Individual Details
Capt. John Quincy Conner
(1802 - 8 Jun 1863)
https://web.archive.org/web/20141006084418/http:/www.connerprairie.org/Learn-And-Do/Indiana-History/Conner-Prairie-History/Conner-Family-Mekinges.aspx
Capt. John Conner
The oldest of William and Mekinges Conner’s six children, John Conner (born ca. 1802) lived a life of high adventure. He joined his family and other Delaware on their removal from Indiana. The trek was a difficult one. Even before reaching the Mississippi River the Delaware were swindled or robbed of much their goods (Indian Agent William Clark, of Lewis & Clark fame, arranged payment to ferry the tribe across to Missouri). It was at this point that John Conner broke away from the family and began a life that to modern eyes seems to be the stuff of which adventure novels or TV miniseries are made. His life was varied, exciting, and played out across much of the American west. So well regarded was he that famed frontiersman Richard Dodge wrote that John Conner was "renowned as having a more minute and extensive knowledge of the North American Continent" than anyone in America.
Conner (later known as Capt. John for his service as a military scout) was stirred by a "most intense desire" to see an ocean. He knew there were two oceans. Since to go east meant travelling through “white man's country,” he headed west. He made his way to the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Turning south, he trekked along the Pacific coast, eventually making his way into Mexico. Liking the residents of Durango, he lived with them for three years, learning their language. Like his father, he had a talent for languages and was known for his fluency in the many dialects picked up in his travels. These skills were to help shape his life.
Deciding to return to his people around 1825, Conner was en route to Missouri when he encountered a group of Delaware who had moved to Texas decades earlier. Though he would make occasional visits to Mekinges and his siblings, it was among these Texas Delaware that Capt. John was to spend the next thirty a years and make his reputation. Like his father, William, he was to act as representative, interpreter, scout and liaison between the “red and white worlds.”
John eventually worked for the Texas and US governments, acting as translator and negotiator on treaty and peace missions. His good work was cited by Sam Houston. The state of Texas valued him so highly it made him a full citizen, an unusual honor for a Native American. A cavalry officer
viewed him (in a chilling example of the everyday racism of the period) as "differing from the generality of indians." Conner, he wrote, "would give a direct answer" to questions, take a stand on an issue and support it with argument. He described him as very intelligent and a man of ingenuity. Physically, he was described in the 1840s as a "fine, portly man, about forty-five years old, and of very light complexion, with long, black hair and moustache."
The wanderer did not settle down until he returned to Kansas 1858 (the Delaware were removed to Kansas in 1830-31) upon being appointed Principal Chief of the Delaware. Why a man absent from the main group for nearly forty years was named chief is uncertain. Certainly Conner's Delaware bloodlines and his reputation were important factors. There is a reason to believe that, because of his previous service, John was a very acceptable choice to U.S. governmental authorities. A rival for the chieftaincy later claimed John was appointed because he was a pawn of the government who would do as bidden, a so-called “Government Chief.” Conner upset many Delaware when he signed the 1866 treaty that once again removed the tribe, this time to Oklahoma.
The date of John Conner's death is the subject of minor controversy, but he likely died in late 1872. One thing not in doubt is that an American life that began along the verdant White River in Indiana, was lived out across the sprawl of the American west, ended in the "green country" of Oklahoma.
Capt. John Conner
The oldest of William and Mekinges Conner’s six children, John Conner (born ca. 1802) lived a life of high adventure. He joined his family and other Delaware on their removal from Indiana. The trek was a difficult one. Even before reaching the Mississippi River the Delaware were swindled or robbed of much their goods (Indian Agent William Clark, of Lewis & Clark fame, arranged payment to ferry the tribe across to Missouri). It was at this point that John Conner broke away from the family and began a life that to modern eyes seems to be the stuff of which adventure novels or TV miniseries are made. His life was varied, exciting, and played out across much of the American west. So well regarded was he that famed frontiersman Richard Dodge wrote that John Conner was "renowned as having a more minute and extensive knowledge of the North American Continent" than anyone in America.
Conner (later known as Capt. John for his service as a military scout) was stirred by a "most intense desire" to see an ocean. He knew there were two oceans. Since to go east meant travelling through “white man's country,” he headed west. He made his way to the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Turning south, he trekked along the Pacific coast, eventually making his way into Mexico. Liking the residents of Durango, he lived with them for three years, learning their language. Like his father, he had a talent for languages and was known for his fluency in the many dialects picked up in his travels. These skills were to help shape his life.
Deciding to return to his people around 1825, Conner was en route to Missouri when he encountered a group of Delaware who had moved to Texas decades earlier. Though he would make occasional visits to Mekinges and his siblings, it was among these Texas Delaware that Capt. John was to spend the next thirty a years and make his reputation. Like his father, William, he was to act as representative, interpreter, scout and liaison between the “red and white worlds.”
John eventually worked for the Texas and US governments, acting as translator and negotiator on treaty and peace missions. His good work was cited by Sam Houston. The state of Texas valued him so highly it made him a full citizen, an unusual honor for a Native American. A cavalry officer
viewed him (in a chilling example of the everyday racism of the period) as "differing from the generality of indians." Conner, he wrote, "would give a direct answer" to questions, take a stand on an issue and support it with argument. He described him as very intelligent and a man of ingenuity. Physically, he was described in the 1840s as a "fine, portly man, about forty-five years old, and of very light complexion, with long, black hair and moustache."
The wanderer did not settle down until he returned to Kansas 1858 (the Delaware were removed to Kansas in 1830-31) upon being appointed Principal Chief of the Delaware. Why a man absent from the main group for nearly forty years was named chief is uncertain. Certainly Conner's Delaware bloodlines and his reputation were important factors. There is a reason to believe that, because of his previous service, John was a very acceptable choice to U.S. governmental authorities. A rival for the chieftaincy later claimed John was appointed because he was a pawn of the government who would do as bidden, a so-called “Government Chief.” Conner upset many Delaware when he signed the 1866 treaty that once again removed the tribe, this time to Oklahoma.
The date of John Conner's death is the subject of minor controversy, but he likely died in late 1872. One thing not in doubt is that an American life that began along the verdant White River in Indiana, was lived out across the sprawl of the American west, ended in the "green country" of Oklahoma.
Events
| Birth | 1802 | Connersville, Fayette, Indiana, United States | |||
| Marriage | 1820 | Kansas, United States - Charlotte Wolfe | |||
| Residence | 1830 | Gibson, Indiana, United States |  | ||
| Marriage | Abt 1842 | Wyandotte, Kansas, United States - Nancy Wilson | |||
| Death | 8 Jun 1863 | Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, United States | |||
| Burial | Nowata Cemetery,, Nowata, Oklahoma, United States |
Families
| Spouse | Nancy Wilson (1825 - 1859) |
| Child | John Quincy Conner (1844 - 1919) |
| Spouse | Charlotte Wolfe (1802 - 1838) |
| Child | Alexander John Conner (1821 - 1897) |
| Father | William H Conner (1777 - 1855) |
| Mother | Mekinges Anderson (1783 - 1855) |
| Sibling | Hamilton "Harry" Conner (1809 - 1887) |
| Sibling | William "Bill" Conner Jr. (1811 - 1867) |
| Sibling | Nancy "Aukeelenqua" Conner (1815 - 1834) |
| Sibling | James Conner (1817 - 1877) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth Ella "Eliza" Conner (1818 - 1877) |
Endnotes
1. "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPC-CRP : 20 February 2021), John Cnnes, Gibson, Indiana, United States; citing 163, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 26; FHL microfilm 7,715..