Anyone familiar with Conner Feud in Sabine County? (Austin, Huntsville: home, schools)

[High_Plains_Retired]

I'm just curious. Is anyone here familiar with the Conner Feud of Sabine County, Texas that started in 1883 when the bodies of Eli Low and William Christopher (Kit) Smith were found on the hog range of Willis Conner? The story involves Texas Rangers, deadly gunfights and jailbreaks. My interest lies in the fact that my great grandfather, a Conner, was involved.

This was a fairly obscure feud during a time in American history where feuds seem to be prevalent but I was just curious to see if anyone on C-D had ever heard of the Sabine County events or read anything about it?

[neddy]

might find something with this link..

Texas State Historical Association - The Handbook of Texas Online -- Browse |

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by neddy

might find something with this link..

Texas State Historical Association - The Handbook of Texas Online -- Browse |

Thanks! I was aware of the Handbook but had not looked into it very intensively. I found a few things about the Feud under a search for "Scrappin' Valley" and "John Abijah Brooks", the head of the Texas Rangers who was sent to Sabine County. I have most of the books cited in the bibliographies. Some are extremely rare.

[shonnastinsonashley]

I am a Low descendent - Eli Low was my great-great-great uncle (from what I can gather) I ran across some handwritten information that stated the following...."Eli Low, age about 18 was shot and killed along with Kit Smith by the "Old Man" Conner and his boys...one named Fed (?) Conner." It states here that my great-grandfather remembered this as it happened in his lifetime. He said that Eli Low was on the front porch of his Uncle "Little Ike" when he was shot and killed. Sally Tatom Low was also on the front porch. The Conners later tried to kill "Little Ike" and it was in his barn that Texas Rangers hid and killed the Conners. The actual fued was between the Conners and law enforcement officers, after the initial killings however, as mentioned the Conners did want to kill "Little Ike". This is all the information I have on the subject - I'm not sure if it was much help to you. I was rather curious myself.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Thanks for the reply. Your story deviates significantly from anything I have ever read or heard. I haven't worked on the story in some years but here's some of my rendering of a tale that no one seems to agree on. Willis Conner was my great great grandfather.

"Willis and Piercy "Douglass" Conner came to Sabine County, Texas from Georgia about 1861. In Sabine County, Willis Conner, who was also known as "Old Man Conner", is said to have helped built the County's roads, schools and churches and was somewhat of an unschooled philosopher. He enlisted with the Sabine County Volunteers Infantry on January 15, 1863 at Hemphill, Texas. This enlistment was supposed to have been only for three months, from January 15 to April 15, 1863. Information recorded about Willis at the time of his enlistment stated that he was born in Florida, he was 37 years old, he had dark eyes, dark hair, light complexion, was 5'6" tall, and was a farmer.

Willis Conner died during the "Conner feud" which started when the bodies of Eli Low and William Christopher (Kit) Smith were found murdered near a creek on the hog range of Willis' farm in Sabine County on December 5, 1883. Based on circumstantial evidence, Willis and his sons Frederick "Fed" M., Charles Wilson, Leander J., Alfred Horton and John were arrested and taken to Hemphill, Texas where Charles Conner and his brother Leander were indicted and removed for trial. Leander's indictment was later overturned but Charles was tried and went to prison. Meanwhile, Willis Conner, who was enraged at what he saw as undeserved indignities being suffered by his family, escaped jail with his sons when Pete Loggins (said to be a lawyer) assisted in their jailbreak. After escaping from jail, the Conners went back to their home in Sabine County but were pursued by at least one, possibly two, detachments of Texas Rangers sent by the Governor of Texas. John Conner is said to have left the County and was never heard from again. Although one Texas Ranger lost his life in the ensuing gun battles, the Rangers eventually gave up. However after the Rangers quit the fight, the Conners who were all sharp-shooters and well-adapted to the thickets of deep east Texas continued their fight with local law enforcement officials. Willis was the last Conner to be killed in the gun battles. The story is told how the local law officials trailed Willis' eight year old grandchild to Willis' thicket hiding place one morning while the child was taking breakfast to the old man. Both Willis and the grandchild were shot and killed. The child may have been the son of Leander Conner but this author is unsure.

Odd as it may seem, Conners, Low and Smith descendants later intermarried. Regarding the Conner family's ability to shoot, this writer has personally observed his grandfather, William Alexander Hamilton Conner, son of Charles Wilson Conner, even at an advanced age, shoot a running rat at some distance with a handgun. William was a well-known Angelina County gunsmith until he died in 1965.

In the 1990s a book was being prepared regarding the "Conner Feud" by Mark Dugan, a North Carolina writer of historical nonfiction. Photos of Alexander A.H. Conner, grandson to Willis Conner and grandfather to this writer, were provided to Mr. Dugan for inclusion in the book. To this author's knowledge, the book has yet to be published.

