Connor family descendants reunite in Stratford

By Casey Krautkramer

A coach bus with over 30 of Reuben Connor’s family descendants stopped at the Stratford Area Historical Museum on Sunday afternoon to tour the exhibit about the history of the Connor family and its logging operations that led to starting the villages of Auburndale and Stratford.

Some of the Connor family members wore t-shirts that read, “Connor Family Reunion Magical History Tour 2024.”

Thomas “Tim” McGuire lives in California but he has a summer home on Shawano Lake in Wisconsin. He organized the history tour for he and the other Connor family members last weekend. McGuire is the great-grandson of Robert W. Connor and the grandson of Reuben Connor.

Robert W. Connor was born on Nov. 25, 1837, in Houston, Scotland, and immigrated with his parents, William Connor and Margaret (Prentice) Connor, and siblings to Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Robert W. Connor and his wife, Mary (McLeish) Connor and their children, Margaret “Maggie” Connor and William Duncan “W.D.” Connor, moved to Auburndale along with his brothers, James and John Connor, in 1872, to take advantage of the nation’s demand for lumber.

James and John Connor left the area after the lumber supply in Auburndale was depleted. Robert W. Connor remained in Auburndale and called on his son, W.D. Connor, to help him operate R. Connor Company. Robert W. Connor expanded his sawmill business to Stratford, where he found more lumber to harvest. The Connor Mill was built in 1891 in Stratford and timber was harvested, but it wasn’t until the fall of 1892 when the first shipment of lumber was shipped on the railway out of Stratford, according to Stratford’s 1991 centennial book.

The Connor Company was so pleased with the success of its Stratford operation that it started to plan for further expansion. To acquire more timber, W.D. Connor turned to Forest County in 1896. In 1900 the company purchased a used sawmill which it erected in Laona. The birth of the Laona mill put a financial strain on the company. To meet their payroll and keep their workers fed, the R. Connor Company turned to the use of lumber company “money.” They issued tokens or scrip in Stratford that could be spent the same as money at the company’s stores, according to Stratford’s 1991 centennial book.

Robert W. Connor and his second wife, Rebecca (Waite) Connor, had five sons including Roger, Wallace, Craig P. and Reuben Connor.

Reuben Connor’s first marriage was to Kristie (Hatteberg) Connor from Marshfield, who was a school teacher in Auburndale. After her death, he married her sister, Joyce (Hatteberg) Connor, who was also a school teacher in Auburndale. Rueben and Joyce Connor had seven children including Gene Elizabeth, Craig W., Roger J., Joyce, Rebecca, Mary and Sarah Connor. Gene Elizabeth is Thomas “Tim” McGuire’s mother.

Thomas “Tim” McGuire said at the Stratford Area Historical Society museum that he and several other family members attended the Connor family reunion in Madison last week. Then he and over 30 descendants of Reuben Connor got onto a bus that took them to stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Marshfield. Family members on Saturday toured the historical Connor house on Connor Street in Auburndale, which is now a sixunit apartment complex. They also toured Greenwood Cemetery in rural Auburndale where many Connor family members are buried, including Robert W. Connor. They also toured Hillside Cemetery in Marshfield where many other Connor family members are buried, including W.D. Connor, who is in a mausoleum there.

On Sunday, Reuben Connor’s family descendants saw the site where W.D. Connor’s house was once located on South Cherry Avenue in the city of Marshfield. He purchased the house in 1923 for his daughter, Helen Connor Laird, and her husband, Melvin R. Laird Sr. Their son, Melvin Laird Jr., was a U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin from 1953 until 1969 before serving as Secretary of Defense from 1969 until 1973 under President Richard Nixon. Faith Lutheran Church is now on the site where W.D. Connor’s house was located in Marshfield.

Reuben Connor’s descendants then ate lunch at The Buck-A-Neer supper club in Rozellville before arriving on the bus in the village of Stratford to view the Connor family display at the Stratford Area Historical Museum.

Thomas “Tim” McGuire said Auburndale got its name because the Connor family’s daughters had auburn colored hair. He said Stratford got its name because the Connors were from Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

Auburndale’s 1971 centennial book says there is a two-fold story on how Auburndale got its name. The first being John Connor, the man who was instrumental in laying out and developing the village, called it Auburn after his children who were said to have auburn hair. The second story is that the village was assigned the name of Auburndale by the railroad, when it was developed as a station in the early 1870s. The name was chosen, as was true for many other rail communities in the area, because of the influence of the Eastern builders of the railroad and was named after cities in Massachusetts.

CONNOR REUNION - Reuben Connor’s descendants final stop on their “Connor Family Reunion Magical History Tour 2024” was at the Stratford Area Historical Museum on Sunday afternoon. They saw the Connor family tree and logging exhibit inside the museum. Dr. Gwenn Strampp, president of the Stratford Area Historical Museum, was eager to greet the Connor family members when they walked off the coach bus.

STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER