Conger, Edwin Hurd

Edwin Hurd Conger

PARENTS: Lorentus Everett Conger and Mary W. Hurd

PUBLIC_SERVICE: United States Minister to China during the Boxer Rebellion. (CFA I, p. 40a)

DEATH: Edwin H. Conger, published 22 May 1907, former U.S. Minister to China, died Los Angeles.
(Source: Putnam Co., MO, Newsprint Death Index - furnished by Joyce Posey) .

BIOGRAPHY: CONGER, Edwin Hurd, 1843-1907
CONGER, Edwin Hurd, a Representative from Iowa; born in Knox County, Ill., March 7, 1843; was graduated from Lombard University, Galesburg, Ill., in 1862; during the Civil War enlisted as a private in Company I, One Hundred and Second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war; attained the rank of captain and received the brevet of major; studied law and was graduated from the Albany Law School in 1866; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Galesburg, Ill., until 1868; moved to Dexter, Dallas County, Iowa, in 1868 and engaged in stock growing, banking, and agricultural pursuits; elected treasurer of Dallas County in 1877 and reelected in 1879; elected State treasurer in 1880 and reelected in 1882; elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses and served from March 4, 1885, to October 3, 1890, when he resigned to accept a diplomatic mission; chairman, Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures (Fifty-first Congress); Minister to Brazil from September 27, 1890, to September 13, 1893; appointed Minister to China January 19, 1898, and served until his resignation on March 8, 1905, on which day he was appointed as Ambassador to Mexico and served until his resignation on October 18, 1905; died in Pasadena, Calif., May 18, 1907; interment in Mountain View Cemetery.

Bibliography DAB.
(Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present) .

BIOGRAPHY: From a newspaper clipping in 1901
"Edwin H. Conger, United States Minister to China, was in Kansas City today on his way back to his post in Peking. He visited W.J. Buchan, former state senator in Kansas City, Kansas, and this revived rumors of a romance between Lt. Frederick E. Buchan, United States Army, and Mr. Conger's daughter, Miss Laura Conger, who met at the seige of Peking."
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. I, p. 136 - Maxine Crowell Leonard) .

BIOGRAPHY:
Edwin Hurd Conger was graduated from Lombard University, Galesburg, Ill., in 1862. During the Civil War he enlisted as a Private in Co., I, 102nd Regt. Illinois Volunteer Inf., and served until the close of the war. He attained the rank of Captain, and received the Brevet of Major for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field.

He studied law and was graduated from Albany, New York Law School in 1866; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Galesburg, Illinois until 1868. He moved to Dexter, Iowa in 1868 and engaged in stock raising, banking, agricultural pursuits. He was elected treasurer of Dallas county in 1877 and re-elected in 1879; elected state treasurer in 1880 and re-elected in 1882.

He was elected as a Republican to the 49th, 60th and 61st Congresses; served from 4 Mar 1885 to 3 Oct 1890 when he resigned to accept a diplomatic mission. He was made Minister to Brazil on 27 Sep 1890 and served to 13 Sep 1893.

Edwin Conger was appointed Minister to China on 19 Jan 1898, where he served during the Boxer Rebellion, and until his resignation on 8 Mar 1905, on which day he was appointed Ambassador to Mexico and served until his resignation 18 Oct 1905.

His biography is in the Congressional Biographical Dictionary, p. 467 and in Who's Who in America, 1902.
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. I, p. 136 - Maxine Crowell Leonard)