References:
1. Federal census. 1860 census for Sabine County, Texas.
2. Federal census. 1870 census for Sabine County, Texas.
3. Federal census. 1880 census for Sabine County, Texas.
4. Schluter, Helen Gomer. 1860 Census of Sabine County with Civil War Records
5. Spradley, A.J. A Texas Sheriff.
6. Combs, Joe F. Gunsmoke in the Redlands.
7. Sabine County tax records.
8. Stories related to the writer as a child and personal knowledge.
9. W.A.H Conner family bible records."

[d k smith]

William Christopher (Kit) Smith was my great-great grandfather.
I am interested in a book written about the Smith-Conner feud, probably after 1883 and before 1920. I have read Gunsmoke in the Redlands, this is not the book I'm looking for. If you have any information I would appreciate your reply.
dks81944@yahoo.com

[High_Plains_Retired]

Glad to meet you.

Off the top of my head and current records at my disposal, some books and papers of which I am aware that deal with the Feud are:

1. A Texas Sheriff; a vivid and accurate account of some of the most notorious murder cases and feuds in the history of east Texas, and the officers who relentlessly pursued the criminals till they were brought to justice and paid the full penalty of the law. Also many illustrations of the most prominent characters by Henry C. Fuller. Nacogdoches, Texas, Baker Printing Co., c1931. 80 p. illus., ports. 22 cm

I don't have access to my library at the moment but as I recall the Fuller book deals some with the life of Andrew Jackson Spradley, sheriff at Nacogdoches, Texas at the turn of the 20th century. My grandfather, William A.H. Conner, had an original edition of this book but I have only a reprint.

2. Tales Never Told Around the Campfire : True Stories of Frontier America by Mark Dugan. Athens: Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, c1992. xvii, 257 p. : ill. ; 24 cm

This book dedicates a chapter to the story but another book Dugan told me in the 1990s he was writing, and for which I provided pics of my grandfather and mom, was to be called Judge Not by Mark Dugan. This book was supposed to be only about the Feud but to my knowledge has never been completed.

3. Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas by Andrew Jackson Sowell. Austin, Tex., B. C. Jones & Co., Printers, 1900. viii, 844 p. illus., plates, ports. 24 cm.

This may be the older book you seek. It is very pro-law enforcement and treats the Conners as cold blooded killers but only briefly discusses the Feud. I've only reviewed a copy at the Library of Congress in the 1990s but do seek a copy. It is a large volume.

4. The Conner Feud in Sabine County. As Told by W. T. McElroy to Geo. L. Crocket. Typescript. 3 p. (Papers of George Louis Crocket found in the Stephen F. Austin State University Ralph W. Steen Library.

I've not had the opportunity to read these papers yet.

5. Neighbor Against Neighbor: An East Texas Feud by Ruth Sibley Davis. 77 p.

I also do not have the Davis book but a summary of it by Darwin E. Morris states the following: ]"All in all, seven people lost their lives in this terrible affair. This account was not written to place blame on anyone. Court records reveal that Eli Low and Kit Smith were brutally murdered. Willis Conner and sons Fed, William, John and Charles were found guilty on circumstantial evidence of the murders. Charles was committed to Huntsville Texas State Penitentiary for twenty-five years. Willis Conner and sons Fed, John, and William escaped from the jail in Hemphill, and it became the responsibility of the Law Enforcement to arrest them and bring them back to jail. Mr. Conner and his sons were in the forest of Sabine County. In an effort to capture them one Texas Ranger and William Conner were killed. Later Willis Conner, Fed Conner and Thomas Williams were killed. John Conner left Texas and no effort was made to locate him."

My grandfather and son of Charles Wilson Conner was William A.H. Conner. He was about 13 years old during these gun battles and, according to a close living relative, wrote a book long before I was born. However, we've never been able to even determine the subject of his book but think it could be just about gunsmithing, his profession. William would never speak to us children about the Feud so it was a mystery to me until I became an adult and began to research the story.

I hope something in this is helpful to your own research.

[d k smith]

As you said of your relative William Conner never speaking to you children about the feud, the same was so for my family, the feud was never spoken of. My grandmother's sister later married Gilbert Conner, who was very helpful to my grandmother in raising her three sons, after my grandfather William Christopher Smith Jr. died at an early age. The Smith and Conner families were then connected by marriage and no one wanted to disturb this peaceful situation. Thank you for your help, I will be researching these sources.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Would that be Gilbert W. CONNER (b abt. 1880) and son of Leander J. CONNER and Carolyn M. SMITH? I have Carolyn as the daughter of John A. SMITH and Amanda LOW. Amanda was the daughter of Jesse LOW and Harriet HINES. Unfortunately I don't have any parents for John A. SMITH or a wife for Gilbert W. CONNER.

[d k smith]

I have not been able to find a middle name for Gilbert Conner. This Gilbert Conner was married to Dassie Love. Gilbert and Dassie had two sons, although I knew only one of them, his name was Ottis Conner.