Charles G. Conn

Charles G. Conn

Charles Gerard Conn (January 29, 1844 – January 5, 1931) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana.

Biography

Conn was born in Phelps, New York but moved with his parents to Elkhart, Indiana, in 1851. He attended the common schools and enlisted in the Union Army May 18, 1861, serving as a private in the band of Company B, Fifteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

He was discharged September 10, 1862 and Reenlisted in Company G, First Michigan Sharpshooters, November 18, 1862. He was wounded and taken prisoner, being released from Columbia, South Carolina prison camp at the close of hostilities.

After the war he engaged in the grocery and bakery business and, in 1877, in the manufacture of band instruments at Elkhart, Indiana.

He served as mayor of Elkhart 1880-1883 and as member of the State house of representatives in 1889.

He established the Elkhart Daily Truth in 1890 and was owner of the Washington (D.C.) Times during part of his congressional term.

Conn was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895) but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1894.

He resumed the manufacture of band instruments at Elkhart, Indiana.

In 1916 he retired and moved to Los Angeles, California.

He died there January 5, 1931 and was interred in Grace Lawn Cemetery, Elkhart, Indiana.

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