CONANT, E.

CONANT, WEBB

Posted By: Administrator
Date: 10/3/2001 at 16:12:26

From the book "The History of Clinton County Iowa" by L. P. Allen (1879) Pages 669-697
Biographical Sketches of Clinton Residents

E. Conant, Street Commissioner; is a native of Susquehanna Co., Penn., and was born Feb. 26, 1825; he was raised in Lockport, N. Y.; came to Illinois in 1852, and was conductor on the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad; he ran the first passenger train that reached Fulton City Dec. 5, 1855; in March, 1857, he began to run a steamboat across the river to Fulton for the old Iowa & Nebraska Railroad; continued four years; he engaged in the milling business with Mr. Hofman, running a small mill for six years; then bought the stone mill and rebuilt it and sold it to Mr. Lamb; in the summer of 1867, with others, he built the Farmers' Mills, at a cost of over $20,000 and ran the mills, with his partner, until 1878. Mr. Conant has served as City Alderman five years, Town Trustee five years, and Poor Director. In 1845, he married Miss Harriet E. Webb; she was born in Ohio, but was brought up in New York; they have one daughter -- Edna L.