U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Conley, William Gustavus (1866-1940) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: A History of Preston County West Virginia Arthor: J. R. Cole The Journal Publishing Company, Kingwood W.Va. 1914 Pages 573-576 HON. WILLIAM GUSTAVUS CONLEY, LL.B. Abraham Lincoln once said: "No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned." To this class of honest toilers William G. Conley belongs. He worked on the farm for several years, and later drove mules on railroad construction work, dug coal, drew coke, worked in the stone quarries, on the sawmills, and whatever honest labor he could find to do to help support a widowed mother and his sisters and to obtain an education. Those earlier years of Mr. Conley's life will ever stand as a splendid monument to his memory. William G. Conley is a grandson of John Conley, an industrious farmer who resided near Tunnelton and died there in the year 1852 at the advanced age of over eighty years. He had a large family of sons and daughters. One of these sons was Major William Conley, the father of William G., a highly educated man in his day and a successful educator. Major Conley's early life was spent on a farm and in teaching school. He was principal of the Kingwood Academy for fourteen years. He was also a contractor for a number of years and was one of the builders of the Northwestern Turnpike and the Morgantown and Kingwood Turnpike. To the older generation Major Conley was known also as a man of considerable military ability and for some years was in command of the militia of the county just (before the war with the South. Major Conley married Mary Freeburn, who was born in Galwayshire, Scotland, October 7, 1828. Through the Lairds, she was a descendant of the noted Scotchman, Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in the poem entitled "Marmion." In 1837, she came with her parents and other members of the family to America and first located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but soon afterwards came to Preston county where she resided until iher death in March, 1897. Mary Freeburn was the daughter of Robert and Mary Laird Freeburn. Her sisters and brothers were William, Robert, Susan, Jane and John, all born in Galwayshire. Scotland, except John, who was born in America. The children of Major William Conley and Mary his wife, are Mary Ellen, John Allen, Edward Bunker, Ellen, William G., the subject of this sketch, and Mattie. William G. Conley was born near Kingwood, Preston county, West Virginia, January 8, 1866. He attended the district schools, the summer normals, and subsequently the West Virginia University, from which he graduated in June, 1893, with the degree of LL.B. His honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the Nashville College of Law in April, 1903. After performing manual labor as mentioned above, he taught school five terms and was superintendent of schools of Preston county one term, beginning July 1, 1891. Upon graduation at the West Virginia University he began the practice of the law at Parsons, West Virginia, and was soon elected a member of the town council and later mayor. His legal attainments were soon recognized and he was nominated and elected prosecuting attorney of Tucker county in 1896, without being a candidate, and was re-elected in 1900. He moved to Kingwood in March, 1903, and served as councilman and mayor of that town. On May 9, 1908, he was appointed Attorney General of West Virginia without solicitation and the following July was nominated by the State Republican Convention for both the short and the long term, and at the general election that fall was elected by the largest plurality of any candidate on the state ticket. His term as Attorney General expired March 4, 1913, when he again resumed the general practice of the law. Attorney General Conley is considered one of the really strong men of West Virginia. In the numerous important matters submitted to and determined by him, and the many grave constitutional questions raised in and out of court upon which he was called to pass, during the five years he served as the Attorney General of the State, he exercised a judgment seldom equaled and rarely excelled. His name will be favorably linked for all time to come with the jurisprudence of his state as the official reporter of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and because of the number and importance of the litigation in the state and federal courts in which he participated as counsel. A few of the noted cases follow: The State of Maryland v. the State of West Virginia, the boundary dispute, in the Supreme Court of the United States; the Common-wealth of Virginia v. the State of West Virginia, the Virginia Debt Suit, in the Supreme Court of the United States; the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company v. Conley, Attorney General and others, the two cent rate case, in the state and federal courts; the Coal & Coke Railway Company v. Conley & Avis, the two cent rate case, in Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia; the Norfolk & Western Railway Company v. Conley, Attorney General and others, and the Virginian Railway Company v. Conley, Attorney General and others, two cent rate cases, in the state courts; the King Land Cases, attacking the constitutionality of our land tax system, in state courts and the Supreme Court of the United States; the National Bank Cases, attacking the constitutionality of the law assessing national stock, in the federal courts; the numerous Tax Appeal Cases against the Board of Public Works attacking the method of and the amount assessed against fche public service corporations. General Conley was not a candidate for re-nomination, but in the republican primary of June, 1912, he was nominated for Congress in the Second District of West Virginia without opposition, and in the general election that fall came within fourteen votes of election, notwithstanding the republican party was badly disorganized and his democratic opponent was the most popular and one of the wealthiest men in the district, and at the election preceding had been elected by a plurality of four thousand, four hundred and ninety-two. General Conley has always affiliated with the republican party, is active in support of its principles and nominees, and contributes largely of his time and means. He was twice a delegate to the National Convention of Republican League Clubs, was assistant secretary of the Republican National Convention that nominated William McKinley at St. Louis in 1896, was six years chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Tucker county, and several years a member of the Congressional Committee of the Second District and twice its secretary. At the session of the legislature of 1913, in the Republican caucus, he received a large vote for United States Senator, without solicitation and without being a candidate. His name has been favorably mentioned as a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of West Virginia. On July 14, 1892, he married Miss Bertie Ison Martin, daughter of Samuel M. and Harriet J. Martin, of Preston county. Her father was a prominent farmer and a soldier in the Union Army. Mrs. Conley is a descendent of the Morgans, the noted Indian fighters and Revolutionary soldiers. The children born to General and Mrs. Conley are as follows: Lillian May, born August 3, 1893; William G., born July 8, 1895, deceased; Marian, born December 26, 1896, deceased; Donald M., born December 15, 1899; James S., born June 12, 1905. General Conley is a member of the Presbylterian Church at Kingwood; Knight of Pythias; I. O. O. F.; Modern Woodmen of America; A. F. of A. M., Commandery and Shriners; The American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Southern Sociological Congress. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional Information: --------------------------------------------------------------------- DEATH CERTIFICATE, Kanawha County WV #13192 Full-name: William G. Conley Date-of-Birth: 8-Jan-1866 in Kingwood, Preston County WV Date-of-Death: 21-Oct-1940 in Charleston, Kanawha County WV Marital-status: Widowed (of Bertie Ison Martin) Father: Major William Conley (born in Preston County) Mother: Mary Freeburn (born in Preston County) Informant: Vincent Legg Place-of-burial: Sunset Memorial Park, Spring Hill WV DEATH CERTIFICATE, Kanawha County WV #13065 Full-name: Bertie I. Conley Date-of-Birth: 20-Jun-1873 in Kingwood, WV Date-of-Death: 30-Oct-1939 in Charleston, Kanawha County WV Marital-status: married to Wm. G. Conley Father: Samuel Martin (born in Preston County WV) Mother: Harriet J. Snyder (born in Preston County WV) Informant: James S. Conley Place-of-burial: Sunset Mem. Cem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------