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Tom Monto

Was William Connors really as bad as they said...

Updated: May 19

Although Connors Road is named after him, until now there has been little information known about William Connors. Perhaps his marriage to a Cree woman, against which there was unfounded prejudice at the time, or his career in the sale of liquor at disreputable hotels was to blame...


But as part of my research for a history book of the Bonnie Doon district, Memories of Bonnie Doon, I did make progress in solving the mystery of


THE MAN CALLED WILLIAM CONNORS


Here is a compilation of information on his life, and the lives of family members, followed by assorted research notes.


A short biography:


Born in Leeds, Ontario (between Kingston and Brockville) in 1861, William Connor came to Edmonton in 1882. William was a steam engineer, and in the period before internal combustion engines were common, steampower was used in riverboats, power plants, flourmills and other factories, and even some automobiles. William worked his way west on steamboats on the North Saskatchewan. He took up a farm at Clover Bar and walked nine miles into work every morning to run the steam engine at Fraser's lumbermill in Rossdale.


He married Jamima Stevenson, a Manitoban Cree, in 1887.

(Information supplied to me states

Jemima (Stevens) Connor was born 1861 in St Andrews, north of Winnipeg.

Her mother was Mary Bolds (born 1828),

her father was Willliam Stevens from England.)


Jamima (Jemima?) and William bought five acres at the top of the riverbank where they built a house (at 9513 95th Street) and put in a large garden. They eventually had nine children.


Then electricity began to replace steam power. A company was formed in 1890 to build a coal-driven steam-powered plant that would produce and distribute in the Edmonton Settlement, soon to be a town. The electricity would be produced by burning coal to make steam to run generators, and William was hired.


With his earnings, William bought a steamboat and became a fur buyer, making many trips to Lesser Slave Lake. His contacts and reach grew, and soon he established trading posts at Fort Good Hope, Peel River and Fort Smith.


He wintered in the Arctic over the 1899-1900 winter, returning in April to Edmonton. He brought three Slavey Indians south with him. The Edmonton Bulletin reported on his trip. The paper reported that the Slaveys were astonished at how people in Edmonton seemed to live in one anothers' homes. To their eyes that is how it looked - people were living so close together. It is said one of the Slaveys, a boy, eventually grew homesick, and Connors paid for his ticket home.


After a brief stay in civilization, Connors travelled north again, returning to Edmonton at Christmas time. The 1898-1900 Treaty Commission came across Connors on the Peace River, overseeing the crews of two York boats.


Edmonton photographer C.W. Mathers volunteered to to go with Connors on the next summer's trip. Agreeing to this, Connors took Mathers as far north as Fort MacPherson, north of the Arctic Circle. Mathers was the first professional photographer to go to Canada's Far North and take what were likely the first photos of muskox. (Edmonton Bulletin, June 5, 1899)


A couple years later, Connors was operating a new steamboat that had been built from parts brought in from Peterborough. Although small (only 16 metres in length), it was said to be one of the very best on the northern waters. The 1902 Treaty Commission was carried in this steamboat. (Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 8, 1902))


Eventually, Connors settled down, back in the Edmonton area. He invested some of his money in a hotel at the crossroads of Cloverdale Road and Scona Road, right near the Low Level Bridge. He also bought and sold real estate, a profitable thing in those days.


He bought the Bismark Hotel in Stony Plain, and in 1910 bought the Imperial Hotel on 99th Street at 101A Avenue. Here he operated an illegal after-hours bar in the basement for select customers. In 1916 he expanded the hotel, but then came Prohibition and he was out of business.


The hotel was seized in a court action, and its contents, including mooseheads, cigars, wines and liquors, were put up for auction.


Eventually, after Jamima's death in 1919, he moved to Spokane where he bought a hotel.


Despite his ups and downs, he reportedly died a wealthy man in Calgary in 1937.


Connors' Hill and Connors Road are named after William Connor. (Spelling of the name varied and never was nailed down fully.)


The old Connors place, a triangle of land at the top of Connors Road bounded by 95th Street and 95th Avenue and the top of the riverbank, lay mostly empty and became unofficial parkland. (In the 1940s city councillor and MP Oliver Prudham got what seems a sweetheart deal and took the land over and built and sold houses on it.)


Sources:

"Bonnie Doon Then and Now", Edmonton Journal, October 12, 1958;

Monto, Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots, p. 23, 40, 110;

"Fred Connors" PAA clipping file;

Cashman, "William (Bill) Connor", The Edmonton Story.


For information on Connor's time in Edmonton in the 1880s, see Edmonton Bulletin of April 21, 1883, Feb. 27, 1886, Oct. 15, 1887, and the few clippings in the "William Connors" CEA clipping file.


For info on his northern adventures, see Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1897, Oct. 6, 1898, April 2 and 6, 1900; Mair, Treaty Commission.


