Genealogy of Conley Family

by Albert Henry Conley


Genealogy of Conley Family as dictated to Bertha Stuck by Albert Henry Conley [1850–1924].[1] This dictation was made sometime between 1921 and 1923 during President Harding’s administration according to certain parts of the text.

Decended from one of two Scotch Irish brothers that landed in New York about 1790 the one brother married a Scotch girl name of Green. [1800 Census, Norwalk, CT: John Conley (Sr.) with wife and 3 boys under 10.] Of that family was John Smith Lansing [i.e. John Conley (Jr.)], Daniel Conley, another boy not known [Alanson Conley] and several girls.

Daniel Conley [1796 CT – 1837 OH], my grandfather, married an English woman; Deborah Hanford [1793 Norwalk, CT – aft 1870 OH] daughter of Major Hanford [Ebenezer Hanford, 2nd (1756–1833)] a revolutionary soldier.[2] She had 3 brothers and 1 sister.

 •  The sister was Lucretia Hanford who married Thomas Seymor [i.e. Thomas H. Seymour] gov. of Connecticut.[3] [Lucretia (1790–1849) married Holly Seymour (1787–1833). Source: A History of the Seymour Family (1939).]
 •  One brother, Henry Hanford [(1784–1866)] [4] owned tract land including the Lewistown Resovoir [i.e. Lewistown Reservoir, see Indian Lake] of Ohio. One of Henry’s daughters [Juliette] married General Workman’s son who was a congressman from Indiana for 6 years [James McWorkman (1819–1885)]. The youngest daughter Lottie Hanford married Judge McKinnon son of Doc. McKinnon and lived on the home place at Lewistown. [Twisted: Lottie married Dr. Benjamin F. McKinnon (1834–1887), physician and farmer, the youngest son of Judge McKinnon, of Clark Co., Ohio. Source: "Dr. Benjamin T. McKinnon", History of Logan County and Ohio (1880), pp. 736–737.]
 •  The other brother Ebenezer Hanford lived close to Cincinnati. [i.e. Deborah's oldest brother, Thaddeus Hanford (1780–1850), who moved abt. 1803 to Hamilton Co., OH. He was married to Abigail Brown (1786–1844).] His oldest daughter was the mother of Henry Waterson, the great Southern Editor of Louisville Kentucky. [Mix-up: Henry Watterson's mother was Talitha Black.] The youngest daughter married Supreme Justice Stanley Mathews. He was also an Ohio Senator. [Mix-up: Stanley Matthews' mother was Isabella Brown. But: Thaddeus was the grandfather of Thaddeus Hanford, Jr. (1847–1892), a newspaper editor from Seattle, and Cornelius H. Hanford (1849–1926), the first United States Judge for the District of Washington. Research help by JoAnn Rice.]
 •  [The third brother, William Hanford (1782–1870), lived at Dryden, Tompkins Co., NY. He is the great-grandfather of Gen. Hanford MacNider.]

Daniel Conley sold out his shoe store in Connecticut and moved on a 40 acre farm in Logan County [Ohio]. [This occurred around 1834, see Ohio land patents.] His children were:

 •  Andrew [Syrenus] Conley [abt. 1831 CT – 1885 KS] (Lived about 10 miles from Kansas City, Missouri.)
 •  William [A.] Conley [b. 1825 CT] (Lived at Grundy [unknown town], New York.) [5]
 •  Francis Henry Conley [1824 CT – 1900 OH; source: record of deaths; tombstone: "1825"] (Lived his final years at Van Wert, Ohio.)
 •  Mary Caroline Conley Staymates [b. abt. 1828 CT; m. Peter Stamats] (Lived on home place at Bellefontaine, Ohio.)
 •  [T. Hanford Conley (b. abt 1822 CT) m. Martha Ann; source: will, March 1854, Logan Co., OH]

Daniel Conley took cold and died while building a brick house on his farm. He was about 40 years old.[6] Francis Henry was about 10 yrs. old at this time and he inherited the 40 acres but gave it to his sister Mary Caroline Staymates because she took care of his mother. Mary Caroline Conley’s husband Peter Staymates was a Major in the Civil War.

