Martin F. Conway

Martin Franklin Conway (born November 19, 1827 in Fallston , Harford County , Maryland , † February 15, 1882 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1861 and 1863 he represented the state of Kansas in the US House of Representatives .

Career

After finishing school, Martin Conway moved to Baltimore , Maryland in 1843 . There he did an apprenticeship in the printing trade and founded the National Typographical Union . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1852, he began working in his new profession in Baltimore. In 1853 he moved to the Kansas Territory , where he also practiced as a lawyer.

Conway was an opponent of slavery and represented the Abolition Society of Massachusetts in his new home . In 1854, Conway was elected to the Territorial Governing Council; however, he did not take up this mandate. He joined the Republican Party founded in 1854 . In 1855 he was a delegate to the Free State Convention against Slavery in Kansas .

In 1856 and 1857, Conway was presiding judge of the Kansas Territory Supreme Court; In 1858 he was chairman of the constituent assembly of his territory. After the founding of Kansas, Conway was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington. At that time Kansas had only one MP in Congress . Conway served his mandate between January 29, 1861 and March 3, 1863. This period was overshadowed by the events of the civil war . In the spring of 1861, Conway was one of the delegates to a conference in Washington that tried at the last minute to prevent the outbreak of war.

After his time in Congress, Conway remained politically active. Unlike most Republicans, he supported President Andrew Johnson . This appointed him in 1866 as American consul in Marseille . He held this office until April 16, 1869. Then he resigned for health reasons. After his return from France , Conway settled in the federal capital Washington. There was an incident there in 1873 when he shot and slightly wounded his former political opponent, the then controversial US Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy . The case did not go to court. In 1880, Conway was admitted to the St. Elizabeth State Mental Hospital in Washington. He died there in 1882.

Web links

• Martin F. Conway in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Martin F. Conway in the database of Find a Grave (English)