Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: coach; recreation dir.

Notes:

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Edwin went to sea on fishing schooners as a boy, graduated from Eastern State Normal School (now the Maine Maritime Academy) and in 1906 from Bates College (starring there in baseball, basketball and football and for four years on the all-state

football team [once as an end, once as a tackle and twice as a fullback]), then was principal and coach at Hallowell, Maine, then teacher and coach at Lincoln High School, Cleveland, Ohio (where his life-long nickname "Chief" originated).  During his

ten years at Lincoln High School he also operated summer camps for boys in New York's Adirondack Mountains, where he became friends of naturalists Ernest Thompson Seton and Dan Beard, and was in the group with them which worked with General Sir Robert

Baden-Powell to bring Boy Scouting to the United States.

During World War I he was athletic director at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio.  His effectiveness there led Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to induce him to come to Akron to coach its basketball team in the industrial league; he coached at Goodyear from 12

May 1919 until he retired 01 Sept. 1953.  [After W.W. I he had a choice of three positions: recreational director for Goodyear, one with the federal Park Service, and an opportunity to go to Bermuda to be in a motion picture with Ann Kellerman, a

famous swimmer.]  He started every heat of the Soap Box Derby from its move to Akron in 1935 until the late 1950s, served on the Akron Recreation Commission, 1934-51 (chair, 1941-51) and the Akron Board of Education, originated the father-son banquet

and pioneered the industrial recreation movement; he was in wide demand as an inspirational speaker.

His career at Goodyear was celebrated 20 January 1954 with an open house at the Goodyear Gym in Akron.  Sportswriter Jim Schlemmer offered an extensive tribute in the Akron Beacon Journal the previous Sunday.  He wrote, "Swimmer, cyclist, skater (he

once skated nonstop from Cleveland to Akron on the frozen canal); Conner might have succeeded Jack Johnson as the heaveyweight fistic champion is his desire for that kind of business had been equal to his ability...

"Instead, even before coming to Akron, he devoted his space time to church work and already had won recognition as the originator and developer of the Father-Son Week idea.

"...Long years spent in Boy Scout work built intimate friendships with General Baden-Powell, Ernest Thompson Seton, Dan Beard and others.  They called him Coach or Chief like everybody else...."

His obituary in the Akron Beacon Journal calls him "big in body, in voice, in mind and in ideals."  He was an avid, serious fisherman, tying his own flies.  He died fishing from a boat in the Indian River.  He is buried beside his wife in Castine,

Maine.  He was a mesomorph in body type.  Historian Phil Perkins told A. E. Myers in August, 1995 that Ed Conner had been touted as a contender for the national boxing championship, but that his wife (Vivian) protested strenuously, and he therefore did

not fight.  He was member 73083 of Lafayette Chapter of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution as a descendant of Capt. David Dunbar, Jr. of Massachusetts.

Edwin married Kenniston, Vivian Inez on 6 Dec 1901 in Amherst, ME. Vivian was born on 27 Sep 1881 in Amherst, ME; died on 21 Jun 1960 in Castine, Hancock, Maine; was buried in Castine, Hancock, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Conner, Edwin Kenniston was born on 11 Oct 1904 in Amherst, ME; died on 17 Feb 1958 in Akron, OH.
2. Conner, Marian Helen was born on 23 Sep 1906 in Amherst, ME; died on 23 Jan 1985 in Ormond Beach, FL; was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Uniontown, OH.
3. Conner, Virginia Montez was born on 27 Jan 1910 in Cleveland, OH; died on 9 May 1985 in New York, New York, USA.

Notes:

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Fred grew up on and farmed the homestead where his ancestor John D. Conner was listed in 1766. The homestead buildings are now gone, but the old family cemetery is visible about 1/3 of the way to the shore from the road. Around 1900 Fred broke his
knee and he and Helen moved Castine. They first resided in the building now occupied by the Water Witch store on Main Street where Helen operated a boarding house. Then they moved to their home on Perkins Street (the second house northeast of
Pleasant Street on the northwest side of the street). Fred was a construction worker and a member of the crew which built
the Wilson Museum in 1921. At his death he was the oldest resident of Castine. He died of a fall down his cellar stairs during an air raid drill; he had turned off the house lights and was going to the cellar as prescribed in the drill instructions.
His funeral service was held in his home on Perkins Street with the Rev. Nelson Canfield officiating.

Fred married Peterson, Helen Martha on 20 Aug 1880 in Hancock Co., ME. Helen was born on 2 Aug 1860 in Hancock Co., ME; died in Sep 1948 in Bangor, ME; was buried in Castine, Hancock, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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Helen operated a boarding house for students (and faculty?) of the Eastern
State Normal School in Castine after Fred's injury. She was active in the
Castine Trinitarian Parish congregation and its Mary Cushman circle. Her
husband's sister married her half-brother.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: sea captain and fisherman

Notes:

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William's family history is given in "A Family of the Bagaduce: The Ancestry and Genealogy of William Conner, Jr....," by Albert E. Myers (Harrisburg, PA, 1976). His middle name is Henry per plaque under his portrait in the Wilson Museum, Castine,
Maine; this plaque notes that Capt. Conner sailed clipper ships to the West Indies and other ports, and later sailed to the Grand Banks. He is not to be confused with person of the same name in coastal Waldo County, Maine. The ship William H. Conner,
built in Searsport, was named for this other William H. Conner, who d. 13 Sept 1875 at age 57, resident of Belfast, ME, merchant and shipbuilder (m. Caroline R. Porter 22 Sept 1839, she d. 13 Sept 1875) - the ship was the largest and last full-rigged
ship built at Searsport [launched in June, 1877, 210' long, 40' beam, 24' depth, 1496 tons]. A fine description of fishing on the Grand Banks under sail is given in Chapter 26 of "Coastal Maine: A Maritime History," Roger F. Duncan (New York:
W.W.Norton, 1992). Also see "Maine Sea Fisheries: The Rise and Fall of a Native Industry, 1830-1890," by Wayne M. O'Leary (Boston: Northeastern University Press). By 1860 Castine was the wealthiest town in Maine, due to its fishing fleet.

William married Snowman, Emaline on 17 May 1829 in Penobscot, Hancock, Maine. Emaline was born on 16 Jan 1811; died on 16 Oct 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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Emaline Bank in the Grand Banks off of Newfoundland, a prominent fishing
spot, was named for her.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: blacksmith

Notes:

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William was a blacksmith and resided at Penobscot, Maine. The first
schoolmaster in the village, James Whitelaw, for many years "taught in the
home of William Conner, as early as 1785 and as late as 1791." {-"Penobscot
Bicentennial" [booklet], p.31} John and Elizabeth had a large family; the
children listed here are those whose names were remembered by Fred S.
Conner in 1938 and Ardelle M. Conner in 1932 (in a letter to her niece
Luena) - they are not listed in birth order.

William married Dunbar, Elizabeth on 13 Jan 1802 in Penobscot, Hancock, Maine. Elizabeth (daughter of Dunbar, David Jr and Elms, Elizabeth) was born on 18 Aug 1781 in Scituate, MA; died on 8 Oct 1867 in Penobscot, Hancock, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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Her marriage intention to William Conner was published at Penobscot 19 Dec
1801.