John Parsons Conkey was born July 24, 1823, in Martinsburg, New York, and educated at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York. On account of failing health, he left the college during his senior year. He came west in ’48 and engaged in the drug business at Tipton, Iowa, and then at Cedar Rapids. After his time in the legislature he pursued the ministry. He took a course in theology at Princeton college, in ’58 and ’59, and in the latter year became a pastor at Bellevue, Iowa. He left for Cape May, New Jersey, then officiated at two churches in Philadelphia. He spent two years at Wilmington, Delaware, and returned to Dubuque in ’76. Mr. Conkey was president of the Duluth, Huron and Denver Railroad Company.