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
/mS{^€Mn^0lH4.
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
