Bio: Conway, Patrick (? - 1902)

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Conway

----Source: History of Wood County, Wis. (1923) pages 304-305

Patrick Conway, now deceased, one of the pioneers of Wood County, was a native of Ireland, where he spent a part of his early life. It was the custom of many of his countrymen, when industrial conditions were bad in their native land, to seek employment in England, in which respect he imitated them, and during a temporary residence in the latter country he met and married Bridget Hinchey. But neither in Ireland nor in England did they see any great opportunity to improve their fortunes, and their thoughts turned accordingly to the land of opportunity across the sea, the United States of America, and for this country they took passage on a sailing vessel which after a voyage of four weeks landed them at New York. In that city they made their home for a short time, but they soon found that conditions in such a crowded center of population were too much like those in Europe. Though wages were higher, the price of provisions, clothes and house rent were higher in proportion, and the chances were against a rapid rise in prosperity. But in the vast areas of the then far West and Northwest, as yet wild or but thinly settled, the opportunities for which Mr. Conway sought were awaiting the hardy pioneer, and he resolved to embrace them. In the month of June, 1851, he and his wife drove into what is now the town of Rudolph, Wood County, Wis., and located on a tract of land 119 acres in area in Section 6. They began the work of improvement, extending through a period of years marked by hard and almost incessant labor, their bodily strength recruited only by the plainest food, not always sufficient in quantity, and with little variety, the principal items of which, such as flour, had to be carried for miles through the then almost trackless forest. But gradual progress was made and in time Mr. Conway bought 100 additional acres adjoining his original property, and on which was a substantial home.

As his farm produced insufficient income for some years, Mr. Conway naturally drifted into the lumber industry in order to earn the means of livelihood. He acquired practical experience in running logs on the river and later became a logging contractor. He also tried cattle raising with good success for that day. He and his wife were devoted members of the Catholic church, and before the building of a church, in which work they later took an active part, their home was always open to the missionary priests who visited that region to conduct religious services, and to whom they always extended a ready hospitality. Mr. Conway also took a keen and intelligent interest in educational work and in all matters affecting the material welfare and development of the community. He served as a member of the town board and helped to develop and establish the schools therein. In time, as local conditions improved, he attained a fair degree of prosperity and won an honored position in his town as a useful and reliable citizen. In 1898 he retired from active farming and took up his residence in Wis. Rapids, where he spent his last years, passing away in the month of March, 1902. His wife still survives him, being now 89 years of age. They were blessed with a family of 13 children, of whom seven are still living, all of whom were given the best available education. Mr. and Mrs. Conway were typical pioneers in this district and shared all the hardships and privations that accompanied the early settler and they lived to view the reward that such industry and perseverance guaranteed in the land of their adoption. They stood forth in sharp contrast with the agricultural class in other lands, in the origin of their title to and the nature of their possession of, the soil they cultivated. They entered upon the tremendous task of hewing out of the forests of the town of Rudolph a farm and a home, not as the tenant or villein of some feudal lord, wearing the collar of servitude and yielding all of the better portion of their produce as a return for protection to him as weakling laborers. Self reliant and self dependent, they took from nature the lease of their estate, rent free and bondage free. Not, however, free of cost and without price, but the price they paid was the price manhood and womanhood loves to render for the gains which do it honor. It was the cost of that labor which builds up the true citizen; with privations which strengthen rather than enervate; and facing perils which exalt the soul. With every trunk they lifted to its place in the cabin wall, a new layer of strength was added to their character; every rood of ground they subdued by their joint efforts to cultivation, gave new breadth to their views; every peril they surmounted, every conflict they won, refined and sublimated the spirit of their lives.

And when after years of such discipline of labor and trial, standing by the door of his castle of logs Patrick Conway heard the sound of the voice of his loyal and contented housewife within and the voices of happy children round about while his eyes swept the fruitful possessions he had wrought from the wilderness, to their sufficient support and comfort, he realized the individual independence of free manhood, and the blessings of a free country which made possible the accomplishments of the subjects of this sketch, who came to Wood County, a remote wilderness 72 years ago, and who brought with them the best type of Christian civilization.