Person:Hiram Conley (1)

Hiram was said to have moved to "California" and married there. (Morton's History of Preston County) His birth date is listed in the Salt Lake Temple Records, #13732, Book 6A, Page 608.

Hiram left Preston County prior to 1860 as he is listed as living in Arizona in the New Mexico Territory between Tucson and Gila City. He was working as a carpenter and was residing at the John D. Smith household there. (1860 US Census) This appears to be at the Pima Indian villages according to the Census records. While there, he met Judge Mortimer H. Lott, and later moved to Montana to mine gold. Hiram is listed, along with Judge Lott, in "The Vigilantes of Montana," by Prof. Thomas Dimsdale. In this work, by July 16, 1862, Hiram, Lott and James Kennedy were partners in a claim at Pioneer Gulch. They stated that they took out $25 to $75 a day by "sluicing out" gold. In August 1862, Hiram and Lott purchased a claim at Bannack called "Jemmie's Bar." They mined this area for three months and, in that short time, took out $20,000 worth of gold. (History of Montana)

In 1870, Hiram was listed as living in Grand River Township, Stewartsville, DeKalb County, Missouri. He was a farmer with land wealth of $2500 and personal property of $1200. He had two women living with him, "Margaret" aged 38 born in Connecticut and "Alice" aged 36 born in Massachusetts.

The 1880 US Census lists Hiram as living in California Township, Coffey County, Kansas. Listed with him is his brother, Harrison, who had recently left his wife, Maria, and also an Albert Conley (Connelly), age 19, born in Ohio. They all were employed as coal miners.