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. He was the elder brother of U.S. Representative and Senator Roscoe Conkling (1829–1888). He pursued classical studies and attended The Albany Academy. ==Career==

He engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York City and became a member of the dry goods house of Conkling & Churchill. He initially served throughout the Shenandoah Valley Campaign and in 1863, his regiment was on duty as provost guard at Baltimore, Maryland. Later career 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. ==Personal life==

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. Frederick and Eleanora were the parents of three children: a New York City Alderman and author who married Ethel Eastman Johnson (b. 1870), daughter of prominent painter Eastman Johnson. • Helena Conkling. He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. 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. ==See also==