The 1916 auction was advertized in Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 1, 1916.


======================================================================

Research Notes:


Fred Connor, Wm. and Jamima's son

enlisted in 202nd Batt. at Edmonton South on Feb. 21, 1916

served in France as private till end of war

Fred Connors' obit -- in Edmonton Journal, Oct. 13, 1953 (see below)


Other sons served in WWI,

one was awarded a medal for bravery on the battlefield -- see Memories of Bonnie Doon for information on them.


Connors' five-acre plot is shown in George Donald's Riverlot 21. ("Mundy's Map of Twin Cities", ca. 1907 (Map #59, Peel's Prairie Provinces website))



Edmonton Cemeteries listing (on-line):


CONNOR:

Hugh Connor died March 14, 1926

Edith died April 22, 1957 buried side by side at Mount pleasant E33 2,3

Robert Connor died Jan. 16, 1901 Edmonton cemetery Mary Connor died July 3, 1934 Edmonton

Agnes Connor May 1, 1929 Mount Pleasant E231 2 J. [Jamima] Connor died Jan. 22, 1919 Mount Pleasant OC 141

(EB, Jan. 22 has nothing on her death (Peel's PP search) )

CONNORS:

Charles Connors died April 16, 1919 Beechmount Connors, David Kathaleen and Roger also listed in Edmonton Cemeteries ================================================================== Canadian Army records (available through Ancestry)

Frederick Morris Connor

deceased 13-10-1953 No. 231060 9513 95th Street

mother Jamima Connor same address

born Oct. 10, 1896 chauffeur

height: 5 foot nine inches

dark complexion

brown eyes

dark hair

Presbyterian

enlisted in 202nd Batt. at Edmonton South on Feb. 21, 1916

served in France as private Casualty form active Service [service record]

embarked Halifax Nov. 24, 1916

arrived Liverpool Nov. 30, 1916

proceeded overseas for service with 31st Battalion May 28, 1917

taken on strength with 31st ..

wounded August 9, 1918 [not sure if resumed fighting] Demobilized Dec. 12, 1918 in one document

discharged on Feb. 25, 1919 in other document

discharged at Edmonton Armouries on January 28, 1919 in other document –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Harry Connor PPCLI KIA at St. Eloi 6-3-15 (March 3, 1915)

his relationship to William, if any, is unknown ––––––––––––––––


Misc notes:


Hugh Connor

died March 14, 1926

Edith died April 22, 1957 buried side by side at Mount Pleasant E33 2,3

Robert Connor died Jan. 16, 1901 Edmonton cemetery

[a different person --Robert J. Connor, 26 yoa, 9513 95th St., Edmonton passed medical board review for army induction (EB, April 27, 1918)


Mary Connor died July 3, 1934 Edmonton


Agnes Connor May 1, 1929 Mount Pleasant E231 2

J. [Jamima] Connor died Jan. 22, 1919 Mount Pleasant OC 141

Edmonton Bulletin Jan. 23 has nothing on her death -- not in Peel's PP

Jan. 22 has nothing on her death (Peel's PP search)

Charles Connors died April 16, 1919 Beechmount

Connors David Kathaleen and Roger also listed in Edm. Cemeteries


=============================


Fred Connor

Fred Connor, son of William Connor, died in 1953.

his obit states that William came to Edmonton in 1882. His son Fred and five other children were born and grew up here. (EJ?, Oct. 13, 1953 in CEA info file)

Fred worked with taxi companies in the city.

WWI served with the 31st Battalion. no info given on what he did after war.

survived by three sisters, all living in Washington state, and two brothers, Robert at Airdrie and William at Humberstone, Ontario (his burial not on Edmonton Cemetery list)

Connor, M.J. possibly Maurice Connors (William Connors' brother)?

Riverlot 35 Strathcona 1882 survey see my book Old Strathcona Edmonton's Southside Roots.


Jean Connor early Metis links to Connor family, etc. CCH Catalogue


W.A. Oliver bought E1/2 - 35-52-24-4 (EB, July 21, 1888)

William's father, Robert Connors, at the turn of the century, had a ranch a few miles east of Edmonton. This may have been the land marked "M.J. Connor" in the 1882 survey, located near 50th Street on the Fort Saskatchewan Trail (about 94th Avenue). (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 18, 1901)

[list of files in 76.131 homestead patent applications - no help]

Robert Connor father of William Connors 76.131 #880 Robert Connor applying for homestead on N12/ NW, N1/2 of NE, 20-52-23-W4 mostly in residence on the land. when away from homestead he was in Edmonton with his son.

