CONNORS, JAMES F. (1857-1922)

CONNORS, JAMES F., police magistrate; b. Chatham, 23 Sep 1857 (bap. 11 Oct 1857), s/o Moses Connors, a native of County Waterford, Ireland, and Jane Kane, of New Brunswick; brother of Mary Ann Connors; m. 1891, Louisa J. Duffy, a native of Marysville, N.B.; d. Chatham, 3 May 1922.

James F. Connors was educated at St Michael's male academy in Chatham and St Joseph's College at Memramcook, where he achieved honors standing in 1876. He later studied law for two years with Richard B. Adams, attended Dalhousie University law school for a year (1884-85), and was employed as Judge William Wilkinson's clerk.

In 1888, upon the resignation of David T. Johnstone, Connors was appointed officer in charge of the grandly-named Dominion Meteorological Observatory at Chatham. He held this part-time post for much of the rest of his life and also filled various other part-time and temporary positions of responsibility, such as that of election returning officer. From 1898 onward his principal employment was as Chatham's police magistrate. In this position he was successor to Samuel U. McCulley, and his appointment represented a defeat for the temperance forces in Chatham. Once an initial furor over his selection died down, however, few complaints were heard from any quarter concerning his court. "He was diligent in the discharge of his judicial duties," stated the Moncton Daily Times, "and mixed mercy and justice in such a way as to command the confidence and respect of everybody."

Connors sat for a time on the County Council and was elected warden in 1898. In 1903 he was a member of the management committee for the construction of St Michael's Cathedral. He played an active part in the Knights of Columbus and other fraternal organizations. His wife, Louisa J. Duffy, who came to Chatham to teach at the grammar school, was later one of the early women members of the Chatham School Board, from 1900 until her death in 1920. No children survived her.

James F. Connors had a brother William T. Connors, who was Chatham's first town clerk and a customs house employee for twenty years, before his relatively early death in 1896. Three of his sisters, including Mary Ann Connors, entered religious life.