E. Palmer Conner

E. Palmer Conner, also known as Edmund Palmer Conner, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on January 1, 1900, and moved west with his family as a child, first to San Diego and later to Pasadena. He built his career in Los Angeles title and escrow work, including service with the Title Insurance and Trust Company, where he held roles such as Chief Title Searcher and Plant Manager.

That professional background clearly informed The Romance of the Ranchos, a short history of the Spanish and Mexican ranchos of Los Angeles County. The book was published by Title Insurance and Trust Company and presents the region's land history in an accessible, story-driven way, connecting place names, ownership, and local memory.

Conner was also an amateur photographer whose color slides of downtown Los Angeles, especially Bunker Hill during redevelopment, were preserved by The Huntington Library. Those photographs suggest the same impulse found in his writing: a desire to record a California landscape and way of life that was rapidly changing.