arrived 1890 built house in 1891 Brit. by birth


===================== Connors, William

father of Fred Connors above

son of Robert Connor above

came to Edmonton in 1882 (NAPADA info. and many other sources)

married Jemima Stevenson Sept. 8. 1887 (Alberta An Index to Birth, Marriage and Death Registration prior to 1900, p. 79) (hereafter identified as "Alberta Index prior to 1900")

Annie born Oct. 3, 1890 (other children's births see below)


======================

William's sisters married people prominent in Edmonton history - J.W. Shera, Fort Saskatchewan merchant and member of the North-West Territorial government, and Edward Looby, one of Edmonton's first blacksmiths. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 18, 1901) ––––––––––––––––––––––––


1916 western Canada Census (accessed through Ancestry website search Dec. 2017) :


William H. Connor hotel keeper Irish Anglican age 55 born 1861 married

res. 9516 95th St.

spouse Jamima age 48 Indian born 1868 Manitoba mother tongue Cree 3 boys 6 girls [Elinor Connor born May 6, 1888] (Alberta Index prior to 1900) maybe not child of William and Jemima] [can find no mention of her birth in Edmonton Bulletin]

Annie born 1890 25 yoa [in 1916] (born Oct. 3 1890 (Alberta Index prior to 1900)

Robert born 1892 Jan. 22 1892 24 yoa (Alberta Index prior to 1900) (fought his WWI conscription, perhaps because his brother Heber had been killed, but was unsuccessful) Robert born 1892 [W.H.'s son (it seems) Robert J. Connor, 26 yoa, 9513 95th Street, conscripted in 1918. (EB, April 27, 1918, p. 3)] born in 1892 search of Peel's PP for Connor and Robert garnered nothing on him from 1923 to 1918, except: a farmhand, he appealed his conscription. reported in June 25, 1918 Edmonton Bulletin, that his appeal had been disallowed.

Mable 1893 sep. 24 1893 22 yoa (Alberta Index prior to 1900) Edna 1895 21 yoa not in index (Jemima birth = March 20, 1895, Alberta Index prior to 1900) [Edmonton Bulletin March 28, 1895 has nothing on this]

Fred 1896 19 yoa 1916 soldier (1916 Census) born 0ct. 10, 1896 (Alberta Index prior to 1900) served in WWI

obit (Edmonton Journal?, Oct. 13, 1953) at CEA states:

Fred born 1896 Fred Connor, son of William Connor, died in 1953.

his obit states that William came to Edmonton in 1882. His son Fred and five other children were born and grew up here. [leaving out three - don't know why] (EJ?, Oct. 13, 1953)

Fred worked with taxi companies in the city.

WWI served with the 31st Battalion. no info given on what he did after war.

survived by three sisters, all living in Washington state, and two brothers, Robert at Airdrie and William at Humberstone, Ontario (Fred Connors' obit, EJ, Oct. 13, 1953 (in CEA folder)) (his burial not on Edmonton Cemetery list)

Fred and Heber Connors, second and third son of William Connors (of Connors Road fame), they joined up by 1916, although quite young, born in 1896 and 1897 respectively. Fred survived the war and eventually passed away in 1953.

--------------------- Heber

born 1897 18 yoa soldier (1916 Census) Apparently pronouncing his name in the French way with a silent 't" so recorded as Heber in the Census (or the Canadian army added the T as noted below]

From Canadian Military records (Ancestry website):

born 20 Sept. 1897 joined Nov. 18, 1915 18 year 1 1/2 months teamster

signed his name Hebert (Can. Expeditionary Force authorities recorded his name as Herbert) complexion dark eyes brown hair black Height: 5 foot 7.5 inch

burn scar on left cheek at the angle of jaw

Anglican

next of kin [his father] William Henry Connor Imperial Hotel Queen's Avenue

in will dated April 2, 1918 bequested his personal estate (includes pay, effects, money in bank, insurance policy, everything except real estate) to mother Mrs. Jennie Connor 9513 95th St. River Heights joined on enlistment 63rd Battalion reg. number 467505 transferred to 10th Batt. military record: arrived in England S.S. Metagawa 5-5-16

struck off to 11th Reserve Batt to reinforce 10th Batt. overseas 4-6-16

in late 1917 apparently spent some time in hospital 10th Batt. Alberta Regiment he was awarded Military Medal Sept. 9, 1917 [Sept. 23, 1917 also given as date]

3-12-1918 award received by brother Robert J. Connor) died in WWI KIA "when in the front line position [near Parvillers] at about 3 pm on Aug. 17 1918, he was instantly killed, being hit in body and legs by pieces of an enemy shell that detonated in the trench close to where he was standing." (Casualty Report, on Canadian War Graves Commission info on internet) Herbert [s/b Heber?] Connor died Aug. 17, 1918 "born in Edmonton"