Another son [of Daniel and Deborah Conley] not mentioned before was Hanford Conley who married but died young leaving no children.

Andrew Conley married Elizabeth Jane [i.e. Eliza Burton Zane] [7] related to Betty Jane [i.e. Betty Zane] girl of the revolution. The had 5 children, all girls. The only one that can be traced is Lyda Conley [abt. 1869–1946] a lawyer in Kansas City.[8]

Francis Henry Conley [1824–1900], my father, was born in Connecticut. Inventor of the old iron plow, worked with wagon maker. He married Cecilia Evelyn Harper [1827–1894; tombstone: "Cecelia E. Conley"] a German girl. To them was born 10 children – two girls Caroline and Lizzie died when young, the other 8 are now living. The oldest son Albert Henry Conley dictating this is unmarried. The next son Frank Lesley Conley married Susie Hosford. They had 12 children – 5 dead and 7 living. Next was Daniel Calvin Conley who married Emma Horning Roberts. She had 2 children by a previous marriage and at this writing they have 3 girls living and one dead. Next was Charles Marion Conley who married Ella Bergett and have 7 children all living. Next is Ida Josephine Conley who married Adam Franklin Myers of Shelby Ohio. They had 2 children and Ida Josephine married a second time after the death of Adam Franklin to Sanford Smith and they are living in Van Wert, Ohio. There were no children from this second marriage. Next was William Eugene Conley, married to Hattie DeCamp. They have 3 boys and 2 girls living and 1 daughter dead. The youngest child Anna Elizabeth Conley married John Stuck of Celina, Ohio. They have 10 children – 4 boys and 6 girls. 2 girls are dead, the other 8 are living.

[page 2] And last was Edmond Harper Conley who married Myrtle Baker of Celina, Ohio. They had 10 children all living. 6 boys and 4 girls.

Francis Henry Conley bought a farm near Eldorado, Butler Co., Kansas; thirty miles from Witchita, Kansas. He traded it off for a 40-acre farm near Convoy, Ohio. Later oil was discovered on the Kansas farm and it sold for $ 1,000.00 per acre. It turned out to be the best oil field in the west outside of Oklahoma. It was a 160-acre farm and sold for $ 160,000.00.

Francis Henry Conley had $ 11,000.00 real estate and personal. He went a man’s security and had to pay $ 8,000.00. He was forced to sell and wound up with 2,500.00. He opened a general store and had 120-acres five miles east of Bellefontaine, Ohio and then came back to Van Wert and bought 40-acres on town creek paying $ 60.00 an acre about 75 years ago. (The old Moneysmith farm.) He went in stock business and then went into buying land. Sold timber off the land hauled and sold bolts. He bought and paid for 80-acres of land each for Frank, Will, and Charley. When he died he didn’t have any debts.

[page 3] Peter Harper [the father of Cecilia E. Harper] was born in Philadelphia about 1769. He was kidnapped sometime between the age of 5 and 10 years old and therefore his ancestry cannot be traced beyond that time. He was a seaman for 31 years and was wounded in war Tiroh? [i.e. Tripolitan War (1801–1805)] He helped burn the Philadelphia under Commander Ireton. He married Mary Rusk daughter of a butcher in Philadelphia. He was captain of M club for Stephen Grard [sic] building Lizard College in 1812.[9] He was first in Baltimore when General Ross tried to take that city.[10] He could speak 6 different languages; French, High & Low Dutch, Italian, English and German. He was first an interpreter on the ship and worked his way up to captain. He fought 3 pirate ships and won against all 3. In one of these battles he was having a sword fight with the captain of the pirate ship and when the pirate saw he war losing the battle he shot Peter through the breast. Peter kept right on fighting and won the fight and captured the pirate ship and took it to port.

Peter and Mary had 16 children and thoes that lived and grew up follows.

 •  Peter Harper Jr. (Hotel owner in Cincinnati.)
 •  Edmond Harper (Killed by his brother in law Dr. Corwell when he caught Corwell robbing his store.)
 •  Benjamin Harper [1817–1887] (Lived in Rock Island, Ill. and owned Theator [sic], Hotel and coal mine.)
 •  Albert Harper (Married 3 times and had 12 children.) [1880 Census: A. R. Harper, b. abt. 1830 PA, is living in Petersburg, Menard Co., Illinois]
 •  Barbara Harper [1818–1878] (Married William Downs – Richmond Center, Wisc. They had five girls that lived.)
 •  Cecilia Evelyn Harper [1827–1894] (Married Francis Henry Conley and had 10 Children)
 • Josephine Harper (Married William Underhill had 4 girls lived and 1 boy dead) [Ben Harper "leaves a sister, Mrs. Underhill, of Columbus, Ohio and a brother, A. R., formerly of this city, but now in the southern part of the state". Obituary, Rock Island Argus, April 4, 1887.]

Peter Harper was chopping wood and a chip struck him in the eye. He was about 90 years old when this happened and he later went blind in the other eye. He lived to be 101 years old. He died in Van Wert, Ohio and was buried in the old cemetary on West Main St. Ben Harper was to send $ 2,500.00 for a monument and burial but it was never received.

Ben Harper lived in Rock Island, Ill. in about 1872. He came there from Missouri with a capitol [sic] of 80,000.00. He had been in a meat house packing business. After coming to Rock Island, Ill., he was mayor for 4 terms. He had many residences built and also built a hotel called the "Harper House". It was the largest hotel in the west outside of Chicago, Ill. Also built a theator called Safe Guard Theator. At his death his wealth was estimated at one millian dollars. As long as Ben Harper's mother and father lived he gave each one $ 50.00 a month and if they wanted more they would have to ask for it. Ben Harper was married twice and the second time he married a woman much younger than himself. The hotel he built was so large he couldn't find anyone to furnish it so he had to have it furnished before he could rent it.

Edmond Harper was Sammy Harper's father.
Sammy Harper went to Denver, Colorado in about 1872. He was a bachelor. He had interest in a gold mine and accumilated about a million and a half dollars. Sammy wrote to Albert Henry Conley son of Francis Henry Conley and told him that he was about to die. He was 75 years old and want to know his heirs as he didn't have any family and wanted to devide it up with his fathers brothers and sisters and if they didn't come, the money would never leave the state.

[page 4] [Emma Horning] Fathers name: John Price Horning. Mothers name: Sara Ann Martin Horning. 2 brothers and 1 sister. Eva Horning married Henry Grimm both deceased. Arthur Horning married Allie Barber both deceased and Elmer Horning married Emma Goodwin. Both were married once before. Emma Horning was married to Levi [Roberts] first in 1882 who died in 1886, leaving two children. John Roberts born Oct. 11, 1884 and Irvin Roberts born August 5, 1886.

Emma Horning Roberts married Daniel Calvin Conley in 1886.[11] They had 6 children. Josephine Conley who married Ernest Hire had one daughter Marjorie Hire. Ernest Hire died and she later married William Noon and they had one son William Noon. Josephine died when William was several years old. Ceciela Conley died 18__ after birth with pneumonia. Ruth Conley married Thomas McClure and they have 4 children: Wilbur McClure, Lester McClure, Margarette McClure and Beatrice McClure. There were twin girls Marie and Marguiette Conley. Marie Conley married Steve Jackson and their children are: Olive Jackson, Myrtle Jackson, Jack Jackson, Colleen Jackson, Floyd Jackson, Richard Jackson and Stanley Jackson. Marguiette Conley married Lee Bashore and their children are: Ruth Helen Bashore, Kathrine Bashore, Daniel Bashore, Paul Bashore, Stanley Bashore, Richard Bashore and Joseph Bashore. Albert Harper Conley [1893–1936] married Alma Harris Oct. 11, 1917 who was born July 22, 1900.[12] Her fathers name was Thomas Harris. She had one brother and 2 sisters who are Audrey Harris Krieger, Thomas Harris and Mable.

