the Mexican boundary survey. He defended the theory of periodical refrigeration, and suggested that the Mississippi depression was the consequence of the upheaval of the Appalachians and the later elevation of the Rocky mountain area. A list of his scientific papers is given in the catalogue of the Royal society of England.
CONRAD, William, clergyman, b. in Pennsylvania,
11 Aug., 1808; d. 16 Feb., 1865. He was
educated at the academy and theological seminary
of the German Reformed church at York, Pa.,
licensed to preach by the Westmoreland classis in
May, 1835, and labored during the rest of his life
in western Pennsylvania as a pioneer preacher.
He was one of the founders of Westmoreland
college, Mount Pleasant, Pa., to which he presented
his large collection of geological specimens, was a
frequent contributor to religious journals, and
published a volume on “Baptism” (1847).
CONROY, John Joseph, R. C. bishop, b. in
Queens county, Ireland, in 1819. He studied un-
der the Sulpicians at Montreal, completed his theo-
logical course in Mount St. Mary's, and was or-
dained in 1842. He became vice-president of St.
John's college, Pordham, in 1843, and was after-
ward appointed president. He was transferred to
the pastorate of St. Joseph's church, Albany, in
1844, and founded St. Vincent's orf^han asylum,
built a convent of the Sisters of Charity, and re-
built St. Joseph's church. He became vicar-gen-
eral of the diocese of Albany in 1857, and admin-
istered its affairs during the absence of the bishop.
He succeeded Dr. McCloskey on the latter's promo-
tion to the see of New York. During his admin-
istration there was a large increase of churches
and priests. Among the most noted institutions
that he founded are an industrial school, St. Peter's
hospital, St. Agnes's rural cemetery, and a house
of the Little Sisters of the Poor. He was present
at the first and second councils of Baltimore, and
took part in the sessions of the Vatican council.
In 1869 he convoked a synod of his diocese, and
made important regulations for its future govern-
ment. In 1870 a coadjutor was appointed at his
request, and in 1874 he resigned. He was then
created bishop of Curium in paiiihus. and I'esided
in New York city, where he died, 20 Nov., 1895.
CONTEE, Benjamin, clergyman, b. in Mary-
land in 1755 ; d. in Charles county, Md., 3 Nov.,
1815. He was liberally educated, studied theology,
and became a clergyman of the Protestant Episco-
pal church. In 1776 he was an officer in the 3d
Maryland battalion, lie was a member of the
Continental congress in 1787-'8, and was elected
to the 1st congress under the constitution, in which
body he voted in 1790 for establishing the seat of
government on the Potomac. Subsequently he
became the ]irosi(ling judge of the Charles county,
Md., testaiiieutarv court.
CONTRECOEUR, Captain, French soldier, b.
about 1730. He was a captain in the French ma-
rines, and in 1754 conducted a force of 1,000 men,
mostly Indians, with eighteen cannon, down the
Alleghany river in boats, for the purpose of pre-
venting the British authorities or the Ohio com-
pany from planting settlements in the Ohio valley,
which was claimed by the French under the treaty
of Aix. Ensign Ward, of Capt. Trent's company,
had partly constructed a fort at Ohio Fork, now
Pittsburg, the spot recommended for the purpose
in Washington's report. He surrendered the works
to Contrecosur, who finished the stockade, called
it Fort Duquesne, and maintained there a garri-
son of about 250 Frenchmen, and sometimes as
many as 500 Indians. When Braddock advanced
with more than 2,000 men, although the garrison
was demoralized by fear, Capt. Beaujeu, who had
come to relieve Contrecoeur, determined to attack
the approaching army, and, while he carried out
the brilliant attack that resulted in the rout of
Braddock's army, 9 July, 1755, Contrecoeur, to
whom the French official reports erroneously give
the credit of the victory, remained at the fort.
As Beaujeu had been shot, the command again de-
volved upon Contrecoeur, who was responsible for
the atrocities committed by the Indians.
CONVERSE, Amasa, journalist, b. in Virginia
in 1795; d. in Louisville, Ky., 9 Dec, 1872. He
was graduated at Dartmouth in 1822. After com-
pleting his theological course he was for some
years a pastor in the south, whence he removed
to Philadelphia, and founded the " Christian Ob-
server," a Presbyterian weekly organ of old-school
doctrine and southern political sympathies. When
the civil war began he removed his paper to Rich-
mond, Va., and after the war to Louisville, Ky.,
where it continued to be the organ and exponent
of the southern Presbyterian church.
CONVERSE, Charles Crozat, musical
composer, b. in Warren, Mass., in 1834. He studied
law and music in Leipsic, Germany, returned
home in 1857, and was graduated at the Albany
law-school in 1861. His musical compositions have
appeared under the anagrammatic pen-names “C.
O. Nevers,” “Karl Reden,” and “E. C. Revons.”
He has published a cantata (1855); “New Method
for the Guitar” (1855); “Musical Bouquet” (1859);
“The One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Psalm”
(1860); “Sweet Singer” (1863); “Church Singer”
(1863); “Sayings of Sages” (1863).
CONWAY, Moncure Daniel, author, b. in Stafford
county, Va., 17 March, 1832. His father was
a magistrate and a member of the Virginia legislature;
his mother a daughter of Surgeon-General
Daniel. He received his early education at
Fredericksburg academy, and was graduated at Dickinson
college, Pa., in 1849, where he united with
the Methodist church. He began the study of law
at Warrenton, Va., and while there wrote for the
Richmond “Examiner,” of which his cousin, John
M. Daniel, was editor, in support of extreme southern
opinions. He abandoned the law to enter the
Methodist ministry, joined the Baltimore conference
in 1850, was appointed to the Rockville
circuit, and in 1852 to Frederick circuit. He was a
contributor to the “Southern Literary Messenger,”
and published a pamphlet entitled “Free Schools
in Virginia,” in which he advocated the adoption
of the New England common-school system.
Having undergone a change of political and religious
convictions, partly through the influence of a
settlement of Quakers among whom he lived, he left
the Methodist ministry and entered the divinity-school
at Cambridge, Mass., where he was graduated
in 1854. He then returned to Virginia, in
the hope of preaching his humanitarian ideas and
transcendental and rationalistic doctrines; but
upon reaching Falmouth, where his parents
resided, was obliged by a band of neighbors to leave
the state under threats because he had befriended
Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave from the same
district. The same year he became pastor of the
Unitarian church in Washington, D. C., where he
preached until he was dismissed on account of
some anti-slavery discourses, especially one delivered
after the assault on Senator Sumner. In 1857
he was settled over the Unitarian church in
Cincinnati, Ohio. There he published, among other
pamphlets, “A Defence of the Theatre” and “The
Natural History of the Devil.” The
publica-
