My Genealogy Hound

Prof. J. W. Conger, the present efficient and popular president of the Ouachita Baptist College of Arkadelphia, Ark., is a native of Jackson, Tenn., his birth occurring on the 20th of February, 1857. His parents, P. D. W. and E. J. (Chambers) Conger, were born in Middle Tennessee and North Carolina, respectively, and the latter was taken by her parents to Tennessee when she was a child. The Congers are of Scotch-English descent, the great grandfather having been born in England. Nearly all of the family have been of an inventive turn of mind, and some have proven first-class mechanics. The paternal grandfather, James B., was a constant contributor to the Scientific American from its first issue, and he was the inventor of the Turbin water-wheel. He died in Tennessee. P. D. W. Conger has been a general contractor the most of his life, and as an architect and master builder has not his superior. He has now in his charge the specifications of the Pythian Hall at Jackson, Tenn., and has been mayor of that city for several terms. Of a family of ten children born to him, Prof. J. W. Conger is the seventh. He was started to school when quite young and gradually advanced in the "paths of knowledge" until, in 1878, he graduated from the Southwest Baptist University at Jackson, Tenn., receiving the degree of A. B. He then for three years served as president of the I Odd Fellows College at Humboldt, Tenn., and in September, 1883, he, in company with Prof. W. H. Tharp, organized and opened Searcy College under the name of Conger & Tharp, which is now one of the leading institutions of learning in the State. Prof. Conger left Searcy in the winter of 1885 and took charge of the Prescott High School, but in June, 1886, he was elected president of the Ouachita College, which he organized, also selecting all the teachers. The building was completed in June, 1889, at a cost of about $40,000. It is a fine brick structure, and the grounds surrounding it are beautifully laid out. Prof. Conger, although but thirty-three years of age, is one of the most successful educators in the State of Arkansas, and he is now very successfully filling an important and responsible position. He is a man of fine executive ability, and is one who abounds in fertile expedients, enterprise and energy. As an evidence of this we have only to look at the rapid growth of Ouachita College, which will be a lasting monument to his zeal and efforts in behalf of Christian education. The outlook for this institution and its most worthy president is very promising, and is second to none in the State, or indeed in the entire South. In 1885 he had the degree of A. M. conferred upon him by his alma mater, the Southwest Baptist University. In the month of October, 1882, Miss Carrie McKinney, a daughter of Judge McKinney, of Purdy, Tenn., became his wife, but he was called upon to mourn her death the following year. In 1884 Miss Teny C. Hamilton, of Memphis, Tenn., became his second wife, and their union has resulted in the birth of three bright little children: Lucile, Elsie and Hamilton. Prof. Conger has shown his brotherly spirit by becoming a member of the I. O. O. F. and the K. of P., and personally he is pleasant, sympathetic and genial, respected and esteemed by all who know him.