USA > Arkansas > Biographical and pictorial history of Arkansas. Vol I > Part 5
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The ninth and last territorial legislature convened on the 5th of October, 1835, and adjourned on the 16th of November.
John Wilson was elected speaker of the house, and Charles. Caldwell president of the council. Conspicuous and forever memorable in the history of our State is the act of this session calling a constitutional convention, which convened on the 4th of January, 1836. John Wilson was elected president of the convention, and Charles P. Bertrand, secretary. There were many lawyers in that convention who were either then or after- ward became distinguished, notably James Woodson Bates, Thomas J. Lacy, Sam. C. Roane, Andrew Scott, William Cum- mins, Absalom Fowler, Grandison D. Royston, Townshend Diekinson and David Walker.
The State was admitted on the 15th of June, 1836. The preamble to the act of admission recites the population at forty-seven thousand seven hundred, and declares the State
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
entitled to one representative in congress. Archibald Yell was the first representative in congress from the new State.
Governor William S. Fulton and Ambrose H. Sevier were the first senators in congress. Governor Fulton was re-elected in 1840, and died before the expiration of his second term in the senate.
Thomas J. Lacy, Townshend Dickinson and Daniel Ringo were by the legislature elected the first judges of the supreme court.
The first legislature under the new State government incor- porated the State and Real Estate Banks, both of which insti- tutions have proved an unmitigated curse to the people of the State and her good name.
Colonel Ben. T. Du Val says of these banks: "The debts created in their establishment have been disastrous in the ex- treme. They have hung like a cloud over the fair name of the State, and have obstructed its development from the beginning." A joint committee of the legislature in 1842 having under con- sideration the management of the Real Estate Bank, in their report employ the following language : "All the above facts having been duly considered, your committee unhesitatingly express it as their opinion, that the conduct of the managers of the Real Estate Bank, from its earliest commencement to the present time, has been distinguished by a series of acts in dis- regard and open violation of its charter.
"Alike indifferent to the restrictions of its charter, its faith to the State, the honor and credit of the institution, and of the consequences which might result to the community, influenced principally by one motive, and one only, that of appropriating to themselves and the stockholders generally the effects of the bank." But it is not within the scope of this work to go into the details of this unfortunate institution.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL
CHAPTER VII.
SHOWING THE CONNECTION BY CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY BETWEEN "THE FAMILIES OF THE REIGNING DYNASTY OF ARKANSAS," FROM 1820 TO 1860.
T THE Conway family with its connections and ramifica- tions constituted the reigning dynasty in Arkansas from 1820 to 1860, and held all the great offices with rare exceptions. Now and then, some lofty and daring spirit would tear down the barrier, break through the line of official suc- cession and ride on the tidal wave of his own creation into office without the patronage and against the will of the power- ful combination.
And as it will much facilitate the reader's understanding of the political complications and combinations treated in the progress of this work the author gives the relationship by blood and marriage between the powerful families holding high official position so long prior to the civil war.
Ann Rector, wife of Thomas Conway, was the paternal aunt of Governor Henry M. Rector, her six distinguished sons being first cousins to the latter.
Susan Conway, the paternal aunt of the governors Conway, married John, the son of Colonel Valentine Sevier, nephew to Governor John Sevier, one of the heroes of Kings Mountain, who was six times elected governor of Tennessee and died during his second term in congress.
Ambrose H. Sevier, the son of this marriage, married Miss Juliet, the daughter of Judge Benjamin Johnson, sister to Hon. Robert W. Johnson. Sevier and Governor Fulton were the warmest personal and political friends through life.
Ambrose H. Sevier, son of the senator, married Miss Wright, grand-daughter of Governor Fulton.
Governor Churchill married Miss Annie, daughter of Senator Sevier, and is grand-nephew to Governor John Pope.
Major Wharton Rector, paymaster in the United States army, so often mentioned and so celebrated in onr early history,
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
was the uncle of Governor Rector and Elias Rector, who is known to our local literature as " The fine old Arkansas gen- tleman," the two latter being first cousins.
Wm. Walker, an eminent lawyer, dating back to territorial times, but yet living, married Mary A. R. Rector, daughter of Major Wharton Rector, of the army.
"The fine old Arkansas gentleman " married Catharine I., the daughter of Captain Wm. Du Val, sister to our distinguished citizen, Hon. Ben. T. Du Val.