Can. War Graves website listed him as H. Connor died Aug. 17, 1918 (17-8-18)

buried Beaufort British Cemetery, 8 miles east of Noreuil Moreuil, France

----------------------

1916 Census

Gracy born 1904 12 yoa

Lilly born in 1905 11 yoa

William Jr. born in 1907 9 yoa

Mary born in 1911 five yoa

also Fred Resee 40 yoa Irish Methodist engineer was living with them (no further info available on him)

[Census as typed out says born in Albania [s/b Alberta] and that they speak Greek [s/b Cree]

(a Lucy Connors c. 1910 (16 yoa?) CEA EA-745-291


--------------------

1880s

W. Connors [of Connors Hill fame] has sold his claim on southside to W. Ogilvie DLS for $250. (EB, April 21, 1883) confirmed in the newspaper

William Stiff Connors came through Edmonton in 1884 (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 4, 1907)

W. Connor, engineer at the Edmonton flourmill, noticed fire breaking out and blew the whistle to call for help. It was heard on the southside, and four or five people went across to help stop the fire's progress. The only northsiders to hear, K. Macdonald and his son, heard and hurried there as well. The lack of wind and by careful management and severe exertions on the part of the few people present, the fire was prevented from spreading and ultimately put out. Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 27, 1886

Smith & Connors saloon has parted with their monkey to a Battleford saloon. Smith & Connors gain is the other saloon's loss. The only thing we can surmise is that the monkey was quite a troublemaker (Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 15, 1887)

-----------------------------------------


other info in Connors CEA clipping file says William was part owner of Imperial Hotel, corner of 99 Street and 101A Avenue (Queens and Rice). Also in fur trade, merchandising and invested in land.

another, a photocopy of a page in an un-named book, p. 136, is a transcript of an un-dated Edmonton Bulletin? article (prob. ca. Oct. 1911) saying W.H. Connor, proprietor of the Imperial Hotel, has just arrived in the city with two very valuable blood-hounds. Connors was reported as being in city [Kelowna?] on way home [in Edmonton?] from coast where he purchased these two dogs that had done much in the way of hunting down criminals in that part of the country. Sam figured in the hunting down of Outlaw Harry Tracey. One of Connors' dogs is Brady11, daughter of Hound Brady who stood guard over the dead body of Harry Tracey when the posse caught up to it.

Mr. Connors has just come back from Oregon where the dogs located a man accused of the murder of his wife and daughter near Portland. The other of Connor's dogs, Sam, who was with Brady in the Tracey hunt, located the axe with which the deed was done six miles from the house where the tragedy occurred and located the alleged murderer 30 miles away. (Edmonton Bulletin or Edmonton Journal, date??)

Hurssell, early-date resident of Edmonton, working for W. Connors (Edmonton Bulletin, Aug. 16, 1901)


W. Connors gift of whale bone Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 22, 1902

William Connors house mentioned in Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 18, 1906, in description of military maneuvers held at Edmonton

Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1897 W. Connors encountered Colin Fraser on some northern river. mosquito terrible

W. Connor's steamboat "Upas" stuck in rapids Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 6, 1898

Connors off to Northland May 28, 1900

Connors off to Montreal Jan. 4,1901


W.H. Connor, trader of Fort Smith, came in by dog-train with three Slavey Indians today Edmonton Bulletin, April 2, 1900, (see also April 6, 1900 )

A "Connors and Chisholm" contesting business arrangements of the Lac Ste. Anne hotel in 1906? Wm. O'Connors, lately of Stony Plain, taking on management of Imperial Hotel (Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 2, 1909) Summer 1956 Alberta History magazine mentions O'Connor, W. (likely same as William Connors)


W. Connors gift of whale bone to Rutherford??? Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 22, 1902

1904 William Connors running a steamer from McMurray to Smith's Landing (Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 4, 1904)

Family Connors father Robert Connors of Mount View Ranch, East Edmonton, (67 yoa) died. he had been a farmer a few miles east of town.

W.H.'s siblings:

bro Maurice was businessman here until recently now of Butte, Montana

bro H.F. Connors resides in Seattle

sisters Mrs. J.W. Shera and Mrs. E. Looby (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 18. 1901) land marked "M.J. Connor" (William Connors' brother Maurice?) in the 1882 survey, located near 50th Street on the Fort Saskatchewan Trail (about 94th Avenue) checkPAA ?? PAA

Conners arrives at Athabasca Landing only a month from Fort Smith, that was good time in those days (Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 16, 1901)

listed in 1910 Hendersons Directory

Wm. H. Connors prop. Imperial Hotel 55 Queens Avenue. lives same place


1913 Hendersons Directory

prop. Imperial Hotel lives 9th St [East] near Sandon ave. southside


1917 Hendersons Directory:

Wm. H. Connors prop. Imperial Hotel (10139 Queens) lives 9513 95th Street.


1919 Hendersons Directory:

lives 9513 95th Street.

