famous clergyman in these parts. His name was Isham (Isom) Peacock. That was interesting to me because Isham Peacock and Wilson Conner were to cross trails (and interact in trials) along the way.
We find the following passage in "Longpondium":
"By 1804, the same year that Batt Wyche obtained a state land grant to the 1000 acres which eventually became Long Pond, Wilson, Mary (his wife) and their growing family, now consisting of seven children -- two boys and five girls ranging in age from 14 to a small baby -- had moved into Effingham County, Georgia, where he bacame pastor of the Great Ogeechee Baptist Church. There he came into a conflict with a portion of his congregation which resulted in his being expelled from the church and denied the privileges of the pulpit. Whether this was the first manifestation of his abrasive personality is not known, but it is the first of which any public record has been located.
In that year of 1804, Wilson Conner was silenced, by unanimous vote of the members present, "for the odious sin of drunkenness and attempts to corrupt the faith and destroy the harmony of the Georgia Baptist Churches." The report indicates 20 members present and voting and five approving elders. The elders were John Goldwire, John Stanford, Henry Holcombe, Henry Cook and Isham (Isom) Peacock. Isham Peacock, in particular, would have major interplay with Conner in Baptist politics for many years to come.
Conner was restored to his pulpit at Great Ogeechee, was challenged and an investigating committee reported to the Savannah River Baptist Association that his restoration was irregular."
But Wilson Conner, it seemed, had been chosen by God if not by man. His spirit and faith were strong but it is recorded he was almost "schizophrenic" in his devotion to both his religion and his politics. But if God called him, we can do no better than describe him. And I, for one, would not touch "his devotion" with a ten-foot pole. That is the purview of a Higher Power.
And if he had a mental disorder, he operated pretty good under the circumstances. He was called in the late months of that same 1804 to be pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Tattnall County (now Montgomery County).
His formal response to the call of the church went like this: "You are not ignorant of the great persecutions that are against me at the present day, and that from those that profess to be of the household of faith --"
About the time he said that, Tattnall County where he lived was becoming a part of Montgomery County (around the Dead River area) and he was being elected as Tax Collector and Justice of the Inferior Court. Now, we have said all that to say this: Wilson Conner was a man of many talents and it is time now to return him to the Patriots War in East Florida. Because down there, he will need all the talents he can get his hands on!
And up the river road a piece, John Willcox was getting ready to build some pole boats for the country as they prepared for the War of 1812.
Credits:
Albert Sidney Johnson for "Longpondium";
Peg Conner Corliss for notes on Wilson Conner;
Gene Barber for The Way It Was;
folk sayings of Old Jacksonville, Georgia.