STATEMENT showing the term of service and the various offices held by this powerful family connection.
GOVERNOR.
John Pope. 1829 to 1835 6 years.
Wm. S. Fulton 1835 to 1836 1 year.
James S. Conway
1836 to 1840. 4 years.
Elias N. Conway
1852 to 1860 8 years.
Henry M. Rector*
1860 to 1862 2 years.
Thomas J. Churchill 1881 to 1883. 2 years.
*Elected for four years, served only two. 23 years.
SECRETARY OF THE TERRITORY.
Wm. S. Fulton. 1829 to 1836 6 years.
CLERK TERRITORIAL HOUSE REP.
Ambrose H. Sevier 1821 to 1823 2 years.
TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
A. H. Sevier.
1823 to 1829
6 years.
Elected speaker in '27.
TERRITORIAL AUDITOR.
Elias N. Conway 1835 to 1836. 1 year.
SURVEYOR-GENERAL OF THE TERRITORY.
James S. Conway. 1825 to 1836. 11 years.
RECEIVER OF PUBLIC MONEYS.
Henry W. Conway 1820 to 1823. 3 years.
JUDGE TERRITORIAL COURT.
Benjamin Johnson 1821 to 1836. 15 years.
JUDGE FEDERAL COURT.
Benjamin Johnson
1836 to 1849
13 years.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL
JUDGE STATE CIRCUIT COURT.
George Conway. 1844 to 1848 4 years.
William Conway, B. 1840 to 1843 3 years.
JUDGE SUPREME COURT.
William Conway, B. 1846 to 1848 2 years.
STATE AUDITOR.
Elias N. Conway 1836 to 1849. 13 years.
STATE TREASURER.
Thomas J. Churchill. 1874 to 1881 6 years.
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY.
Robert W. Johnson 1840 to 1842. 2 years.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR THE STATE.
Robert W. Johnson 1840 to 1842 2 years.
He resigned this to accept a seat in congress.
FEDERAL CONGRESS - HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Henry W. Conway. 1823 to 1827 4 years.
But was elected to a third term - killed in a duel with Robert
Crittenden in fall of 1827.
Ambrose H. Sevier
1827 to 1836 8 years.
Robert W. Johnson 1847 to 1853. 6 years.
FEDERAL CONGRESS - SENATE.
Ambrose H. Sevier 1836 to 1848. 12 years.
Resigned in 1848 to negotiate treaty with Mexico, and died De- cember, 1848.
William S. Fulton 1836 to 1844 8 years.
Died August, 1844, before expiration of office.
Robert W. Johnson 1855 to 1861 6 years.
CONFEDERATE STATES - CONGRESS.
Robert . W. Johnson. 1861 to 1862 1 year.
CONFEDERATE STATES - SENATE.
Robert W. Johnson 1863 to 1865. 3 years.
Elias Rector ( U. S. marshal, 20 years.
30 years.
Indian agent, 10 years.
Aggregate 190 years.
ANN CONWAY.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CELEBRATED CONWAY FAMILY.
T HE history of Arkansas would be incomplete without the Conway family being embraced. They are very prom- inent factors from 1819 to 1860. The family is of high and ancient lineage. In following up the ancestral line we are carried back to the reign of Edward I, of England, in the latter part of the thirteenth century, to the celebrated castle of Conway, on Conway river, in the north of Wales, where the lords of Conway, in feudal times, presided in royal style. They have made a history in England which will be preserved, but it is with their descendants in America we are now treating.
Thomas, a noble scion of the ancient house of Conway, like many other younger sons of the British nobility who were cut off by the laws of entail and primogeniture from inheriting either property or the peerage, came to America about 1740, and settled in the colony of Virginia. These gentry, connected as they were with the nobility of Great Britain, principally settled in Virginia and gave origin to that republican butt of sarcasm long known as the "first families of Virginia;" and the caste is still preserved without any royal sinecures and ap- pendages to support it in democratic America. But whilst this is an admitted fact, it must not be forgotten that these noble scions have engrafted much vigorous blood on our people and have left their imperishable impress on the spirit and the genius of our institutions, and we can well afford to indulge their noble ancestral pride even if we deny the assumption that the best blood of people is not so certainly transmitted as that of animals.