Imperial Hotel 10139 99th Street prop John Melnik


1922 Hendersons Directory:

lives 9513 95th Street.


1924 Hendersons Directory:

no Imperial Hotel listed

Wm. H. Connors listed as engineer r. 109, 9710 104th Avenue [that address not in street index]


1925 Hendersons Directory:

Wm. H. Connors not listed [apparently Census 1916 was mistaken when gave him 9516 95th Street address]

================


Connor's five acres marked on 1907 City of Strathcona map.


Connors Road, which crosses Riverlot 21, is named after him.

name in use by 1905 for sure.

(The name Connors’ Hill, although in common use, is not officially recognized by the City of Edmonton.)

-------------------------------------------

W. Connor is adding another story to his house on the south bank of the river (Edmonton Bulletin, March 28, 1895)

Smith and Connor's saloon (Edmonton Bulletin, March 24, 1888 William Connors had a part interest in the northside Imperial hotel and the Cameron Hotel in Cloverdale. He was involved in land speculation and fur trade.

Connors Hill Road "Our Research - Neighbourhood Naming":

William (Bill) Connors was a colourful character. He came to Edmonton in 1891 to work at the electric light plant, feeding the boilers, and had a five-acre plot of land at the top of "Connors Hill" (the riverbank). When he grew bored of that job, he took a steamboat north. He returned with an Inuit boy, the first seen in Edmonton. The boy eventually grew homesick, and Connors paid for his ticket home. Connor owned a hotel at the crossroads of Cloverdale Road and Scona Hill road right near the Low Level Bridge. Connors' steamboat evenutally wrecked itself, but Connors died a wealthy man from money made in his hotels.


----------------------------

William Connors -

He came to Edmonton in 1882 from Ontario (born in Leeds, Ontario in 1863), and by the early 1890s he had taken up a five-acre garden north of what is today 95th Avenue and west of 93rd Street, in Donalds' Riverlot 21. Apparently William Connors was a proficient steam engineer. This was the period before internal combustion engines were common, and steampower was used in riverboats, power plants, flourmills and other factories, and even some automobiles at the time. A stationary steam engineer was a sought-after commodity in those days. William worked his way west on riverboats on the North Saskatchewan.

After arrival in Edmonton, he took up a farm at Clover Bar and walked nine miles into work every morning to run the steam engine at Fraser's lumbermill, When he got job at the Edmonton power plant, he gave up the commute and established a house and garden at the top of "Connor's Hill." He (and a wife presumably) raised a family of six children in Edmonton. Little is known of their family life. (Fred Connors' obit, Edmonton Journal, Oct. 13, 1953)

His father, Robert Connors, at the turn of the century, had a ranch a few miles east of Edmonton. This may have been the land marked "M.J. Connor" checkPAA ?? PAA (William Connors' brother Maurice?) in the 1882 survey, located near 50th Street on the Fort Saskatchewan Trail (about 94th Avenue).

William's sisters married people prominent in Edmonton history - J.W. Shera, Fort Saskatchewan merchant and member of the North-West Territorial government, and Edward Looby, one of Edmonton's first blacksmiths. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 18. 1901) By the late 1890s, he had had raised enough money to buy a riverboat and became a fur buyer, making many trips to Lesser Slave Lake. His contacts and reach grew, and soon he established trading posts at Fort Good Hope, Peel River and Fort Smith. He wintered in the Arctic over the 1899-1900 winter, returning in April to Edmonton. He brought three Slavey Indians south with him. The Edmonton Bulletin reported the Slaveys' astonishment at how Edmonton people lived so close together.

William made frequent and long trips to the North over the next several years. He reported once that the ice at Fort McMurray was 70 feet (20 metres) thick. The 1900 Treaty Commission came across Connors on the Peace River, overseeing the crews of two York boats. William took Edmonton photographer C.W. Mathers to Fort MacPherson, north of the Arctic Circle, and he was the first professional photographer to go to Canada's Far North. (Edmonton Bulletin, June 5, 1899)


Eventually, William's steamboat wrecked itself on the river, and he settled down, back in the Edmonton area. He bought the Bismark Hotel in Stony Plain and in 1910 bought the Imperial Hotel on 99th Street at 101A Avenue. Here he operated an illegal after-hours bar in the basement for select customers. In 1916 he expanded the hotel, but then came Prohibition and he was out of business.

He left Edmonton and got a hotel in Spokane. He died in Calgary in 1937.

("Bonnie Doon Then and Now", Edmonton Journal, October 12, 1958;

Monto, Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots;

"Fred Connors" PAA clipping file; Cashman,

"William (Bill) Connor", The Edmonton Story.

For information on his time in Edmonton in the 1880s, see Edmonton Bulletin of April 21, 1883, Feb. 27, 1886, Oct. 15, 1887, and the few clippings in the William Connors CEA clipping file.

