L. H. Conley, M. D.
On November 4, 1913, the people of Gas City elected to the office of mayor, Dr. L. H. Conley, who for more than twenty years has practiced medicine in that community, and in both his professional and private life has always enjoyed a special esteem and prominence.
Almost from the beginning of his residence here he has had about all the practice he could attend to, and in addition has given important service in the office of city physician. Dr. Conley has lived in Gas City since 1892. He is a graduate from the medical department of Wooster University at Cleveland, Ohio, with the class of 1883, so that for thirty years he ahs been in active practice. He began his professional career at Middlebury, Indiana, later practiced at Mount Vernon, Ohio, his old home, and then came to Gas City. Dr. Conley is a member of the Grant County Medical Society, which he has served in the office of chairman, of the State Medical Association, and the Mississippi Valley Medical Association.
Dr. L. H. Conley was born at Mount Vernon, Ohio, April 27, 1857. His early education was supplied by the public and normal schools, and he then entered medical college. He is of Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Hugh Conley, was born in Ireland, and married there Rose McDonald. Both came of good stock and of old families. Their children were Mary Flora, Hugh, R., Nancy, Daniel, Malinda and Rose. The first four children were born in Ireland, and the rest in the United States. Grandfather Conley with his wife and four children emigrated in a sailing vessel, and after a voyage lasting several weeks and not without hardships, landed in the United States in the year 1825. They settled in Perry County, Ohio, where the parents lived until their deaths. They were devout and active members of the Catholic Church, and reared their family in that faith, which has been the religion of the subsequent generations. All their children married, and all had families. the only two still living are Flora, widow of Bartholomew Crosby of Perry County, Ohio; and Roe, now Mrs. Murphy of Nebraska.
Hugh Conley, Jr., father of Dr. Conley, was born in Ireland in 1821, and was about four years old when the family came to America. He grew up in that locality and learned the trade of marble cutter, an occupation which he followed throughout his active years. He was married at Mount Vernon, Ohio, February 27, 1854, to Miss Matilda Colopy, who was born in Knox County, Ohio. In 1859 Hugh Conley and wife located at Columbus, Ohio, and in 1861 moved to Davenport, Iowa, where he died April 15, 1863. He was a Democrat, and a member of the Catholic Church. His widow alter lived with her son Dr. Conley and died in Gas City, September 5, 1896. She was born December 17, 1817, a daughter of Timothy and Sarah Adrian Colopy. Her father was a native of Ireland, came when a young man to America, and settled in the State of Maryland, an some years later moved to a farm in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, spending his last years in the city of Mt. Vernon, where he died when past sixty years of age. He was an active Catholic, and his body now rests in the Catholic Cemetery at Danville, Ohio, beside that of his wife. His wife, who was born in Maryland, was a convert tot he Catholic Church. Their home in Mt. Vernon was the first meeting place for the Catholic Church in that vicinity, and the altar used by the priest in the pioneer service was a bureau, a piece of furniture which is now carefully cherished by Dr. Conley and has a place in his home at Gas City. The children of Timothy Colopy and wife were named as follows: Jacob, Mary, Sarah, Benjamin, Mrs. Conley and William. All of these married except William and Benjamin and all are now deceased. The son William was a California forty-niner, and die din that State. Dr. Conley was the second in a family of three children: Mark, died February 14, 1866 in infancy; and Anna, is the widow of Dr. A. E. Walker, and lives in Cincinnati, her children being Clary, who is married and lives in Dayton, and Hugh and Florence, who live at home.
Dr. Conley was married in Middlebury, Indiana, to Miss Elizabeth A. Hixon, of a very prominent family in that section of the State. She was born in Middlebury in 1867, was reared and educated there, and by her marriage to dr. Conley has become the mother of the following children: Hugh H. Lamar, who received his education at Gas City and is now an electrician at Niagara Falls, Ontario, and is unmarried; Edna E., who was educated in the Gas City High Schools, and lives at home; F. Jenett, who had a high school education, is the wife of Chauncey Faust, living in Chicago; Warren H., died when thirteen years old; Robert E., is in school; Kathleen and Geneva, the youngest are both in school.
Dr. Conley and family all worship in the Catholic Church at Gas City, and are well known and popular members of social circles in that community.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.