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From the Compendium Of History and Biography of North Dakota - 1900  "Comparatively few of the first settlers of Eddy county have remained on their original farms to enjoy the results of well directed labor, but this gentleman has made his home in Township 148, Range 66, since the early days of the settlement of that region, and has gathered about him a good estate, and a competence to tide him through his declining years. He is a man of energetic spirit and keen observation, and has made a success of his vocation in Dakota, and is highly esteemed by his fellow men.
Our subject was born on a farm in Mercer
county, Pennsylvania, December 29, 1843, and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (McCam) O'Connor.
His parents were natives of Ireland, and his father came to America when a boy, and was a farmer by occupation, and the mother came to this country about 1830. Our subject was the second in order of birth in a family of six children, three sons and three daughters, and he was reared on a farm in his native state, and received his education at the country school.
He resided in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, and naturally drifted into the oil well business, and after attaining his majority did contracting several years digging wells.
He enlisted in Company E, Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, September 9, 1862, and served till June 17, 1865. He was in Sheridan's cavalry, and participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Chancellorsville, Petersburg and Gettysburg, and was wounded July 16, 1863, and was disabled a short time. His horse was killed during the engagement.
After his return from the war he continued
in the oil well business, and in 1873 went to Wisconsin, where he also followed well digging, and
several artesian wells, two of them located at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, are his work.
He soon drifted into farming, and continued his residence there until 1883, when he went to Eddy county, and "squatted" on land which when surveyed was found to be the northeast quarter of section 7, in township 148, range 66. He erected a claim shanty and did his first farming with ox teams, and he was an engineer by trade and followed it in the early days. He added to his acreage from time to time, and was the owner of five or six quarter-sections of land at various times. On his home farm he has a complete set of good farm buildings, and has all machinery for the economical conduct of the place. He has watched the growth of that country, and has aided materially in its development.
Our subject was married, in 1868, to Miss Susan Rhoads, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and was of German descent.. Mrs. O'Connor's people were among the early settlers of Pennsylvania, and her grandfather was one of the prisoner's of the Indians in the Wyoming valley massacre in Pennsylvania.
Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor are the parents of the following children: Elizabeth, now Mrs. W. C. Schwoebel; George, clerking in a general store
in New Rockford; Frank, a machinist in Oil City, Pennsylvania; and Henry, in Pennsylvania.
Mr. O'Connor is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a man of practical ideas, and in political sentiment is independent."
Shortly after the war, Morris married Susan Rhoads. They had at least five children; Florence, George, Frank, Elizabeth, and Henry.
Prior to 1890, Morris is living in New Rockford and in 1900 in Superior Township. He had land in Pleasant Prairie Township, Township 148, Range 65, Sections 11 and 15 and Superior Township, Township 148, Range 66, Section 7.
Sometime after 1900 and prior to his death in 1909, he and Susan returned to Pennsylvania.Susan's Burial, Tombstone Photo, Documents, Links to Some Family |