Lowndes-Colquitt County GaArchives Biographies.....Conoley, William Breckinridge 1866 - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 19, 2004, 11:20 am Author: William Harden p. 783-785 WILLIAM BRECKINRIDGE CONOLEY. Twenty years ago Mr. Conoley was getting $25 a month as a "woods superintendent” in the turpentine industry of Georgia. His name is now associated as an official or stockholder in half a dozen or more of the important business and industrial enterprises of south Georgia. He had the ability and industry required by the modern world of affairs, and has been rewarded with prosperity and influence. Mr. Conoley is one of the prominent citizens of Valdosta, where he has resided since 1903. William Breckinridge Conoley was born in Robeson county, North Carolina, on February 17, 1866. His family and its connections were prominent in that state from an early period. The great-grandfather Conoley, a native of Ireland, crossed the Atlantic and settled in Robe-son county, North Carolina, buying land in the south part of the county, where he farmed until his death, and was buried on the homestead. A slab of light wood, inscribed with his name and date of death, marks his last resting place. Two brothers came with him to America, and they settled in New York. William Conoley, son of this pioneer and grandfather of the Valdosta business man. was born in Robeson county early in the last century, and remained a lifelong resident and farmer of that vicinity, his death occurring at the age of about fifty years. He married Annie Patterson, a native of the same county and of pure Scotch ancestry, being a descendant of the Campbells of Scotland. She survived her husband, attaining the good old age of about eighty. Her six children were named John Alexander Patterson, James, Scott, Sidney, Ann and Sarah. John Alexander Patterson Conoley, the father, had an interesting career. Born in Robeson county, North Carolina, January 26, 1834, he was reared on a farm and at the time of his marriage bought a tract of unimproved land and built a log house with a clay floor and a dirt and stick chimney with large fireplace—this being the home in which he began wedded life and in which some of his children were born. His career as farmer was interrupted by the war, in which he made a fine record as soldier and officer. July 22, 1861, he enlisted in Company D of the Second North Carolina Cavalry, which was attached to Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's famous cavalry corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. His own service included many of the most important battles and campaigns of the war—Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness and many of the encounters and struggles about Richmond and Petersburg, being at the latter place when the mine was exploded. At one time he was knocked senseless by the concussion of a shell, and his comrades, thinking him dead, threw him into a pit, where he lay face upward in a pool of water until regaining consciousness, and then returned to his company. Pie was also once captured, but was soon exchanged. Enlisting as a private he was promoted by merit and faithful service through the different grades to major. At the end of the war he resumed farming for three years, was then in the turpentine industry four years, after which he returned to the quiet pursuits, of the farm, and continued so until his death on October 25, 1904. Major Conoley married Sarah Curry, who still resides on the old homestead in North Carolina. She was born in Robeson county, July 22, 1836. Her grandfather was Edward Curry, a native of Scotland, who afterwards immigrated to America and bought land near Lumber Bridge in Robeson county, where he spent the rest of his days, his body now resting in the Lumber Bridge churchyard. In Scotland he had been a distiller of brandy, and Robert Burns, as a revenue officer, had once raided his premises and cut his still in two pieces. He had it repaired and brought it to America with him. After his death his son, the father of Mrs. Conoley, had the still stored in a corn crib. He was often importuned to sell it, but always refused. About 1840 someone entered the crib, took the still and left ten dollars in payment. For many years nothing was known of its whereabouts, until 1905, when it was captured in a raid by U. S. revenue officers in Cumberland county and taken to Raleigh. Its peculiar construction attracted attention, descriptions were published in the press, and it was conclusively identified as the same which had been brought over by Edward Curry about a century before. Malcomb Curry, father of Mrs. Conoley, was a native and lifelong resident of Robeson county, where he died at the age of seventy-eight. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and had a shop on his farm. He married Catherine McNinch, of Scotch ancestry and a native of Robeson county. Sarah (Curry) Conoley is one of the venerable women who during early life were trained in the home industries which have long since passed out of fashion. She cooked by a fireplace, carded, spun and wove cotton and wool, and dressed her family in homespun clothes. She reared six children, whose names were: Catherine Ann Virginia, Charles Hamilton, Louvinia Robeson, John Lee, William Breckinridge and Alice Vitz Ellen. Industrious habits were part of the home training for all, and while the boys did the work of the farm the daughters were learning the same household arts of spinning and other things which their mother had employed. Mr. Conoley has two sisters. Jeanette and Catherine. In this way the early years of William. B. Conoley were spent upon the old homestead in North Carolina. At the age of sixteen he first left home, spending four months in Georgia, and two years later again came to this state to remain some eight months. Finally in 1890 he began his permanent residence in Georgia, beginning work for his brother, John L., as a "woods superintendent" in the turpentine industry. In this way he acquired a thorough knowledge of turpentine production, and in 1894 engaged in the business for himself in Colquitt county. Mr. Conoley was actively identified with this important line of Georgia manufacture until 1905, and from his success in this has transferred his interests and activities to various other important enterprises. In 1903 he moved to Valdosta, where he built his present attractive home. At the present time Mr. Conoley is owner of extensive farm lands in Lowndes and Colquitt counties, Georgia, and in Fernando and Pasco counties, Florida; is vice-president of the Valdosta & Moultrie Railroad Company; vice-president of the Valdosta Power & Light Company; a director in the Valdosta Bank & Trust Company; is stockholder in the Jacksonville Development Company and the Southern Drug & Manufacturing Company of Jacksonville, Florida, and a stockholder in the Valdosta Times Publishing Company; in the Citizens Bank of Moultrie and of the Valdosta Realty Company. Mr. Conoley was married on December 20, 1893, to Miss Clara Alline Spivey, who was born in Lowndes county, a daughter of J. Benton and Adella Spivey. Clara A., William B., Jr., and Clyde Elizabeth are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Conoley. The first, Clara A., was born January 26, 1895, and died July 29, 1899. Mr. Conoley and his daughter are members of the Presbyterian church, while his wife belongs to the Missionary Baptist. Mr. Conoley is an active Mason, having membership in St. Johns Lodge, F. & A. M., Valdosta Chapter, E. A. M., Malta Commandery, No. 16, K. T., and the Alee Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Additional Comments: From: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/lowndes/bios/gbs308conoley.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb