Obadiah Burlew Conover was also known as Obadiah Covenhoven. Obadiah Burlew Conover was born on 12. Apr. 1788 at Marlboro, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He was the son of
Benjamin Covenhoven and
Abigail Buckalew. In 1812 Obadiah B. Conover settled in Dayton. Mr. Conover, who came from New Jersey, was for
some years engaged in blacksmithing and the manufacture of wagons, plows, and other farming
implements. About 1820 he opened a store on the southeast corner of Main and Third streets, the
property still belonging to his descendants, though the pioneer building has given way to a modern
business house. He was much interested and very useful in city and educational affairs, and in church
and in Sunday-school work. He married a daughter of John Miller, who came to Dayton in 1799. Some
of the characteristics of the grandfather have been inherited by sons and grandsons, from whom
schools, libraries, and other public matters have received intelligent and constant attention. Mr. and
Mrs. Conover had five children, all, as well as their descendants, influential citizens. The sons, Harvey,
Wilbur, and Obadiah, were men of superior talent and liberal education, who made themselves felt, the
first two in Dayton, and the third in Madison, Wisconsin. The sons, and one of the daughters, Martha,
who married Collins Wight, a prominent business man, are deceased. The second daughter, Hannah,
married Colonel Hiram Strong, who was a gallant officer, and died in 1863 from wounds received in the
battle of Chickamauga. Obadiah B. Conover has many grandchildren: Charles, Harvey, Lawrence, and
Wilbur Conover, Mrs. W. A. Phelps, and Mrs. Emma Brown, children of Harvey Conover; Frank
Conover, Hugh D. Conover, deceased, and Mrs. Mary C. Grundy, deceased, children of Wilbur
Conover; Harry C. Wight, deceased, and Mrs. R. A. Rogers, children of Mrs. Wight; Mrs. Hannah Frank
and Mrs. W. B. Gebhart, daughters of Mrs. Strong. In 1812. Obadiah Burlew Conover resided at at Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1812. He was engaged in blacksmithing and the manufacture of wagons, plows and other farming impliments a 1812 at Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio. He married
Sarah Miller, daughter of
John Miller and
Jane Aut, on 13. Apr. 1814 at Monmouth County, New Jersey. Obadiah Burlew Conover was he opened a store on the southeast corner of Main and Third streets in 1820 at Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio. He died on 6. Jan. 1835 at Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, at age 46. Obadiah Burlow Conover was born April 12, 1788, on a farm in Monmouth County, New Jersey, adjacent to what is now known as "the Old Brick Church,'' near Middlepoint. He learned the trade of blacksmithing, and determined to emigrate to the West. In 1812 he located in Dayton, where he carried on his trade, manufacturing wagons, plows, and other farm implements. After the fire at Cooper's Mills in 1820, he was very much overheated, and jumping into the river for a bath, took cold, from which he never entirely recovered. He gave up his shop and opened a general store at the corner of Main and Third streets, after a time forming a partnership with E. D. Kincaid.
It was customary in Dayton for all merchants not only to sell domestic wine and whisky, but to keep a bottle standing on their counters where all could help themselves. In 1827 and 1828 the temperance question was agitated for the first time in this community, and being intimate with Mr. Conover's oldest son, Burlow, I was much about the store and heard many discussions between Mr. Conover and his friends. The question with him was, what to do with the liquor he had in his cellar. It seemed like a waste to let it run into the ground, but he felt he could no longer either sell it or give it away, so the bungs were drawn, settling once and for all the liquor question in that store.
The church records, unfortunately, prior to 1814 were not kept, but it is certain that Mr. Conover joined the First Presbyterian Church soon after coming to Dayton, and was elected an elder in June, 1823. On April 13, 1814, he married Sarah Miller, daughter of John Miller, an elder in the church. She was born in Kentucky October 20, 1794, came to Dayton in 1799, and died January 12, .1872.
Mr. Conover died January 6, 1835. They had eight children, two of whom died young. Burlow, the oldest, studied at South Hanover, Indiana, expecting to be a missionary in China, but died about the time of his graduating.
Harvey Conover, also a graduate of South Hanover, was a merchant for many years in Dayton, and also manufactured linseed oil in partnership with Daniel Keifer. He died in 1893, leaving six children.
Wilbur Conover, born May 10, 1821, graduated at Miami University in 1840, entered the office of Odlin & Schenck; and was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1844 he and Robert C. Schenck formed a partnership, which was dissolved, and he entered into partnership with Samuel Craighead. On September 11, 1849, he married Elizabeth W. Dickson, who died September 27, 1868. Mr. Conover died October 3, 1881. They had five children, of whom Frank, an attorney in Dayton, is the only one living.
Obadiah M. Conover, a graduate of Princeton, was for many years professor in the college at Madison, Wisconsin, and during the last years of his life was law reporter for that State. He died in London, England, on the 29th of April, 1884, leaving three children.
Harriet Conover married, on September 28, 1852, Hiram Strong, who was born October 28, 1825, at Centerville, Ohio, graduated at Miami University in 1846, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He was first in partnership with William W. Bartlett; afterwards with Hon. Lewis B. Gunckel. This firm was recognized as one of the leading law firms of Dayton. When war with the South proved inevitable, Mr. Strong was one of the first to give up business and offer his services, and in August, 1862, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Ninety-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga, and carried by his men on a litter down the mountain to the hospital at Nashville. He died there October 7, 1863, leaving a wife and four young children, all of whom are living. As said most truthfully in an obituary published at the time of his death, "of the many noble men who have lost their lives in this war, there was no better or nobler than Colonel Strong."
Martha Conover married Collins Wight November 7, 1843. Mr. Wight was born in Barnard, Vermont, May 1, 1817, his father, Benoni Wight, having come to this country from the Isle of Wight. Collins was educated at the Norwich Military Academy, now West Point, and could have entered the United States Army had he so desired. When twenty-one he started west, walking the entire distance, giving lectures on astronomy and chemistry, and carrying his apparatus and instruments in a small, hand-made wooden trunk. He stopped in Dayton to lecture, and wandered into the academy building, where examinations were in progress for a successor to Mr. Barney. Being taken for an applicant, questions were asked and answered, and to his surprise the position was offered him. Mr. Wight accepted and spent the remainder of his life in Dayton, taking great interest in its progress and loving the home of his adoption. Martha Conover Wight died March 8, 1884. Mr. Wight died October 16, 1890, leaving three children. At the time of his death Collins Wight was engaged in the lumber business, in which his oldest son, Harry, succeeded him. Harry Wight married Hattie Campbell, and died December 23, 1894, leaving his wife and two little children—Barbara and Collins.
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