Columbia County OR Archives Biographies.....Conyers, William E. March 7, 1856 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 28, 2009, 10:03 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 157-159 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company WILLIAM E. CONYERS was the first white male child born at Clatskanie and is the oldest native-born resident here. He is now living retired, after many years of active and successful effort as a farmer. One of Columbia county's best known citizens, he is well worthy of mention among its representative men. He was born on the 7th of March, 1856, a son of Enoch Ward and Hannah C. (Bryant) Conyers. In the Portland Daily Journal of June 22, 1928, Fred Lockley printed the following account of the Conyers family: " 'My people crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852. My father's name was Enoch W. Conyers. My mother's name was Hannah C. Bryant. My father was born at Carlisle, Kentucky, December 2, 1829. My father's father and Abraham Lincoln's father were long-time friends in Kentucky, and also in Illinois, to which state they moved in 1830. Lincoln's father settled in Macon county, Illinois. My grandfather, whose name, like my father's, was Enoch Conyers, settled in Adams county. Abraham Lincoln was twenty-one years old when his father and stepmother moved from Kentucky to Illinois. He worked on his father's farm, getting out rails to fence the place, most of the fence rails being made of back walnut. Abraham Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, moved from Macon county to Goose Nest prairie, in Coles county. My father's recollection of Abraham Lincoln was of a very kindly young man, who was tremendously tall, slender and strong. " 'My grandfather, Enoch Conyers, moved to Quincy in 1835. He was elected mayor of Quincy in 1837 and served two terms. He was owner of a sawmill and two brickyards. He died of cholera. This was during his third term as mayor. My grandfather had fourteen children. My father was one of the first group of eight children, his mother's maiden name being Mary Williams West. After the death of my grandmother, Grandfather married Katherine Parsons, of New Hampshire, and she became the mother of two sons and two daughters. After her death, Grandfather married Elizabeth Archer, of Kentucky, who was the mother of two more of Grandfather's children. “ 'My father was serving as deputy postmaster when he enlisted in Company A, of the First Regiment of Illinois Volunteers for the Mexican war. John J. Hardin was colonel of the regiment. Father served a year in the Mexican war, being discharged on June 17, 1847. Father then returned to Quincy, where he taught school for awhile, and later studied medicine. When we first settled in Clatskanie there was no doctor between Portland and Astoria, so settlers for miles around our home called on father for medical services. He had never graduated from medical college, but through constant practice and what knowledge he had he became a very good doctor. Father learned the key and sounder and was the first telegraph operator at Burlington, Iowa. This was in 1848. After serving as telegraph operator for a year, father decided to take up outdoor work, so he worked as a bricklayer until 1852, at which time he started across the plains for California. " 'While crossing the plains he heard such favorable reports from Oregon that he changed his destination and came to Oregon City. He put in the winter of 1852 laying brick at Hillsboro. In the spring of 1853 he went to Oak Point, where he worked in Abernethy's sawmill. Father and mother were married in the fall of 1853. Not long thereafter he came to Clatskanie and bought a squatter's right to three hundred and twenty acres of land from Mr. Bennett. " 'My mother's father, Elihu G. Bryant, built the first building in Clatskanie. It was on the banks of the Clatskanine river. In about 1872 father circulated a peti¬tion and had a post office started here. We got our mail once a week by rowboat from Oak Point, on the Columbia river, and up the Clatskanine river to our store. I rowed the boat as a youth until we established mail route No. 1. Father was the first postmaster. In addition to the store, he ran a hotel and the post office in our home. The town of Clatskanie is located on the donation land claim of my mother's father, Elihu G. Bryant. He came here in the fall of 1852. In about 1880 he platted the townsite and called it Bryantville, but as the name of the post office was Clatskanie, everyone called this place Clatskanie, so Grandfather had to give up the name of Bryantville. My grandfather built the first building in town, but the first business building was built by my father but the money was furnished by my brother-in-law, W. K. Tichenor, who had made his money as a fisherman. The building is still standing and is now owned by the Clatskanie Drug Company. " 'My father built and operated the first steamboat on the Clatskanine river. Father bought a fishboat thirty-six feet long, with twelve feet beam, in 1876. He sent to Illinois for a boiler and engine. It came up from San Francisco by boat and we installed in our little thirty-six-foot boat, which we named the "Novelty." This little boat was a good money maker. We carried freight and passengers and did towing on the Clatskanine river. My brother-in- law, W. K. Tichenor, started a hotel here in 1882.' " Enoch W. Conyers' land was covered with heavy timber, which he logged off with oxen, rafting the logs to a sawmill at Portland, and in this way cleared a goodly portion of the tract. He constructed his first house of split cedar boards and operated that farm until early in the '80s, when he sold the place to his daughter, Nancy A. Tichenor, and moved to McMinnville, Oregon, where he bought a small ranch, on which he lived several years. He then returned to Clatskanie and engaged in business, lived there until his death, which occurred in 1923, at the advanced age of ninety-six years. He served for fourteen years as the postmaster at Clatskanie, and was also the first telegraph operator at this place. In his political views, he was in his earlier years a Douglas democrat but later became a republican, was the first justice of the peace in Clatskanie, and served in the state legislature from 1860 to 1864, and again from 1908 to 1910. He was a charter member of the Masonic lodge at Rainier. To him and his wife were born nine children, namely: Mary Ellen, deceased; William Elihu; Enoch George, deceased; Mrs. Nancy Ann Tichenor; Charles L., Mrs. Millicent Durham; Hannah E., Azelie M.; and Mrs. Lillian Johns, a widow. William E. Conyers received his educational training in the public schools at Clatskanie and the old Baptist college at McMinnville, from which he was graduated in civil engineering. After leaving college he worked as a civil engineer in Columbia county, and still occasionally does surveying. Soon after leaving school he bought the old farm from his father and there gave his attention to farming and dairying for several years, but is now retired and is living in Clatskanie. On February 24, 1892, Mr. Conyers was married to Hattie J. Quigley, who was born in Multnomah county, Oregon, March 6, 1876, and died at Clatskanie, March 9, 1902. They became the parents of three children. Kit Carson, born at Clatskanie in 1895, married Miss Fanny Snow and lives in Portland. Verna Harriet, born September 12, 1897, died in Portland, November 4, 1918. George G., born in 1899, married Miss Gladys Lake and lives at St. Helens, Oregon. Mr. Conyers takes an interest in everything relating to the welfare of his community or county and has been active in local public affairs, having served as deputy postmaster at Clatskanie, and also as a deputy sheriff of Columbia county. He owned several fine blood hounds, which he used successfully in running down criminals. He also served as a deputy United States marshal. In his younger days he was a keen hunter, being an excellent shot, and still occasionally goes after deer. Fraternally he is a member of Clatskanie Lodge, No. 160, I. O. O. F. Because of his earnest life, his loyalty to all the obligations of citizenship and his kindly and helpful disposition, he has always commanded the respect and esteem of his fellowmen and is regarded as one of the worthy citizens of Columbia county. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/conyers947gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 8.9 Kb