Caleb Chapman CONNOR (VETERAN CSA)

PRIVATE CSA
Company A 34 Arkansas Infantry
Civil War Confederate
April 11, 1842 - March 15, 1915

*Obituary
Fayetteville Daily
Thursday, March 18, 1915

CONNOR, Caleb Chapman – A Tribute – By L.L.K. - Rarely has a man of our county died who was so sincerely loved as was our late brother, Caleb Chapman Connor. He was born in Washington County April 11, 1842 and was reared in and around his much beloved Fayetteville. At an early age he enlisted in the Confederate army and served with honor to himself and the Southern cause during the entire war. No man was ever more loyal to his town and church or was ever more devoted to his family. He rendered much service to all men, and in a long life of business affairs he wronged no man of one single penny. His life was ever gentle and crowned with that loving favor which is rather to be chosen than silver or gold. So kind and considerate was his happy nature that men and women from every quarter of his wide acquaintance would come to deal with Caleb, and often in his transactions with the poor and needy he would purchase their wares, which he knew at the time would be a loss to himself, using this delicate manner to confer his favors so as not offend the most sensitive. Ah, but he was every inch a man, as ingenious as a child. His great love and sympathy came directly from the heart and fell as the gentle dew of heaven in blessings upon his fellow men; their sorrows and their welfare his earnest solicitude. Love, loyalty and devotion were his in full perfection. Caleb Chapman Connor fought the good fight and finished the faith, full of age and goodness. He has gone over yonder to be with his Savior, whom he loved so well. He was and is yet Caleb Connor and is not dead. [WCHS Flashback Vol. 11, No. 3]

*Obituary
Fayetteville Democrat
Thursday, March 18, 1915

The funeral services of C.C. Connor, who died yesterday afternoon at 3:00 o’clock following a lingering illness of several years will occur Wednesday morning at 10:00 o’clock. The services will be held at the First Christian Church of which Mr. Connor was a member and will be conducted by N.M. Ragland, pastor emeritus of the church. Interment will take place at Evergreen Cemetery. Mrs’s D.B. Linsey of Little Flock and D.C. Mooring, of Stillwater, Oklahoma, daughters of the deceased, arrived this morning. Mr. Connor was 73 years of age at the time of his death and served throughout the Civil War in the Confederate Army. He was born in Washington County and lived practically his entire life here. He was one of Fayetteville’s pioneer merchants, being one of the organizers of the Fayetteville Grocery Company, which was the first wholesale grocery house in this section. Later he organized the C.C. Connor & Co. wholesale grocery establishment which after several transfers became what is now the Ozark Grocery Company. He is survived by two brothers, Alfred and T.J. of this city; and four daughters; Miss Lillian Connor of this city; Mrs. D.B. Lipsey of Little Flock; Mrs. Margaret Grover of Los Angeles, California and Mrs. D.C. Mooring of Stillwater, Oklahoma. The death of this lovable man is a heavy loss to the town in which he was a conspicuous figure for many years. He began his business career soon after the close of the Civil War and was actively engaged till disabled by sickness a few years ago. He belonged to the splendid company of young men who accepted defeat in good faith and returned from the battle front to engage in the pursuits of peace whose victories are no less renowned than those of war. Following the example of Robert E. Lee, he became a teacher, and taught in the neighborhood where he was reared. Later he came to Fayetteville and began business in a modest way. He was careful, patient and painstaking. His career as a merchant is an object lesson on the golden rule put into practice. It is a standing negation of the assertion that the principles of the Sermon on the Mount cannot be applied to the methods of business. This mans scales were kept in heaven and his standards were set up in the sanctuary of the sky. There is a Spanish proverb which says, ”If you desire to find gold in the Indies you must bring it with you.” What we see in another is largely a reflection of what is in your own heart. It is good business acumen to deal honestly. Whatsoever a man sows shall he also reap. It is an observation of England’s greatest bard that “haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; like doth quit like and measure still for measure.”

Mr. Connor was an example both to his employees and his customers of what a gentleman ought to be. His influence touched scores of young men in helpful ways. Some of these are having large success in business careers. The most lasting work, however, of this good man was done as a Christian. The services of the sanctuary were his passion. To hear the man of God preach the evangel of Christ was his chief joy. When no longer able to go to the house of prayer he read the New Testament through again and again and found increasing strength for increasing pain. In this way he came to understand that the essential value in religion is love. Like our Lord he was made perfect through long-continued suffering till the dross was consumed and the gold refined. As he entered the valley of shadows he had no fear for he felt no sin. Death opened the prison house of pain and set his feet in the roomy spaces of a larger life. Our distress, doubt and suffering will find answer through faith in the God of love.

*Obituary (Article)
Fayetteville Democrat
Thursday, January 10, 1907

C.C. Conner to be awarded the Southern Cross of Honor on January 19, 1907 by the Mildred Lee Chapter No. 98 of the U.D.C.

*Source: Sons of Confederate Veterans, Benton County, Arkansas 2009
Compiled by William W Degge

Contributed on 10/22/10 by nlhall
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