Martin F. Conway

Martin Franklin Conway (November 19, 1827 – February 15, 1882) was a U.S. congressman, consul to France, abolitionist, and advocate of the Free-State movement in Kansas.

Early life Martin Franklin Conway was born on November 19, 1827, at "Bretons Hill" near Fallston, Harford County, Maryland, to Frances Ann (née Maulsby) and William Dorsey Conway. His father was an exploring surveyor in the United States Navy, and a slave owner. In 1831, he moved with his parents to St. Augustine, Florida, and in 1832, they moved to Charleston, South Carolina. In 1840, he returned to Baltimore. He studied law with Henry Stockbridge Sr.

Career Conway moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in October 1854. He practiced law there and was a correspondent with the Baltimore Sun. In March 1855, Conway was elected from Riley County to the first legislative council in the Kansas Territory, but resigned prior to assuming his seat. In 1855, he was an active member at the Free-State meeting in Big Springs and became a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional convention. From 1856 to 1857, he was chief justice of the Supreme Court under the Topeka constitution. While in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was known for his opposition to slavery but also served as a member of the Washington, D.C. "peace convention" in an effort to avert civil war.

Conway was an agent for Kansas in the Massachusetts Abolition Society. After the shooting, he became a patient at St. Elizabeths Hospital (then the Government Hospital for the Insane) in Washington, D.C.