Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/367

 CONKLING

CONKLlNG

CONKLINQ, Margaret Cockburn (Mrs.

Steele), author, was born in Canajoharie, N.Y., Jan. 27, 1814; daughter of Alfred and Eliza (Cockburn) Conkling. She was educated at Albany, N. Y. She is the author of Memoirs of the Mother and Wife of Washington (1850) ; and Isabel, or Trials of the Heart. She frequently contributed to periodical literature, and trans- lated Florian's History of the Moors of Spain. Slie died in Jersey City, N.J., July 25. 1890.

CONKLINQ, Roscoe, lawyer and statesman, was born in Albany. N.Y., Oct. 30, 1829; son of Alfred and Eliza (Cockburn) Conkling. His EngUsh ancestor, John Conkling, came to the Massachusetts bay colony in 1635, where he and his sons estab- lished the industry- of glass-making, being described in the early land grants as " glasse-men."' His father, Alfred Conk- ling, was a distin- guished jurist, and his mother was known as the " belle of the Mohawk val- ley." In 1839 Judge Conkling removed his family from Al- bany to Auburn, N.Y., where Roscoe attended school, and Mount Washington York city, where he He then studied law

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in 1842 he entered the collegiate institute, New remained for one year, with Spencer & Kernan, at Utica, N.Y., and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was appointed district attorney April 22, 1850, and at the con- clusion of his term of office entered into partner- ship with the Hon. Thomas R. "Walker, and rapidly rose to prominence at the bar. He made his first political oration in 1848, in behalf of the Whig candidates, Taylor and Fillmore. During the campaign of 1852 he made several speeches which established his reputation as a campaign orator. In 1854 he was one of the vice-presidents of the Whig state convention at Syracase, X.Y., and became an active member of the Republican party on its formation. On June 25, 1855, he was married to Julia, daughter of Henry Seymour, and sister of Horatio Seymour, governor of New York. In 1858 the Republicans of Utica, N.Y., elected him mayor of that city, and in the same year he was chosen as a representative to the 36th congress. His speech before the committee of the whole upon President Buchanan's message was a masterly effort and won the applause of

his party. During the campaign of Lincoln and Hamlin Mr. Conkling became well known as a stump orator and at the same election was re- turned to congress. On Jan. 30, 1861, he made a notable speech upon the state of the Union ; in the 37th congress opposed the 13th amendment of the constitution, and made a speech on the battle of Ball's Bluff, in which he charged gross mismanagement and moved a resolution, asking the secretary of war if measures had been taken to fix the responsibility for tliat disastrous ac- tion, which was passed without amendment. Mr. Conkling was an ad^-ocate of hard money, strenuously opposed the legal tender act of 1862, and made an important speech in his effort to prevent the passage of the Spaulding bill, which authorized the treasury to issue treasury notes. In 1862 he was nominated as a representative to the 38tli congress but was defeated by Francis Kernan, his former law instructor, and resumed the practice of his profession. He made many important public speeches during this period. In 1864 he was elected as a representative to the 39th congress, defeating Mr. Kernan. In the 39th congress he took a leading part in debate, opposed President Johnson's policy, and voted for the passage of the " Reconstruction," " Ten- ure of OflSce," " Insurrectionary State," "Elect- ive Franchise for the District of Columbia," " Civil Rights," and the "Freedmen's Bureau " acts over the President's veto. He advocated the enfranchisement of the colored men of the south. On April 30, 1866, a letter written by James B. Fry of Illinois, then provost marshal general, preferring charges against Mr. Conkling, was read by the clerk of the house, the animus of this attack being provoked by Mr. Conkling's services to the United States in the court martial of Major Haddock ' ' for frauds and corrupt com- plications in the administration of his office in 1865." The charges were fullj- investigated by the house and disproved. In exonerating Mr. Conkling the committee severely censured Gen- eral Fry. He was elected U.S. senator in Jan- uary, 1867, took his seat in the senate March 4, 1867, and made his first speech on March 23, u^xju the proposed impeachment of Henry A. Smythe, collector of the port of New York, which at once gave him a position as an orator. He took an important part in the impeachment trial of Pres- ident Johnson, and was a firm adherent of Pres- ident Grant, supporting him during his two administrations. In 1873, on the death of Chief Justice Chase, Mr. Conkling was offered the posi- tion of chief justice bj' President Grant, an honor which he declined for political and professional reasons. In vSeptember, 1873, he visited Canada as a member of the United States committee on transportation routes, and in 1875 made his first