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First White Child Born in Ohio
Came Into World at
Site of Newcomerstown
Newcomerstown News,
August 16, 1964
Investigations made by the Ohio State Archeological and
Historical Society several years ago brought out the information
that the first white child born in Ohio was John Connor born in
Connerstown in September of 1771.
The information concerning his birth was provided by Rev.
Joseph E. Weinland of Bethleham, PA. Rev. Weinland, a former
pastor of the Moravian church at Dover, found a missionary's
diary dated March 18, 1776.
The story as brought out by Rev. Weinland's research is quite
thrilling and gives a graphic picture of the trials and
hardships endured by the early pioneers of this valley.
Conner's father, an emigrant into the west from Frederick, MD,
fell in love with one of two captive girls, who had been adopted
by a Delaware Indian tribe in southeastern Ohio. Her name was
Marguerite.
The girls had been captured by the Indians while quite young
and Marguerite had been adopted into the tribe for nearly 15
years and spoke the red man's language.
The Indians told Conner he could marry Marguerite if he would
become an adopted tribesman. He consented and the young couple
moved into a rude cabin. A village sprang up around them and
Conner became a man of influence. This settlement was called
Connerstown by the travelers, trappers, and missionaries
stopping at Conner's cabin, but was later changed to
Newcomerstown.
Conner and his wife moved to Pennsylvania in 1774, but the
Shawnee-speaking Delawares forced them to leave their
three-year-old son, Jacob, with the tribe. They came back to
Ohio a year later, settling at Schoenbrunn, where they were
admitted to citizenship because of the circumstances attending
their marriage.
They tried many times to get their son away from the Delawares,
who claimed that the child was the son of adopted members of the
tribe. A ransom payment of $40, however, finally brought the
child back.
The Conners next moved to Lichtenau, an Indian village near
Coshocton and later moved to the new Gnadenhutten, about 20
miles from Detroit.
The Indian mission there was abandoned in 1786 but the Conner
family remained. They became wealthy farmers. Some of their
descendents moved into Indiana, but Conner is thought to be
buried near Detroit.
The
replica of the double Conner cabin in which the first white
child in Ohio was born has been erected at Schoenbrunn park. |
