After his military discharge on May 4,1865,John moved north to Hartford,Connecticut.There he married Mary L.Davis in 1870.In 1879 ,the Connas and their seven children moved to Kansas City, Kansas.In 1883,when the continental railroad reached the west coast,the Conna family became the first African Americans to travel by train to Tacoma,Washington,the western terminus.He purchased a 160 acre farm north of Tacoma which is now a part of Federal Way,Washington.
Shortly thereafter,John joined the Allen C. Mason real estate firm and soon became its leading broker by 1890 he started his own real estate firm.He also actively recruited African Americans from other parts of the country to migrate to the Pacific Northwest including coal miners who settled near Roslyn, Washington in the 1890s.
John was politically active.By the time Washington became a state in 1889,he was the titular leader of the African American voting bloc in Tacoma as president of the John Brown Republician Club and the Washington State Protective League.He was also a member of the local chapter of the African -American League,the predecessor to the NAACP.Due to his political influence he was selected Sergeant at Arms for the Washington State Legislature in 1889. While there he helped successfully lobby for Washington's first Public Accommodation law.On December 24,18889,John & Mary Conna donated 40 acres of land,which is now called the Conna addition ,to the City of Tacoma.
He caught the "gold fever" and the age of 64 sailed for Alaska.By 1910 he had established a real estate,mining and investment company and a second hand furniture store in Fairbanks,Alaska.John also ran unsuccessfully for the Alaska Territorial Senate and for the Fairbanks City Council as a Socialist.At the time of his death in 1921,at the time of his death John owned six rental houses in Fairbanks,and several shares of the Cripple Creek gold mine.
Shortly thereafter,John joined the Allen C. Mason real estate firm and soon became its leading broker by 1890 he started his own real estate firm.He also actively recruited African Americans from other parts of the country to migrate to the Pacific Northwest including coal miners who settled near Roslyn, Washington in the 1890s.
John was politically active.By the time Washington became a state in 1889,he was the titular leader of the African American voting bloc in Tacoma as president of the John Brown Republician Club and the Washington State Protective League.He was also a member of the local chapter of the African -American League,the predecessor to the NAACP.Due to his political influence he was selected Sergeant at Arms for the Washington State Legislature in 1889. While there he helped successfully lobby for Washington's first Public Accommodation law.On December 24,18889,John & Mary Conna donated 40 acres of land,which is now called the Conna addition ,to the City of Tacoma.
He caught the "gold fever" and the age of 64 sailed for Alaska.By 1910 he had established a real estate,mining and investment company and a second hand furniture store in Fairbanks,Alaska.John also ran unsuccessfully for the Alaska Territorial Senate and for the Fairbanks City Council as a Socialist.At the time of his death in 1921,at the time of his death John owned six rental houses in Fairbanks,and several shares of the Cripple Creek gold mine.
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