[page 5; probably added later] Mary Cathrine Connelly [i.e. Mary Catherine Connelly Hughes (b. 1830)] was a sister to Daniel Conley [wrong], father of Francis Henry Conley. Mary Cathrine married David Charles Hughes a Baptist preacher ordained at Wesleyan University. Charles Evens Hughes [i.e. Charles Evans Hughes] – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, ran for president and was defeated; is presently Secretary of State under President Harding. Is their son. Charles Evens Hughes was born April 11, 1862.[13]



      [1] Bertha Stuck was the daughter of Albert Henry’s sister Anna Elizabeth "Annie" Conley (1866–1933) and John T. Stuck (1861–1919). The scanned images of the typed manuscript are online. They are part of the family documents collected by Clete Conley, who died Nov. 27, 2000.

      [2] Daniel Conley married Deborah Hanford at New Canaan, Connecticut on Nov. 8, 1821.

      [3] Thomas Henry Seymour was born in Hartford, Connecticut on Sept. 29, 1807. Unsuccessful in his first campaign for Governor of Connecticut (1849), he was elected Governor in 1850. He resigned in 1853 when he was appointed by President Franklin Pierce as Minister to Russia. A lifelong bachelor, Seymour lived in Hartford with his sister, Mary Ellery Seymour. He died in Hartford on Sept. 3, 1868. (Source: Connecticut Historical Society.)

      [4] Henry Hanford (b. Dec. 22, 1784 Norwalk, CT). His biography is published in the History of Logan County and Ohio. Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., 1880. (p. 735)

      [5] William Conley (b. Oct. 28, 1825 New Canaan, CT) and his wife Eliza J. Polly (1827–1887) are mentioned in the 1855 Census, Town of Dix, Schuyler Co., New York. They are buried at Glenwood Cemetery, NY. (Research help by Ann Heatherington.) Schuyler County lies next Tomkins County, where William Conley's uncle William Hanford lived.

      [6] "The first frame house in the 'village' was built by a man named Conly [= Daniel Conley], who was the pioneer shoemaker in the place" (History of Logan County and Ohio, chapter XXI: Washington Twp., p. 533). Daniel is buried at Lewistown Cemetery, Ohio. His tombstone reads: "DANIEL CONLEY. DIED AUG. 31, 1837. AGED 40 Yrs. & 8 Mo."

      [7] Eliza B. Zane (1838–1879) was a great-granddaughter of Chief Tarhe, a Wyandot Indian. She married Andrew S. Conley 1860 at Logan County, Ohio.

      [8] Andrew and Eliza Conley had 4 (not 5) children: Sallie (d. 1880), Ida, Lena and Lyda. 1880 US Federal Census: Andrew S. Conley of Quindaro, Wyandotte, Kansas (49; widower). Household Members: Ida Conley (16), Lena Conley (14), and Lida Conley (11).

      [9] "Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy, made a 'Statement of the Circumstances attending the destruction of the Frigate Philadelphia' on February 16, 1804. In his report, Smith lists all the officers and men who were involved in the burning of the Philadelphia, and unfortunately, neither Peter Harper nor a Commander Ireton are listed. In addition, there was no entry for either man in Register of Officer Personnel, United States Navy and Marine Corps, and Ships' Data, 1801–1807. Furthermore, I could not find any information on Lizard College in any of the published resources available to ALIC." (Carolyn Gilliam, Reference Librarian, Archives Library Information Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Oct. 29, 2008.)

      [10] On Sept. 12, 1814, British troops landed to attack Baltimore (War of 1812).

      [11] Daniel C. Conley (1855–1942) owned a photo studio in Celina, Ohio. He died in Michigan.

      [12] Albert and Alma Conley had 8 children: Liz, Dean (d. 2007), Mary Ann (d. 2001), John (d. 1973), Luella, Wandy, Clete (d. 2000) and Bob.

      [13] Charles E. Hughes (1862–1948) father's name was David Charles Hughes. His father was a young Methodist preacher from Wales who landed in New York Harbor in 1855. Charles E. Hughes mother's name was Catherine Connelly, a school teacher. Source: E-Mail from the Supreme Court Historical Society, 4.4.2001. (Daniel Conley would have been, if still alive, 66 years old, when Charles E. Hughes was born. It's very unlikely, that a sister of him was Hughes' mother.)




Source: Family documents collected by Clete Conley
Transcribed by Patrick Conley, Berlin (May 2002)

Update: August 5, 2010