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Henry Conway was the only son of the first emigrant; he was a colonel first, and then a general in the revolutionary ser- vice of the colonies. His daughter, Nellie Conway, was the mother of President Madison ; his son, Moncure D. Conway, was brother-in-law to General Washington. The father of Governor John Sevier of Tennessee was intimately associated
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL
in the revolutionary war with General Henry Conway as an officer in the same army.
These comrades owned much slave and other property, and to preserve it from British capture and confiscation in the approaching struggle, sent their families and property in charge of their sons, Thomas Conway and John Sevier, across the Allegheny mountains. They settled in what is now known as Greene county, Tennessee, near the present town of Greenville. Thomas Conway, the father of the illustrious sons whose his- tory we are writing, married Ann Rector, a native of Virginia, whose lineage we will give hereafter as the mother of more distinguished sons than any woman in America. Seven sons and three daughters were the fruits of this marriage. Com- mon interests and common dangers cemented the friendship between the Conways and Seviers.
Two sisters of Thomas Conway married sons of Governor John Sevier, and the third sister married John Sevier, the governor's nephew, a prominent lawyer in the early days of Tennessee. Ambrose HI. Sevier, our distinguished senator in congress, was born of this marriage.
Thomas Conway was president of the senate during the short life of the so-called State of Franklin. He was blessed with strong native intellect, great energy, force of character and strong individuality. These qualities drew to him the admira- tion and warm friendship of General Jackson, and insured the sons a passport to the heart of the old hero.
General Jackson was a splendid judge of human nature, and his friendship was always accorded to deserving men of solid worth, firmness of decision and character; and their loyalty never failed him either on the field or in the senate, and no man ever guarded the interests of his friends with greater fidel- ity or more immovable purpose than he did. He was a frequent guest at the mansion of his friend Conway, where sire and son alike drank at the fount of his noble inspiration; and this friendship is as pleasing as it is an honorable heritage to the Conway descendants.
That old and honored historic land-mark of Arkansas, Gov- ernor Elias N. Conway, the last survivor of the ten children of Thomas Conway and Ann Rector, imparts this information to
ELECTRO-LIGHT ENG. CO.N .Y.
HON. HENRY W. CONWAY.
EX-GOV. JAMES S. CONWAY.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
the author ; and his beneficent countenance rekindles at sacred altars as he spans the tide of years in his mental voyage to that sacred shrine in the wilderness of East Tennessee where he sat on the lap of the noble guest and heard the story of "how bat- tles were fought and fields won."
The father secured the services of the best teachers, and gave all of his children good educations, and the boys all excelled in mathematics.
. In 1818 he moved to the old French village of St. Louis, in the territory of Missouri but did not remain there long until he moved to that splendid body of lands now embraced in Boone county, Missouri, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1835.
We will now give the history of the sons in the order of seniority : :
Henry Wharton Conway, the eldest son, was born in the stately Conway mansion on the banks of Chucky river, in Greene county, Tennessee. But as the marble shaft which commemorates his memory contains a synopsis of much of his history, I copy entire the heraldry which greets the visitor to the cemetery at Arkansas Post :
"Sacred to the memory of Henry W. Conway, who was born in Tennessee, 18th March, 1793, entered the United States Army Ensign in 1812,- was promoted to 2d Lieutenant in 1813.
"Fought at Fort Boyer, Mobile Point (commanded by Capt. Lawrence), at the defeat of the British fleet and land forces and the destruction of the commodore's vessel in 1814 - was retained in the service as 1st Lieutenant in the peace - Resigned and received an appointment in the Treasury Department at the City of Washington in 1817 - Resigned and emigrated to Mis- souri in 1818 - emigrated to Arkansas in 1820, having been ap- pointed Receiver of Public Moneys - Resigned and was elected delegate to congress in 1823, was re-elected in 1825 and 1827 by large majorities. Was unfortunately mortally wounded in a duel with Robert Crittenden on the 29th Oct., and died 9th Nov., 1827, aged 34 years, 7 months and 21 days, deeply lamented by all who knew him.
" This Tomb is erected as a small memento of his great worth by his devoted Bro. James S. Conway."
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL
His uncle Major-General George Conway was the first to receive that high grade from the State of Tennessee, being elected by the first legislature in 1797. General Conway was succeeded by General Andrew Jackson.
