CLASS OF 1865

A notice treating of the life and activities of Judge Sanborn Conner appeared in the issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE for November, 1911. The following paragraphs are from a memorial read at the annual court of the Society of Colonial Wars in the state of Ohio. After enumerating the activities of Judge Conner in the many fields where his talents made him a leader, the memorial concludes with a statement of his efforts in behalf of municipal improvement and his in patriotic societies. We quote from this part of the memorial:

The city of Cincinnati owes in part to the labors of Judge Conner that beautiful natural park known as Burnet Woods; in quite another direction he contributed to the material prosperity of the city by his legal work in connection with the establishment of the Cincinnati Southern Railway,—a municipal work of great magnitude and almost without guiding precedent at the time of its inception.

There were other works of enterprise to which he gave his aid and counsel,—banking—manufacturing—and railroads other than the one already named. But the fields of intellectual activity did not dwarf his taste for the aesthetic and artistic; more than forty times he crossed the Atlantic, traveling in foreign lands and making collections of the beautiful in art. His collection of antique silver is now one of the treasures of the Art Museum of Cincinnati.

Judge Conner felt it a real duty to maintain a lively interest in the patriotic history of his native land; he Was a member of the New England Society, and its president in 1903; he was long a member of the Ohio Society Sons of the Revolution, and its president in 1906. The Society of Colonial Wars in Ohio owes much to the loyalty and intelligent interest of Judge Conner; he became a member on May 4, 1897, by right of descent from Lieutenant John Sanborn, a soldier of King William's War; but besides this stalwart soldier, there were six other no less honorable ancestors who took part in the wars of the colonies against the savage, and other foes hardly more humane than the savage. Judge Conner was governor of this society in 1903-4, having served also as deputy and lieutenant governor, deputy secretary and chancellor; he was chancellor at the time of his death.

On September 7, 1871, John Sanborn Conner was married to Levietta, daughter of Levi Bartlett and Elizabeth Sanborn; this union was a most happy and sympathetic one, their only child being a daughter, Edna Bartlett Conner, now Mrs. John Watt, of New Orleans.

After continued ill health, aggravated by the death of his dearly beloved brother, John Sanborn Conner died at Scarlet Oaks in Cincinnati, Tuesday, July 11, 1911, survived by his widow and his' daughter. His funeral services were held at the Church of Our Savior, July 13, attended by representatives from many civil, fraternal, and patriotic societies.

A man's deeds,—they shall live after him; jurist, scholar, philanthropist, and patriot John Sanborn Conner being dead yet speaketh; he appeals not merely to our intellects but to our hearts as well, for he was a friend to the friendless, a helper to the aged and poor, a genial friend, a noble gentleman.