Henry G. Connor Explained

Henry G. Connor
Office:	Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
Term Start:	May 25, 1909
Term End:	November 23, 1924
Appointer:	William Howard Taft
Predecessor:	Thomas Richard Purnell
Successor:	Isaac Melson Meekins
Birth Name:	Henry Groves Connor
Birth Date:	3 July 1852
Birth Place:	Wilmington, North Carolina
Death Place:	Wilson, North Carolina
Children:	4
Education:	read law
Signature:	Signature of Henry Groves Connor (1852–1924).png

Henry Groves Connor (July 3, 1852 – November 23, 1924) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Education and career

Born on July 3, 1852, in Wilmington, North Carolina, Connor read law in 1871. He entered private practice in Wilson, North Carolina from 1871 to 1885. He was a member of the North Carolina Senate in 1885. He was a Judge of the North Carolina Superior Court from 1885 to 1893. He returned to private practice in Wilson from 1893 to 1903. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1899 to 1901, serving as Speaker in 1901. He was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina from 1903 to 1909.

He married Bessie Hadley on May 30, 1894, and they had four children.^[1]

Federal judicial service

Connor was nominated by President William Howard Taft on May 10, 1909, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina vacated by Judge Thomas Richard Purnell. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 25, 1909, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on November 23, 1924, due to his death in Wilson.

Books

Connor was a published author. Among his works were biographies of John Archibald Campbell,^[2] James Iredell, and William Gaston.

Sympathy for the Confederacy

In April 1911, Judge Connor delivered the dedication speech for a Confederate monument to politician George Davis in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Connor's dedicatory remarks contained hallmarks that many historians have ascribed to examples of revisionist Lost Cause mythology.^[3] Connor falsely described Davis's making war against the United States as "patriotism" and Davis's call for secession from the Union as "moderation in speech":

You shall bring your sons to this spot, tell them the story of his life, of his patriotism of his loyalty to high thinking and noble living, of his moderation in speech, his patience under defeat, of his devotion to your City and State as a perpetual illustration and an enduring example of the dignity, the worth of a high-souled, pure-hearted Christian gentleman.^[4]

External links

• Henry G. Connor papers
• The Convention of 1835, a book by Connor

Notes and References

1. Book: History of North Carolina: North Carolina Biography, by Special Staff of Writers . IV . . 21 . 1919 . 2024-07-04 . Internet Archive.
2. Book: John Archibald Campbell. Henry Groves Connor, John Archibald Campbell. 2004. Lawbook Exchange Ltd. 1-58477-445-2.
3. Web site: W.J. Cash . The Lost Cause Myth (quoting Cash's "The Mind of the South") . historyonthenet.com . Salem Media . [I]t is probably no exaggeration to say [Southerners] were to become in Reconstruction years the most sentimental people in history. . . . [The] Southern legend . . . moved, more powerfully even than it moved toward splendor and magnificence, toward a sort of ecstatic, teary-eyed vision of the Old South as Happy-Happy Land..
4. Web site: Bernhard Thuersam . George Davis: Christian, Senator, Attorney General . Cape Fear Historical Institute . Judge H.G. Conner, at Statue-Unveiling Ceremony, 20 April 1911: "You shall bring your sons to this spot, tell them the story of his life, of his patriotism of his loyalty to high thinking and noble living, of his moderation in speech, his patience under defeat, of his devotion to your City and State as a perpetual illustration and an enduring example of the dignity, the worth of a high-souled, pure-hearted Christian gentleman.".