For info on his northern adventures, see Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1897, Oct. 6, 1898, April 2, 1900 and April 6, 1900; Mair, Treaty Commission.)

-------------------------------


here is another biography I wrote for Memories of Bonnie Doon

(later it got trimmed)


William Connors (?-1937) -

He came to Edmonton in 1882 and by the early 1890s he had taken up a five-acre garden north of what is today 95th Avenue and west of 93rd Street, in Donalds' Riverlot 21. he married here (or brought wife with him) and their seven children were born and raised here. Little is known of their family life. (Fred Connors's obit, EJ?, Oct. 13, 1953)


Apparently Connors was a proficient steam engineer. This was the period before internal combustion engines were common, and steam power was used in riverboats, power plants, flourmills and other factories, and even automobiles at the time. A stationary steam engineer was a sought-after commodity in those days. There are reports of Connors working at different times in a flour mill, Edmonton's power plant and on riverboats cruising for furs in the Great Northland.


There are scattered mentions of his doings through the years, but no proper biography exists for him. He (and a wife presumably) raised a family of six children in Edmonton. It is known that he later (1910) was part owner of the Imperial hotel in downtown Edmonton, so it could be that he was involved in the Smith & Connors saloon that operated in Edmonton in 1887. That year Edmonton's newspaper noted that they parted with a monkey, which went to a Battleford saloon. Connors sold some land he owned on the southside (NE-21-52-4-W4) to Dominion Land Surveyor W. Ogilvie, in 1883, but this would not appear to be his five-acre garden plot.


His father, Robert Connors, at the turn of the century, had a ranch a few miles east of Edmonton. This may have been the land marked "M.J. Connor" (William Connors' brother Maurice?) in the 1882 survey, located near 50th Street on the Fort Saskatchewan Trail (about 94th Avenue).


William Connors' sisters married people prominent in Edmonton history - J.W. Shera, Fort Saskatchewan merchant and member of the North-West Territorial government, and Edward Looby, one of Edmonton's first blacksmiths. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 18. 1901) By the late 1890s, when he had had raised enough money, he got a river boat and became a fur buyer, making many trips to Lesser Slave Lake. His contacts and reach grew, and soon he established trading posts at Fort Good Hope, Peel River and Fort Smith. He wintered in the Arctic over the 1899-1900 winter, returning in April to Edmonton. He had brought three Slavey Indians south with him. The Edmonton Bulletin reported the Slavey Indian's astonishment at how Edmonton people lived so close together. One of the Slaveys eventually grew homesick, and Connors paid for his ticket home.

After a brief stay in civilization, Connors travelled north again, returning to Edmonton at Christmas time. The 1900 Treaty Commission came across Connors on the Peace River, overseeing the crews of two York boats.

Edmonton photographer C.W. Mathers volunteered to to go with Connors on the next summer's trip. Agreeing to this, Connors took Mathers as far north as Fort MacPherson, north of the Arctic Circle, and he was the first professional photographer to go to Canada's Far North.


A couple years later, Connors was operating a new steamboat that had been built from parts brought in from Peterborough. Although small (about 50 feet in length), it was said to be one of the very best on the northern waters. The 1902 Treaty Commission was carried in this steamboat. (Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 8, 1902) Eventually, Connors stopped his travelling and settled down, back in the Edmonton area. He invested his money into two hotels, one at the crossroads of Cloverdale Road and Scona Road, right near the Low Level Bridge. He also speculated in land, a profitable line in those days.


Despite his ups and downs, he reportedly died a wealthy man in Calgary in 1937.


("Bonnie Doon Then and Now", Edmonton Journal, October 12, 1958;

Monto, Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots;

Mair, Treaty Commission; Connors Hill Road,

"Our Research - Neighbourhood Naming".

or information on his time in Edmonton in the 1880s,

see Edmonton Bulletin- April 21, 1883, Feb. 27, 1886, Oct. 15, 1887, and various clippings in the scanty William Connors CEA clipping file.

For info on his northern adventures, see Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1897, Oct. 6, 1898, April 2, 1900 and April 6, 1900; Mair, Treaty Commission.)


-------------------------------------

[Here is still another version of the life of the man ..


Colourful William Connors, the namesake of Connors Road


A company was formed in 1890 to build a coal-driven steam-powered electricity plant and distribute electrical power in the Edmonton Settlement. One of its first employees was former steamboat engineer William Connors (1861–1937), who took up residence in Bonnie Doon.


An Anglican of Irish descent, he had come to Edmonton in 1882 from Ontario. In the period before internal combustion engines were common, steampower was used in riverboats, power plants, flour and lumber mills and other factories, and even some automobiles. William had worked his way west on steamboats on the North Saskatchewan. He took up a farm at Clover Bar and walked nine miles (14 kilometres) into work every morning to run steam engines in Edmonton mills.


