John Conness (September 22, 1821 - January 10, 1909) was a first-generation Irish-American businessman who served as a U.S. Senator from California. A Douglas Democrat who later became a Union Republican while serving in the Senate, Conness had evidently earned Lincoln’s respect. Lincoln once said of Conness that he “is habitually careful not to say what he does not know,” and described him on another occasion as “one of our United States Senators, of high standing, whom I cheerfully indorse.” Conness was a pallbearer at Lincoln’s funeral on April 19, 1865.
