The log cabin Democrat., 1920-08-03
CONWAY FAMILY AN
 INDUSTRIOUS ONE
AGED ADVERTISEMENTS
Interesting Story of Arkansas f'rS' Governor. for Whom Conway
 County and City Were Namrd.

Arkansas first state governor aP- pears in today's edition of the Ar kansas Gazette. The story is of lo- cal interest to Conway citizens 'n that several branches of the Sevier family have lived in Conway and Faulkner county. F. c. Sevier was county judge of Faulkner county w"eo the present courthouse was erected here. The city Of Conway. as We, as Con way county. were named in honor of James :. Conway.
 The story follows:
 The oldest member of 3 family which boasts four generations living Mrs. Ambrose H. Sever ot Walau: Hill. I,aFayette county, js also oae of the two surviving children ot James s. Conway, Arkansas frs. St3;e goy- ernor.
 Born in 1880. Mrs. Sevier ell be oo years old in January. a pioneer who has watched the Southern soldier march away into three wars; w},e has marked the progress of Arkansas his- tory from the days of the early gov ernors to the present and who has preserved throughout q keen interest and an accurate perception of the changes through which the state has come,
 As daughter of the Conway fam fly, she has shared n the traditions of that brilliant group which furnished the state two governors. a congress- man. a judge of the supreme court, and other officers of note.
 The family had it's origin in Eng land. from whence q younger son cape to America in 1740. We are told, and founded the Virginia branch of the family. Thomes Conway. a son Of the original stock, settled in Ten nessee during the Revolution and there established a home for his 10 children, three of whom were later to play prominent part in the history of Arkansas. Ann Conway, his wife, was beloved by all. and went by the affeetionate title of Mother Con way
 Henry w. Conway was one of their sons. Serving three terms as Arkan- sas congressman, he made an effort to establish the state boundary some 10 miles west of it's present location and did much to further the interests of the newly created territory. He was killed in a duel with Robert Crit tenden in 1627.
 James 5. Conway, father of Mrs. Sevier, was a brother of the Arkan- sas congressman. He was a trained surveyor and was first brought to Ar kanas to conduct a state survey in 1920. He was appointed by the pres ident to survey the state boundaries on the west and south, and so skill ful was the young surveyor that 90 years later his work was found to be correct to the last detail. He was the first Arkansas governor to be elect ed after the territoy became a state ln 1856, and at the close of his term retired to his plantation on Red river, in LaFayette county Here he brought up his family and accumulat- ed large fortune He IS buried at Walnut Hill. Arkansas.
 1 thiId son of Thomas and Ann Conway was Elias x. Conway, who followed his brothers to Arkansas n 1853 and became aa integral part of state politics. He was said to have been one of Arkansas two great state auditors, and did much to en- courage settlement on public lands through his Homestead Law" which offered land free of charge to actual settlers.
 As governor of the state n l842 he forwarded the building of leyecs was the first advocate of a "gooc roads program, and was instru mental in putting through the first railroad surveys from Little Rock tc 1 Memphis, from Little Rock to St Louis, and from Little Rock to Fort Smith.
 \ full account of the three Con way brothers may be found in the Makers of Arkansas History by John Hugh Reynolds.
 Mrs. Sevier, daughter of Governor James s. Conway, was also niece of Henry and Elias Conway. Sh' married son of another family whC had no less important share in Ar kansas political history. Her hus band, Dr. Ambrose II. Sevier, was ; son of that Col. Ambrose II, Sewer who in June, 1863, succeeded in pass ing the bill which made Arkansas ; state and whose 20 years service il congress did much to bring recogni tion to the Arkansas territory, ant later to the state whose admission h. had secured.
 Dr. and Mrs. Seyier had four child ren, thre daughters and one son, Wh' are residents of Walnut Hill. Mrs 5 Sevier lives with son-in-lsw, Dr. J
 F. Dismukes, and near her son, Am prose H. Sevier, and her daughter