Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/99

Rh Virginia to completp his education, and in July, 1842, was entered as a cadet in the Virginia mili- tary institute. Before the completion of his aca- demic course his supposed mother died, and npon her death-bed confos.se<l that she had ini^iosed him upon her husband and that he was not her child, but the son of a poor officer of the French army. When the information reached him that he was disinherited and disowned by him whom he ha<l respected and loved as a father, he was deeply dis- tressed. This, however, was of short duration, and he submitted to his misfortune with the fortitude of a philosopher. The authorities of the institute made provision for th» completion of his course of studies by a.ssigning him to the post of acting as- sistant professor of French. After his graduation he was advanced to the full professorship of French. lie occupied this chair until the beginning of the ^ civil war. He was miule colonel of the 10th rcgi- wnent of Virginia infantry, in May, 1861, and ap- pointed briga[>ointi-d colonel in the Kgyptian army, and subsequently received a decoration. On returning to the United States he lectured in several cities on Kgypt, and delivered an adilress on the war in the Soudan, published by the American geographical society in 1885.

CONATY, Thomas James, educator, b. in Kil- naleck. County Caven, Ireland, 1 Aug.. 1847. Com- ing to this country a youth, he was graduated at the College of the holv cross anil at the Montreal theo logical school. lie was fiastor of the Church of the sacred heart from 1880, and one of the organ- izers of the Catholic summer school at IMatlsburg, N. Y., and its president for four vears. In 1806 he was selected by the American bishops as rector of the Catholic university, Wa.<hington, and ap- pointed to the jKisition as successor to Dishop Keane iq. c.) by I'ope Leo XIII., who in 1807 con- ferred upon him the title of domestic prelate. Dr. Conaty founded and for four years edited " The Catholic School and Home Magazine."

'''CONE. Spencer Wnllare'''. lawyer, li. in Alex- andria, Va.. 'irt May, INIO ; d. in New York city. 21 Jan., 1888. lie was the son of Rev. SfK-ncer H. Cone (vol. i., p. 70.5), and was grailuated at the University of the city of New York, lie studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841, but de- voteil himself chiefly to literature and politics. For eleven years he was emjiloyed in the New York custom-hou.se, and was coiinected with the "Sunday Times." At the o|r>enini; of the civil war he organized the 61st New York regiment, and became its colonel, serving through the war, at the close of which he was brevetled brigadier- general of volunteers. Col. Cone published a small volume of [xjcms, one of fairy tales, and, with his brother, a memoir of their father.

CONYER, Edwin Henry. diplomatist, b. in Knoxcnunty. II1..7 March. lS4:i. lie wasgrmluated at Lombard universityandat the Albany law-school. He serveil for three years in the civil war. and since 1868 has been a banker in Iowa, lie was state treasurer for three years, and in 188.'> was sent to congress*, Iwing twice re-elected. He was appointed to Itrazil in 1801, serving for four years, and was again ap|Kiinteil by President McKinley in 1897. In the following year he was transferred to China, at present a more imfxirtant field than Brazil, and requiring the service of an able, astute, and experienceil minister.

'''CONRAD. Frederick William''', editor, b. in Pine Grove, Schuylkill co.. Pa., 3 Jan., 1816. He entered Mount Airy college, and for several years afterward was collector of tolls on the Union canal and railroad at Pine Grove. He studied in the theological seminary at Gettysburg in 1837-'9, was admitted to the Lutheran ministry in 1839, and he was pastor at Pine Grove and Waynesboro", Pa., anrsburg, Pa., till 1866. During his pastorate at I^ancaster he became joint owner and editor of the " Lutheran Observer," and in 1866 he remove<l to Philadelphia and became editor-in- chief of this (H-riodical. in which post he has con- tinuc<l to the present time. In 1864 Wittenberg college conferred on him the degree of D. D. Be- sides his editorial work, he has been a frequent con- tributor to the "Lutheran Quarterly." and many of his articles have liecn published in separate form. Among these is one on "Bapti.sm (Get- tysburg, 1873) ; "The Lutheran Church" (Phila- delphia, 1883) ; " Worship and its Forms " (Get- tysburg, 1884): and "Luther's Small Catechism Explained and Amplified" (Philadelphia, 1886).

CONY, Daniel, jurist, b. in that part of Stough- ton, Mass., that is now .Sharon, 3 Aug., 1752 ; d. in Augusta, Sle., 21 Jan., 1842. His grandfather, Na- thanael, came from England to Massachusetts in the latter part of the 17th century and settled in Boston, but in 1728 went loStoughton. Daniel re- moved in 1778 to " Fort Western settlement " (now Augusta. Me.). He had prepared himself before leaving Massachusetts for the profession of medi- cine, and was a successful practitioner for many years. He was in public life for several successive years as representative and senator in the general court and as a member of the executive council, and he was one of the electors that chose Wash- ington president for his secoml term. He held the office of judge of the court of commini pleas and of judge of probate from Kenneljec county, and was a delegate to the convention that framed the con- stitution of Maine. Judge Cony in 1815 founded and liberally endowed the Cony female acwicmy in Augu.sta (now the Coii^ high-school). His daugh- ter married Nathan Wextern, chief justice of com- mon pleas in Massachusetts in 1810-'20, and sub- sequently chief justice and associate justice of the supreme court of Maine in 1820-'41, and a daugh- ter by this marriage was the mother of Melville W. Fuller, chief justice of the United States.

'''CONYNGHAM. John Nesbit''', jurist, b. in Phila- delphia in December, 1708; d. in Wilkesbarre, Pa., 21 Feb., 1871. lie was the sou of David llayfield Conynghani and grandson of Hedmond Conyng- ham, of Ireland. Hedmond came to Philadelphia in 1750, and with James Maxwell Nesbit established the mercantile finn of J. N. Nesbit & Co. He re- turnetl to irelan<l before the Hevolution, and his son. David llayfield, who had Iteen trained in the counting-house of his father, succeeded him in the firm, which subsequently became Conyngham, Nes- bit & Co.. and which materially aided the cause of the colonies with their lil)eral donations from 1776 to 1783. David Conyngham was a member of the Philadelphia city troop during those days. John Nesbit Conyngham wasetiucated at the Uni- versity of IVniisvlvania, where he was graduated in 1817. studied law with Joshua K. Ingersoll, of Philadelphia, and in 1820 removed to Wilkesbarre where he became well known in his profes-