In 1887 he married Jemima (nee Stevenson), a Cree from Manitoba. Eventually they had nine children born over a period of 20 years.


Electricity was coming into use in Edmonton at this time and would eventually replace steam engines driving long flapping drive-belts used in factories. Electricity was produced by burning coal to make steam to run generators, and Connors was hired at the Edmonton power plant. He gave up the commute and took up a five-acre piece of land at the top of the riverbank near Nob Hill, in Donalds' Riverlot 21. They built a house at 9513 95th Street and developed a large garden. [Footnote 18]


William bought a steamboat and became a fur buyer, making many trips north to Lesser Slave Lake, Fort Good Hope, Peel River and Fort Smith. Photographer C.W. Mathers travelled with him to Fort MacPherson, north of the Arctic Circle, becoming the first professional photographer to see Canada's Far North. Connors wintered in the Arctic over the 1899-1900 winter, returning in April to Edmonton, accompanied by three Slavey (Dene) persons. The Edmonton Bulletin reported the Slaveys' astonishment at how Edmonton people lived so close together in what they thought was one big house. Eventually, William settled down, back in the Edmonton area. He owned several hotels, but then Prohibition finished his hotel career in Edmonton.


After Jemima's death in 1919 (she is buried at Mount Pleasant), he moved to Spokane in the 1920s, eventually dying in Calgary in 1937. [Footnote 18] The Connors Road name stands as a monument to William and Jamima and the large family of children he and Jamima raised. They make appearances in the historical record over the next couple decades.


Footnote 18 "Mundy's Map of Twin Cities" (Map #59, Peel's Prairie Provinces website; 1916 Census report; Fred Connors' obit, EJ, Oct. 13, 1953; EB, June 5, 1899; "Wm. Connors" CEA file; “Fred Connors" PAA file; Cashman, “William (Bill) Connor", The Edmonton Story.

For more info, see Edmonton Bulletin April 21, 1883, Feb. 27, 1886, Oct. 15, 1887, Feb. 1, 1916.

For info on his northern adventures, see Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1897, Oct. 6, 1898, April 2 and 6, 1900 and Mair, Treaty Commission.

Jamima Connor died January 22, 1919. Her gravestone at Mount Pleasant reads "J. Connor."


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William for a short time owned a quarter-section east of central Strathcona and sold it in 1883

W. Connors [of Connors Hill fame] has sold his claim on southside to W. Ogilvie DLS for $250. Edmonton Bulletin, April 21, 1883)

from Search on Ancestry website, Dec. 2017:

1883 homestead file NE-21-52-24-W4 [18 miles east of central Strathcona]

Joseph Hetherington homesteaded the land in the fall 1879

Connors bought land from Joseph Hetherington in Feb. 1883 (Homestead #88165 via Ancestry website)

Connor sold it in April 1883 to William Ogilvie, of Ottawa Ogilvie in his report on the purchase (which happened to be enclosed in the homestead papers now on file) said that "in the summer of 1883 I cultivated a portion of it and spent $25 in repairs to buildings and fences." (Homestead #88165) Homestead file PAA 1970.313?


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can find very little on William Connors

Google search 2017 did produce this:

convicted of selling liquor 1887

William Connors, Edmonton 1887 convicted of selling intoxicating liquor had to pay $150 and costs March 9, 1887 (Report of the Commissioner of the NWMP 1885 [-1887]

Peel's PP search yielded:

1899 William Connors wrote from Fort McMurray that the ice was 70 feet thick there June 5, 1899

W. Connor's steamboat Upas stuck in rapids Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 6, 1898

William Connor pushes for using Mackenzie river as port saying it is navigable up to mouth of Peel River. Article says he has posts across the far north Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 29, 1902


article speaks of Braine, a Mountie at Fort Sask who joined the Yukon Gold Rush, and George Woodley, formerly Far North trader who is now at Whitford (near Andrew, Alberta) and speaks of mineral wealth and how there is open NW Passage (from the west to east) as far as the mouth of the Mackenzie River.

1902 treaty commission carried by W. Connor's steamer, which is said to be a new boat built in Peterborough and is conceded to be one of the very best on the northern waters. It is small about 50 feet in length but very efficient. (Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 8, 1902)

W. Connor has many posts across the northland (such as Fort Good Hope on Great Slave Lake (Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 3, 1906) Mathers travelled with Connors fur-trading brigade and took many fine photos of the North country information on Connors in Brock V. Silversides, C.W. Mathers’ Vision (Edmonton: Provincial Archives of Alberta, 1989) Peel's PP search:

in late 1890s, he became a fur buyer and made many trips to Lesser Slave Lake, etc. On one trip, his husky was shot by people who thought he was a wolf. (Edmonton Bulletin)

Search on Ancestry website:

William H. Connor age 63 (born in 1863) in Leods [Leeds], Ontario

widowed

arrived in Seattle June 10, 1926

[Naming Edmonton (p. 59) has Connors owning Riverlot 21 in late 1800s and early 1900s. But it seems source meant just one small plot of the riverlot. the riverlot was owned by the Donald family]​

[William Connors not listed in Cumulative index to Alberta History]

I first thought that Connors got his land underhandedly from the George Donald but it seems he had little impact on the family. I don't think Dwayne Donald's "Penimento" (family history with much on dispossession of the Papaschase Band)) even mentions Connors.

A very complete bio of Wm. Connor:

William Connors (1860s?-1937)

He came to Edmonton in 1882 from Ontario, and by the early 1890s he had taken up a five-acre garden north of what is today 95th Avenue and west of 93rd Street, in Donalds' Riverlot 21. (Mundy's Map of Twin Cities (Map #59, Peel's Prairie Provinces website))


William was a steam engineer, and in the period before internal combustion engines were common, steampower was used in riverboats, power plants, flourmills and other factories, and even some automobiles. William worked his way west on steamboats on the North Saskatchewan. He took up a farm at Clover Bar and walked nine miles into work every morning to run the steam engine at Fraser's lumber mill. When he got a job at the Edmonton power plant, he gave up the commute and established a house and garden at the top of "Connors Hill." (Fred Connors' obit, Edmonton Journal, Oct. 13, 1953)


He bought a steamboat and became a fur buyer, making many trips to Lesser Slave Lake. His contacts and reach grew, and soon he established trading posts at Fort Good Hope, Peel River and Fort Smith. He wintered in the Arctic over the 1899-1900 winter, returning in April to Edmonton. He brought three Slavey Indians south with him. The Edmonton Bulletin reported the Slaveys' astonishment at how Edmonton people lived so close together in what they thought was one house. William made frequent long trips to the North over the next several years. Photographer C.W. Mathers travelled with him to Fort MacPherson, north of the Arctic Circle and became the first professional photographer to see Canada's Far North. (Edmonton Bulletin, June 5, 1899)


Eventually, William's steamboat wrecked itself on the river, and he settled down, back in the Edmonton area.


In 1910 he bought the Imperial Hotel downtown and operated an illegal after-hours bar in the basement for select customers. Then came Prohibition and he was out of business. The hotel was seized in a court action, and its contents (beds and bedding, washstands, office and rotunda furniture, 12 chairs, moose heads, cigars, wines and liquors) placed up for auction. He left Edmonton and got a hotel in Spokane.


[Jamima died in 1919 (see below)]


He died in Calgary in 1937.


("Bonnie Doon Then and Now", Edmonton Journal, October 12, 1958;

Monto, Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots;

"Fred Connors" PAA clipping file;

Cashman, "William (Bill) Connor", The Edmonton Story.

For information on his time in Edmonton in the 1880s, see Edmonton Bulletin of April 21, 1883, Feb. 27, 1886, Oct. 15, 1887, and the few clippings in the William Connors CEA clipping file.

For info on his northern adventures, see Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1897, Oct. 6, 1898, April 2, 1900 and April 6, 1900; Mair, Treaty Commission.

The 1916 auction is advertized in Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 1, 1916.) Hugh Connor died March 14, 1926 Edith died April 22, 1957 buried side by side at Mount pleasant E33 2,3 Robert Connor died Jan. 16, 1901 buried in Edmonton cemetery (Edm Cemeteries list on-line) Mary Connor died July 3, 1934 Edmonton Agnes Connor May 1, 1929 Mount Pleasant E231 2

J. [Jamima] Connor died Jan. 22, 1919 Mount Pleasant OC 141 Edmonton Cemeteries listing (on-line):

last name CONNORS:

Charles Connors died April 16, 1919 Beechmount Connors David Kathaleen and Roger also listed in Edmonton Cemeteries


unsuccessful searches:

no Jamima Connor or any Resee in Edmonton Cemetery list

no Jamima Connor in Peel's PP search

no Resee in Peel's PP search

Peel's Pp serch for Stevenson yielded nothing [Jamima's name appears to be Stevens]

Jemima yielded nothing in Peel's PP search

nothing resulted from “Connor” search in Peel's PP 1880-1885

nothing resulted from “Conner” search in Peel's PP 1880-1885

no CEA clipping file for Ogilvie

William Connors CEA clipping file done - not much help


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2 Comments


patrickjmarriott
Apr 13

'Loeds' is a misprint of Leeds, Ontario (between Kingston and Brockville).

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Sean Connor
Sean Connor
Apr 24, 2023

Jemima (Stevens) Connor was born 1861 in St Andrews , north of Winnipeg. Her mother was Mary Bolds 1828, father was Willliam Stevens from England.

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