Frederick A. Conkling

Frederick Conkling was born in Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York. He was one of five children born to U.S. Congressman Alfred Conkling (1789–1874) and Eliza Cockburn.{{cite web|title=CONKLING, Alfred - Biographical Information|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000679|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate=23 January 2018}} He was the elder brother of U.S. Representative and Senator Roscoe Conkling (1829–1888).{{cite web|title=CONKLING, Roscoe - Biographical Information|url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000681|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate=23 January 2018}}Dictionary of American Biography; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American LawChidsey, Donald B. The Gentleman from New York: A Life of Roscoe Conkling. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1935Jordan, David M. Roscoe Conkling: Voice in the Senate. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1971.

He pursued classical studies and attended The Albany Academy.

He engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York City and became a member of the dry goods house of Conkling & Churchill. He was elected as a Republican to the New York State Assembly, serving in 1854, 1859, and 1860.

Conkling was elected as a Republican over Democrat John Winthrop Chanler, in the same election cycle that elevated Abraham Lincoln as a Republican to the presidency, to the Thirty-seventh Congress, holding office from March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1863. While in office, he was Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1862 to the 38th United States Congress.

In June 1861 upon the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, Conkling organized the 84th Regiment of New York Volunteers, becoming its Colonel, and went to the front at the first call for 100-day men.{{cite book|last1=Hubbell|first1=John T.|title=Biographical Dictionary of the Union: Northern Leaders of the Civil War|date=1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313209208|pages=103–104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5icXs8tT3XsC&pg=PA103|accessdate=23 January 2018|language=en}} He initially served throughout the Shenandoah Valley Campaign and in 1863, his regiment was on duty as provost guard at Baltimore, Maryland.{{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Jerry D.|title=Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times of Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman|date=2006|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=9781585445356|page=216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZun_fnJYVIC&pg=PA216|accessdate=23 January 2018|language=en}}

After his defeat in Congress, he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for mayor of New York City in 1868. Following this loss, he changed parties, becoming first a Liberal Republican and then a Democrat, speaking highly of Horace Greeley and Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock. He refused the Democratic nomination for Congress in his old district in 1874.

He was one of the organizers of the West Side Savings Bank of New York City and served as its president for many years; subsequently he became president of the Aetna Fire Insurance Co., of Hartford, Connecticut, and served until its dissolution in 1880. He authored numerous pamphlets on political, commercial, and scientific subjects.

Conkling was married to Eleanora Lorillard Ronalds (1825–1879), the daughter of Maria Dorothea Lorillard (1790–1848) and Thomas Alexander Ronalds (1788–1835), a New York merchant. Eleanora was the granddaughter of Pierre Lorillard II, the head of the Lorillard Tobacco Company, and a cousin of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe.{{cite book|title=Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of Many of the Early Settled Families|date=1899|publisher=Higginson Book Company|page=811|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_wnAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA811|accessdate=23 January 2018|language=en}} Frederick and Eleanora were the parents of three children:

• Alfred Ronalds Conkling (1850–1917),{{cite news|title=FALL FROM WINDOW KILLS A.R. CONKLING; Ex-Assemblyman Grieved by Daughters' Charges That He Held Back Income. POLICE CALL IT SUICIDE Geologist Was to Have Appeared Before Referee Tomorrow to Account for Handling of $750,000.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/09/19/archives/fall-from-window-kills-ar-conkling-exassemblyman-grieved-by.html|accessdate=23 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=19 September 1917}}{{cite news|title=MADE WILL, DIED NEXT DAY. Alfred R. Conkling Left Residuary Estate to His Daughters.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/09/26/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html|accessdate=23 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=26 September 1917}} a New York City Alderman and author{{cite web|title=Online Books by Alfred R. Conkling (Conkling, Alfred R. (Alfred Ronald), 1850-1917)|url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Conkling%2C%20Alfred%20R%2E%20%28Alfred%20Ronald%29%2C%201850-1917|website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|accessdate=23 January 2018|language=en}} who married Ethel Eastman Johnson (b. 1870), daughter of prominent painter Eastman Johnson.{{cite news|title=A.R. CONKLING SUES WIFE.; Wants Her Consent to Place Mortgages on Real Estate.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/01/13/archives/ar-conkling-sues-wife-wants-her-consent-to-place-mortgages-on-real.html|accessdate=23 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=January 13, 1917}}
• Howard Conkling (1855–1938), a noted lawyer.{{cite news|title=HOWARD CONKLING, RETIRED ATTORNEY; Member of Family Noted in New York Politics Dies at 82|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/09/08/archives/howard-conkling-retired-attorney-member-of-family-noted-in-new-york.html|accessdate=23 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=8 September 1938}}
• Helena Conkling.

Conkling died at his residence in New York City, 27 East 10th Street, on September 18, 1891, after a protracted illness extending over two years.{{cite news|title=FREDERIC AUGUSTUS CONKLING|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1891/09/19/archives/obituary.html|accessdate=23 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=19 September 1891}} He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Through his son Alfred, he was the grandfather of Gwendolyn Lorillard Conkling, Vivien Eastman H. Conkling, and Muriel Lorillard Ronalds Conkling (1898–1971), who married Baron Louis van Reigersberg Versluys (1883–1957) of Holland in 1922.{{cite news|title=THREE GENERATIONS WED WITHIN MONTH; Miss Muriel Conkling Becomes the Bride of Dutch Hussar Captain in London. MOTHER QUIETLY MARRIED Now is Mrs. W.H. Holden--Grandmother, 79, United to GeneralKneeland Last Saturday.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/08/01/archives/three-generations-wed-within-month-miss-muriel-conkling-becomes-the.html|accessdate=23 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=1 August 1922}} Within one month of her wedding, her mother had married William H. Holden, and her 79-year-old grandmother had married 77 year old General Stillman F. Kneeland.

• Seymour-Conkling family

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• {{CongBio|C000680}}

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{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
New York County, 13th District | before = William Taylor | years = 1854 | after = Richard M. Blatchford}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
New York County, 7th District | before = David J. Chatfield | years = 1859–1860 | after = Daniel Young}}

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{{US House succession box

| state = New York

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Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)

Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War

Category:Union army colonels

Category:The Albany Academy alumni

Category:1816 births

Category:1891 deaths

Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery

Category:People from Canajoharie, New York

Category:Conkling family

Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives