S. B. Conger

Seymour Beach Conger (October 11, 1876 – July 12, 1934) was an American journalist, foreign and war correspondent. From 1910 to 1917, Conger served as the chief of the Associated Press bureau in Berlin, covering events before and during the First World War.

Conger also covered the Versailles Peace Conference for the Associated Press. After the war, he continued his reporting from Europe, working as a chief foreign correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia Public Ledger, New York Post, and affiliated newspapers. His base of operations remained in Berlin. His father was a well-known locomotive and railway engineer, who worked as an editor for the Railway and Train Engineering and was one of the founders of the Travelling Engineers' Association. For seven years Clinton Barker served as the president of the association and was its treasurer at the time of his death in 1912. His paternal grandfather was Seymour Beach Conger, Civil War Union Army officer. During the Civil War, Seymour Beach Conger served in the 3rd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, rising to major and commander of the regiment. He was killed in the Battle of Moorefield in 1864.

Conger received his early education in Grand Rapids High School before attending the University of Michigan. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898, during which he served as a private in the 32nd Michigan Volunteers. He resigned from the National Guard as a second lieutenant. After returning from the war, Conger completed his degree at the University of Michigan in 1900.

After returning to the United States, Conger served as a foreign adviser to the War Trade Board in Washington, D.C., where he helped draft blockade restrictions and regulations. He then covered the Paris Peace Conference and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles for the Associated Press. In the final years of his life, Conger resided in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he died on July 12, 1934, at the age of 58. Conger was buried in the Lakeside Cemetery in Port Huron, Michigan.