He inherited the martial spirit of his ancestors in two hemi- spheres, and when but sixteen years old became the protege of General Jackson, and a soldier in the war of 1812 under him with the rank of second lieutenant. The general prom- ised his mother and father to take good care of him, and they sent their faithful servant, George, to wait on his young master.
He commanded a detachment to watch the movements of the British off the coast of Mobile, and being on this detached service prevented him from participating in the great battle of the 8th of January, 1815.
After the conclusion of peace he was retained as an officer in the regular army, and assigned to an important command in the north-west, being stationed at Green Bay nearly two years. The exciting incidents of war passed away and the service be- came monotonous to the young soldier and he resigned to ac- cept a bureau in the treasury department. This in turn be- came monotonous and he resigned, and in connection with his brother James Sevier Conway (the first governor of the State of Arkansas) took a contract to survey a large body of lands in the territory of Missouri, embracing the county, now State, of Ar- kansas. These brothers came in the spring of 1820, just before the organization of the territorial government. Henry W. was receiver of public money under Monroe's administration. As soon as it became known that a territorial government had been created by congress, his business sagacity suggested the financial advantages which would accrue to those owning the permanent site of the capital city. With this view he organized a town- site company, consisting of himself, Wm. Russel, Judge Wm. Trimble, Robert Crittenden and Robert C. Oden, and they be- came owners of the present site of Little Rock, believing its eligibility and their united influence would cause it to be adopted as the site of the capital city, and time has confirmed their wisdom. This was the first joint-stock company formed in Arkansas after the creation of a territorial government un-
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ENG.CC. N.Y.
ELECTRO
.HON. WILLIAM B. CONWAY.
ELECTRO-LIGHT ENG. CO.NY
GOV. ELIAS NELSON CONWAY.
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HISTORY OFIII !! 49
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
der the authority of the United States ; but, as we have seen in our historic chapter, a colonization company was formed one hundred years before by John Law and associates under grant from Louis XV, of France. He was elected territorial dele- gate to congress in 1823, defeating the first incumbent, James Woodson Bates, and was re-elected in 1825 and 1827. He secured an appropriation by congress to build the military road from Memphis to Little Rock, and from thence on to Fort Smith.
In 1827 his right to a third term in congress was warmly and ably contested by his old townsite partner, Robert C. Oden, who was ably supported by Robert Crittenden, another one of the townsite partners. The democratic party was then center- ing on General Jackson, and party lines were drawn to their utmost tension. These contests often drew after them a history and record of blood. Conway was a man of great ability, spirited, sensitive, chivalrous and fearless, perhaps, to a fault ; certainly so in the light by which these things are viewed at the present day. He was as honest as he was fearless in the expression of his conviction that Crittenden had gone further than his relations warranted in the support of Oden; and that the zeal and ability displayed in the effort to defeat his election was fraught with more than political significance, and chal- lenged him to atone for it on the field of honor. This challenge followed immediately on the heel of his election to a third term.
Crittenden, too, was a man of dauntless courage and exalted ability, but it is said by contemporaries with much force and plausibility, that his support of Oden did not warrant the extremes embraced in Conway's convictions, and, therefore, he replied to the challenge in the following conciliatory language :
"Mr. Conway, you have been elected by the people three times to serve them as their delegate in congress ; you have served them two terms with honor to yourself and satisfaction to them ; they now have superior claims on you, go and dis- charge this obligation to the people, and when you return, if nothing short of what you now demand will satisfy you, I will then meet your demands."
Conway then published him as a coward, and cut off all 7
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL
honorable accommodation but the field. Major Wharton Rec- tor, of the United States army, acted as the friend of Mr. Conway, and Colonel Ben. Desha as the friend of Mr. Crit- tenden.
The duel was fought on the 29th October, 1827, on an island in the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of White river; tradition says John J. Crittenden, long a distinguished senator in con- gress, was present; Robert was his protege and youngest brother. Governor Elias N. Conway informs the author that there was a serious misunderstanding of the cartel, which (it is claimed by the friends of Mr. Conway) saved the life of his adversary and sacrificed his own.
Wharton Rector understood the backs of the principals were to face until after the word "fire," when they were to wheel half round to the right and fire.
Desha understood they were to stand with their right sides facing, and were not to move out of their tracks before firing (this was the way they fought), leaving Crittenden the advantage of the method in which he had been instructed, and Conway the reverse.
Conway's pistol exploded an instant in advance of his adver- sary's and the lint flew from the breast of Mr. Crittenden, the ball passing through the lappel of his coat without inflicting any injury. This caused Colonel Desha to lean forward in great anxiety and ask, "Mr. Crittenden, are you seriously hurt ;" to which he replied in the negative, but said, "I fear I have killed Mr. Conway," who reeled and fell the next moment, pierced through the body, from which he died eleven days afterward.
He was a noble specimen of intellectual and physical man- hood, and fell a deeply regretted sacrifice to the false teachings of the times in which he lived. He was never married.
A fine oil painting by one of our American masters per- petuates his features and adorns the residence of his youngest brother, Governor Elias Nelson Conway.
Many versions of this contest have been published in the ephemeral literature of the times, many varying many degrees from the truth, but the author regards the version here given as correct.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Governor James Sevier Conway, the second son and first gov- ernor of the State of Arkansas, was born in 1798. He came with his brother Henry, as previously stated, to the county of Arkansas, in the then territory of Missouri, early in 1820, in the interest of a large contract to survey the public lands, and he was soon after appointed surveyor-general of the territory. Although young, they were men of great activity and enterprise, and were thoroughly conversant with the details of business. They had from ten to fifteen surveying parties in the field ; each at- tended to his allotted portion, and all the details connected with it. Their supplies were transported overland from St. Louis and distributed to their men in the wilderness. Their work was well and thoroughly done, and to James S. the result was the basis of a large fortune.
General Jackson, on his accession to the presidency in 1829, re-appointed him surveyor-general of the territory, and he held the office four years longer. He was never ambitious for but one office, and that was, to be the first governor of Arkansas after her admission into the sisterhood of States. Archibald Yell nursed the same ambition near his heart, but as we have stated in our biographical sketch of his life, the wings of his ambition were clipped by constitutional disqualification.
After the admission of Arkansas into the federation of States, Conway's ambition was gratified in the democratic nomination for governor. In that race he was opposed by a very able and ambitious whig in the person of Absalom Fowler, but Arkansas, under the leadership of many able and devoted adherents to the fortunes of General Jackson, was irretrievably democratic, and talents, however great in the person of a whig, were but a nominal factor in the race. Governor Conway was elected in a total vote of seven thousand seven hundred and sixteen, by a Inajority of one thousand one hundred and two, for the consti- tutional period of four years. He was a man of fair ability and irreproachable integrity, but was not the man for the times ; his administration was the most unfortunate one the State has ever had, always excepting radical administration during the war and re-construction periods.
He v as inaugurated governor at a critical time, when Arkan- sas nee led a man of broad statesman-like comprehension to see,
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL
and an iron nerve to crush legalized schemes of spoliation and plunder. None but such a man could have foreseen and crushed the iniquity in which the Real Estate and State Banks were con- ceived and administered during his administration. This pirat- ical crew of furtune seekers took the helm from Governor Con- way's hand at the start, and scuttled the financial fame of the State, and left her the legacy of a Pandora's box to trouble unborn generations and cloud her fame to this day.
Governor Conway did not design, did not foresee these things, but it is none the less the State's misfortune that he did not ; he commanded the ship when she was captured. The author's complaint is chiefly confined to the absence of executive fore- sight and resistance to the various encroachments of financial adventurers. Defense of the executive during this era lies in the purity of innocent intentions - in the presumptive sin of omission for want of comprehensive forecast - rather than the sin of commission. This has always been accorded, never denied.
But the line of succession finally reached his younger brother, Governor Elias Nelson Conway, who, with comprehensive forecast and the iron nerve of Jackson, grappled with and throttled the monster iniquities of the bank so far as to cut short continued repetition of its iniquity. For this, if nothing more, the State ought to build a monument to his memory forever commemorating his services.
Governor Conway retired from public life at the expiration of his term in 1840, and settled down on his princely posses- sions on Red river, in the southern part of the State. He owned more than an hundred slaves, was a large cotton planter, and in his social and domestic relations was idolized by family and friends, and was, all in all, a splendid representative of the high-bred southern planter. He married a Miss Bradley, of Nashville, Tennessee; one son survives, Frederick Elias Con- way, who married a grand-daughter of Governor Fulton; he resides on the inherited estates in Lafayette county. Governor Conway died on the 3d of March, 1855, at Walnut Hill, his country seat in Lafayette county.
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