Richard Conway (mayor)

Richard Conway (November 11, 1740 – November 27, 1806) was a politician, shipowner, and merchant in Colonial Virginia who served as the fourth mayor of Alexandria, Virginia.

Richard Conway
Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia
In office
1783–1784
Preceded byJames Hendricks
Succeeded byRichard Conway
Personal details
BornNovember 11, 1740
Virginia, British America
DiedNovember 27, 1806
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
SpouseMary West
RelationsNelly Conway Madison (cousin)
OccupationPolitician, merchant

Early life and family

Conway was born on November 11, 1740, in Virginia, the son of John and Frances Conway.[1] Through his paternal side, he was a descendant of Colonel Edwin Conway, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was also a relative of Nelly Conway, mother of James Madison.[2] Conway was married to Mary West, the daughter of Colonel John West IV and a great-great-granddaughter of Colonial Governor John West.

Career

Business

Conway was an active merchant in Alexandria and a shipowner. He commanded merchant vessels on the Potomac River.[3] In 1752, Conway was one of the benefactors of the Alexandria Town Hall and Court House, along with John Carlyle and William Ramsay.[4]

Conway was the owner of the shipping vessels Molly and Betsey which operated on the U.S. East Coast. He was also a shareholder in the Marine Insurance Company of Alexandria, the Potomac Company, and the Theatre of Alexandria.[1]

Public service

During the American Revolutionary War, Conway served as a captain in the Continental Army. Conway's ship, Betsey, was captured by British troops at Sandy Hook in 1778.[5]

In 1787, Conway became a Justice of the Peace for Fairfax County.[3] Conway was a close personal friend of George Washington.[6][7] In March 1789, he lent £625 ($95,000 in 2023, adjusted to inflation) to Washington one month before he assumed the Presidency to settle some Virginia debts and fund his trip to Federal Hall for his inauguration in New York.[8][9][10]

In 1783, Conway became the fourth mayor of Alexandria.[11][12][13] Shortly after his term as mayor, Conway presented grievances to the Virginia General Assembly regarding foreign trade policy, which helped lead to the Mount Vernon Conference of 1785 which governed state rights on the Potomac River, Pocomoke River, and Chesapeake Bay.[14][15]

In 1793, Conway was one of the founding board members of the Bank of Alexandria.[16][17] In 1802, Conway was offered an appointment by Thomas Jefferson as a justice of the peace for the county, but declined the appointment.[18]

Death

Conway died on November 27, 1806, aged 66.[3][19] In his will, Conway left his wife at least eight enslaved persons and emancipated at least one slave. His executors included his friend Edmund Jennings Lee.[1]

References
  1. "Fairfax County, VA - Will of Richard Conway". USGenWeb Archives. 1804.
  2. Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society. The Long Island Historical Society. 1889.
  3. “From George Washington to Richard Conway, 4 March 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-01-02-0272. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 1, 24 September 1788 – 31 March 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 361–362.]
  4. "Alexandria Market House & City Hall (Masonic Hall), 301 King Street, Alexandria, Independent City, VA". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  5. Gill, Harold B.; Curtis, George M. (March 16, 2009). A Man Apart: The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774 - 1781. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4616-3283-2.
  6. “From George Washington to Richard Conway, 31 December 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-12239. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of George Washington. It is not an authoritative final version.]
  7. Pulliam, Ted (2011). Historic Alexandria: An Illustrated History. HPN Books. ISBN 978-1-935377-41-2.
  8. "Founders Online: From George Washington to Richard Conway, 6 March 1789". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  9. Riley, John (1999). "Rules of Engagement: Ceremony and the First Presidential Household". The White House Historical Association. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  10. "Washington Answers "The Call of His Country"". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  11. Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria, Virginia, 1780-1820: A-M. Heritage Books. 1991. ISBN 978-1-55613-389-3.
  12. Hayden, Horace Edwin (1891). Virginia Genealogies: A Genealogy of the Glassell Family of Scotland and Virginia : Also of the Families of Ball, Brown, Bryan, Conway, Daniel, Ewell, Holladay, Lewis, Littlepage, Moncure, Peyton, Robinson, Scott, Taylor, Wallace, and Others, of Virginia and Maryland. E.B. Yordy, printer.
  13. Alden, Henry Mills (1880). Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Harper & Brothers.
  14. "Mount Vernon Conference". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  15. "The History of Alexandria: Discovering the Decades". City of Alexandria, VA. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  16. Volpe, Paul Anthony (1945). The International Financial and Banking Crisis, 1913-1933. Catholic University of America Press, Incorporated.
  17. Crothers, A. Glenn (1999). "Banks and Economic Development in Post-Revolutionary Northern Virginia, 1790-1812". The Business History Review. 73 (1): 1–39. doi:10.2307/3116099. ISSN 0007-6805.
  18. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 37: 4 March to 30 June 1802. Princeton University Press. 1950. ISBN 978-0-691-15001-7.
  19. "Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900", Will Books, 1800-1878; Index to Wills, 1800-1951; Author: Virginia. Corporation Court (Alexandria (Independent City)); Probate Place: Alexandria, Virginia, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 62347 #2027532 (accessed 19 September 2023), Richard Conway probate on 5 Jun 1804 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. Residence Alexandria, Columbia.
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