George Benjamin Conway.
. .
George Conway was a prominent figure in Montana business life for nearly
sixty five years having spent nearly his entire adult life in the State of
Montana. George arrived from Indianapolis, Indiana on April 04, 1881 at
Dillon, many years prior to Statehood. For more than a quarter of a
century he was connected with the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company which
chartered in 1877 and through his business dealings with Elias Atkins and
Henry Knippenberg, partners in the Atkins Saw Works, George Conway found
himself and his new Bride enroute to the mining camp of Glendale, Montana
where he would serve as cashier for the struggling Hecla Mining Company
whose years of success were yet to be realized. Under the Knippenberg and
Conway Administration, the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company would prosper
and pay handsome dividends for more than twenty years.
George's father,
William Conway married Leonora Harriet Smith who was born at Kent, England
in 1840 and died at Oil City, Pennsylvania in 1870. She was the Mother to
three children with George being the oldest. William Conway Jr. owned a
newspaper in Wilmington, Pennsylvania and their sister Emily died in
infancy. George Conway received most of his schooling in his native city
of Wheeling. For a time he also attended high school at Indianapolis but
an illness forced George to leave his schooling behind and at the age of
fourteen, he went to work as messenger boy in the Capital City Iron Works,
which his father had served as Manager. After working for two years, he
went to work at the offices of the E. C. Atkins and Co. Saw Works of
Indianapolis, the largest business of it’s kind in America. He was with
that firm from 1879 until 1881, when he made the decision to head to
Montana Territory.
Through his employment with Atkin's Saw Works, George would become
acquainted with Henry Knippenberg and Elias Atkins. George arrived at
Glendale on April 4, 1881 with his new bride, ready to begin the task of
company business. After the shutdown, business interests required George
to spend time in New York City but he would return to Montana where in
1909, Governor Norris appointed him the position of State Accountant which
required George and his family to move to the Capital City of Helena,
Montana. He served as accountant to the state for four years, after which
he became secretary and general manager of the Montana Livestock and
Casualty Insurance Company.
In 1917, this company was sold to the Iowa state Livestock Insurance
company and George handled business from his office at 26 west Sixth
Street in Helena serving the capacity of district manager. He also served
as secretary of H.B. Palmer & Company, but the charter of this corporation
was not renewed after it expired in November, 1919. George Conway was a
republican voter and served as trustee and deacon of the First Baptist
Church at Helena. He was affiliated with the King Solomon Lodge No.9, A.F.,
and A.M., and had attained the thirty second degree in Scottish Rite,
being affiliated with Helena Consistory No.3.
Lillie Conway graduated from The Indianapolis High School and was very
active in the social circles of Helena. She was a member of the Women’s
Club of Helena and for several years was regent of the Daughters of the
American Revolution in Oro Fino Chapter of Helena. George and Lillie had
eight children all born at Glendale during the 1880s and 1890s. They lost
one daughter to Scarlet Fever when she was just shy of six years old at
Glendale. The eldest of their children was Helen, born in 1882, married
William J. Cushing, an attorney at Dillon Montana. They had a daughter ,
Josephine who was born in 1904. Josephine attended high school in Dillon,
Montana and married Nelson Maxwell. They would move to Spokane,
Washington. Florence Conway was born in 1885 and married Anthony H. French
of Argenta. Ora born in 1887 and Alice in 1889, both graduated with
Bachelors of Pedagogy from the State Normal College at Dillon and were
both teachers in the public schools of Helena. Ruth, born in 1891, married
Gustav Bohstedt, who worked for the Department of Agriculture at the State
University at Madison, Wisconsin. They had two sons, Carl Conway and James
born in 1919 and 1925. Walter Lincoln Conway, born in 1894, graduated from
the University of Montana and served as the Superintendent of rural and
city schools in the Columbia Falls district of Montana.
Eunice Conway, the youngest of the Conway children was born in 1898 and
graduated High school in Helena with the class of 1918. she worked as a
stenographer for the Internal Revenue Office in Helena. George and Lillie
celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on March 25, 1931 in Helena
with all their children present. Lillie Passed away in Helena on November
29, 1934.
The demise of the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company came as a result of
the devaluation of Silver and the high costs associated with mining and
smelting. It became more profitable to ship ore out than smelting it
locally. The company found itself in a position where they could no longer
pay their employees and litigations forced them to shut down operations,
the Glendale Smelter was dismantled. The town of Glendale nearly
disappeared from the map as families moved, taking everything with them,
including their homes. Many of the miners moved on to Colorado and Idaho
where mines were still operating successfully. For a short time, the mines
of the former Hecla Mining Company were idle and in 1906, Henry
Knippenberg acquired the properties for about 28,000 which amounted to the
debt owed him by the company. The Mines would pass into private ownership
and would eventually be disposed of by Knippenberg. The Longmaid Brothers
of Helena would also acquire the properties and eventually a corporation
of Philadelphia capitalists would form the New Hecla Consolidated Mining
Company of which Harry A. Stone of Philadelphia was President.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Leasers would work the mine dumps of the
former Hecla Properties. George Conway would serve as executer of the
Darby Mining Interests which involved several families who claimed joint
ownership and interest of the former Hecla Properties. Wilhelm and Norris
of Melrose would lease from the Darby Mining Company through George Conway
and truck the slag out for shipment via the railroad. Conway eventually
received the option to purchase the properties but little was done to work
or develop the defunct mines. George B. Conway lived out his life in
Montana having passed away at the home of his daughter on November 05,
1945 in Dillon.
Many years prior to his death, George Conway asked Hampton Norris and his
Son Andy, to truck a boulder that George handpicked from the Trapper Mine,
over to Helena. George placed the large granite boulder at the head of his
wife Lillie’s grave which remains there today as a personal gesture toward
the memory of the Mining district that he and his family called home for
more than two decades.