Conger, Charles Greenwood Barker

Summary of Charles Greenwood Barker CONGER - 26 Jul 2010
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Name: Charles Greenwood Barker CONGER
Sex: Male
Father: Seymour Beach CONGER (abt 27 Sep 1825 - 7 Aug 1864)
Mother: Mary Abigail BARKER (17 Nov 1828 - 5 Dec 1913)

Individual Facts
Birth 13 Jun 1849
Death 22 Aug 1906 (age 57)

Notes (Individual)
General:
Charles Greenwood Barker Conger

RESEARCHER: Charles Greenwood Barker Conger was one of the early Conger researchers. Little is known about him, other than he was a bachelor. He published the records of his line in a typeset volume in 1903. He probably obtained most of his data from the efforts of Samuel Hayes Conger. Apparently he worked for the government, as there are copies of several letters in the Conger files seen by Maxine Leonard that give his address as, Room 553, War Department, Washington, DC, dated 1899, before his book was published.

In one of these letters he mentions the "Conger Union" which he must have formed. He said his only interest was the tribe of Job, but that he kept names and addresses pertaining to other lines.
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. I, page 1-a - Maxine Crowell Leonard)

MARRIAGE: Never married.


RESEARCHER-RELATIONSHIP: According to Robert Guilinger, Franklin Barker Conger (1889 - 1936) was living in Washington, DC and doing Conger research in the 1930's. He was the 1st cousin, 1 generation removed, of another researcher, Charles Greenwood Barker Conger. Their common ancestor was Rev. Enoch Conger.

RESEARCHER-RELATIONSHIP: Charles Greenwood Barker Conger and Shea Smith, the man who printed the 1903 Conger book, were 3rd cousins. There common ancestor being, Job Conger.


REFERENCE: Charles Greenwood Barker Conger was the compiler of "A Record of the Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Descendants of John Conger of Woodbridge, N.J. Through his Grandson, Job Conger of Woodbridge, N.J. and Albany Co., N.Y." This 165-page book was published in 1903. The page after the cover page lists: "Compiled by Charles G.B. Conger, Descendant, Washington, D.C.; Printed by Shea Smith, Descendant, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A. 1903." A copy of the book was found, by Richard E. Henthorn on 17 Aug 1999 at the DAR Library in Washington, DC. Much of the information in this book is not available in either volume of CFA. Mr. Henthorn believes he added all of the information from the book to his own genealogy file.

Unfortunately the book does not list place names and has few source citations. There is very little textual information in the book, with the exception of occasional lists of the units in which men served in the military.

There were approximately 1,820 people listed in Charles G.B. Conger's book that weren't listed in either volume of "The Conger Family of America."

Page 3 of the book, a brief introduction reads, as follows: "The following record, while not as complete as could be wished, is, it is believed, as accurate as patience and painstaking can make it, so far as it goes.

The collector of these "statistics" desires to acknowledge the kindness and courtesy of the various members of the family which have enabled him to collate this record. To some he is deeply indebted for a more active interest, without which the record would not have been possible. To mention all of these would make too long a list; to speak of a few would be unjust to the others.

It is a tradition of the Conger family, which for good reasons seems worthy of belief, that the family came from Alsace (then a French province) to Holland about the date of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the name being Koniger, and the family of German origin. From Holland the Konigers went to England, and the name was anglicized into Conger. It is said the Congers are numerous in Lincolnshire and in the neighborhood of Bristol.

John Conger, "primus," was probably one of the soldiers of the Commonwealth Army, and came to Woodbridge, N.J. in 1667, with his wife, Mary and one son, Enos. He was not one of the original proprietors who founded Woodbridge, but was one of the first settlers and participated in the first distribution of lands, his patent to 170 acres bearing date March 18, 1669. He held various offices of trust in the township, became a member of the first (Presbyterian) church and died about September, 1712."
[Note: Koniger was spelled with the two dot accent mark above the "o" in the type set version of page 3. REH]

OBITUARY: Washington Star, Washington, DC (CFA I, p. 238)

Charles Leslie Conger

Charles Leslie Conger

Charles Leslie Conger compiled the bulk of the Conger material now existing. It appears that he spent thousands of dollars to have research done, and it is said he died a poor man, although he had been a banker. He died in 1934 when the country was still feeling the effects of the 1929 "Crash". His only son, William Lloyd Conger, had but one child, Jean, who died unmarried.

Charles L. Conger wrote a letter dated, 23 Feb 1932, to Clement Ellis Conger in which he said he intended to place his records with the New Jersey Historical Society. He added, "I have not done much to add to the records in the past twenty years and there are other sources of information that I would like to tap, but I guess it is out of the question. Among my other so-called troubles is my eyesight that is failing me so much that I can hardly see to read large print (can not read newspapers, except the headlines) and glasses will not help. However, I am not kicking. My race is nearly over and I have had a very good time on this earth until recently." He died two years later at the age of 65.

Another letter to Clement Conger, dated 20 Mar 1932, reads, in part, "I wish the first time that you go to The Congressional Library in Washington that you would ascertain for me whether or not they would be interested in unpublished manuscripts such as I have, regarding the Conger family. I have three copies of my work, one which I have always wanted to place with The Historical Society of New Jersey, one copy in the Newbury Library in Chicago and if there is a genealogical department in the Congressional Library at Washington I should like to place a copy there. I have a large amount of data all classified and in fairly good condition."

Clement E. Conger adds a note of humor to this as he wrote on 26 May 1970, "It would amuse you to know that when I took the Conger genealogy book to the head of the Genealogy Section of the Library of Congress many years ago, he asked me how many Congers were in the book. I made a trivial remark that we Congers were like rabbits because in ten generations there were 25,000 people in the book. The head of the Genealogy Department replied the Congers had not done their duty. In ten generations the average American family is 35,000 people. He was so delighted with all this work that the book was placed in the Rare Book Section where, I presume, it may be consulted at any time.
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. 1, p. 2a - Maxine Crowell Leonard)

Note: Yours truly, Richard Henthorn, has twice consulted the Conger genealogy of Charles Leslie Conger in the Rare Book Reading Room at The Library of Congress. The manuscript is in one or two three-ring binders which may be seen on request. To assist the staff it's probably a good idea to tell them that the document isn't bound. I also recall that it has been reported that this document was copied to film while at The Library of Congress at the expense of some researcher. I was never able to find a copy of the film at The Library and I don't recall if more than two copies were made, one for The Library and one for the requester. (9 Nov 2009)