Ancestral Lines of Chester Everts Howell - (PDF ... - Adkinshorton.net

CONNORHenry Howe Connor a son of Henry and Elizabeth Howe Connor was born inCanterbury, England and came to Canada when he was a young man, accordingto his daughters. In Durham County, Ontario he met Miriam Fletcher towhom he was married in the Rectory of the Church of England at Newcastlenear Bowmanville on the 24th of November 1848 when as stated -by her in herhusband's pension papers, she was in age "past 14 years and would not be age15 until the following February".There was strong disapproval of this marriage by the Fletchers. She wasthe eldest daughter of Archibald Fletcher of a strict Presbyterian householdwho had married a strictly reared Methodist. Whether the disapproval had todo with her age and to a marriage with a man much older or to the fact thatHenry belonged to the Church of England is now not known. However sinceMiriam's own mother had married when she was aged but 15 to Archibald agedabout 29 years, one rather leans toward religious differences as being thereason which kept her at odds with the Fletchers for several years.Henry's and Miriam's first two children, William Henry Connor born 1851and Henrietta born 1853 were baptized in the Church of England in Bowmanville.It was sometime after Charles the third child was born in 1857 that theConnors left Canada for Central Michigan. By I860 they were living in Rosetownship Oakland County, Michigan at Rose Center where they kept theBuckhorn Tavern, named for a nearby Lake. Here were born Elizabeth whodied early and also Marion Rachel Elizabeth. The two middle names were forher two grandmothers, Rachel Peck Fletcher and Elizabeth Howe Connor.However this long name was early discarded for "Lily" by which this daughterwho eventually married Chester Howell, was known until long after herschooling ended. She was born in 1861 or 1862 about the time the babyElizabeth, born I860, died.This was a particularly difficult time for the family since Civil War conditionsmade prices high and business very poor. Also because on Feb. 15,1865 Henry Connor joined Co. H of the 24th Regt. of Michigan Volunteers.His service was not long but it was sufficiently rigorous so that his healthafter his return was never good. War movements took him to Chattanooga,Atlanta, Pensacola and Houston. He spent some years of his later life in theSoldiers Home at North Park, Kent Co. Michigan, but died on 12 Oct. 1906while living with his wife in Detroit.The other children of Henry and Miriam as listed in the 1870 and 1880census were: Frederick, the 6th child born about 1863/4, Thomas born 1865/6;Margaret 1866/7; Edward 1869; Fletcher 1872. No family Bible has been foundthat might record the exact birth dates, although one is supposed to have beenat one time in the possession of the family of the eldest son William. Even thebirthdate of Henry Howe Connor himself is in doubt; the dates found on hisgravestone, his death certificate, the papers of his pension application and thecensus records being at wide variance. These dates range from as early as1819 to as late as 1825. A search for his birth record at Somerset House,London was reported as not feasible because of the lack of an exact year orplace for search for Henry Connor's birth record. As for his mother Eliza-97