San Diego County Biographies
 
N. H. CONKLIN

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


An attorney at law in San Diego, is one of the leading members of the San Diego 
bar. Although still a comparatively young man, his life has been a very busy 
one. In turn a soldier, journalist and lawyer, he has achieved prominence in 
every profession with which his fortunes have been identified. He was born in 
Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, June, 1839. His father, Lawrence C. Conklin, born 
in New York city in 1800, was a carpenter and bridge builder.  His mother, Sybil 
(Redfield) Conklin, was born in New York in 1802, the daughter of Russell 
Redfield and Betsy (Bixby), Redfield. Their ancestors were Connecticut people. 
His boyhood was passed with his parents in the town of Tunkhannock, on the 
Susquehanna, where he acquired such an education as was to be had at the public 
schools. In 1859 he began the study of law in the office of Judge Peckham, judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas. He was still immersed in his studies at the time 
of the breaking out of the war. Those who are not yet arrived at middle age have 
but little idea of the scenes that followed the firing upon Sumter,�the 
ebullitions of patriotic fervor, the mustering to arms, the hurried march to the 
field. Throughout the loyal States the response to President Lincoln's 
proclamation for troops was instantaneous: there was no hesitating then. Young 
Conklin heard the summons, and, throwing aside his law books, began raising a 
company of volunteers. Within less than a week from the time of the issuing of 
the proclamation his company was full, and he made a tender of it to the 
Governor. But the quota of the State was filled and the offer was declined. The 
Government and many of the people then believed with Senator Seward that the 
whole " affair" would be over in ninety days. Suffering under his 
disappointment, young Conklin went to Cincinnati to visit some friends. He could 
not, however, resist the impulse to give his services to his country, and within 
a week after his proffer had been rejected by the Governor of Pennsylvania he 
enlisted, in Cincinnati, in Company D, Second Kentucky Volunteers. He had been 
walking along the streets, when the beating of a drum again aroused the fires of 
patriotism within his breast; he went up stairs where a war meeting was being 
held, and enlisted as a private, not knowing at the time what the regiment was 
or where it was going; he only knew that the country needed his services, and 
right freely he proffered them. He was sent with his regiment to the Kanawha, in 
Western Virginia, and remained there until the spring of 1862. His regiment was 
then ordered to Kentucky, and then into Tennessee. He participated in the 
terrible battle of Shiloh, and was at the siege of Corinth. He then went back to 
Kentucky, and was in the State at the time of Bragg's raid. At Louisville he was 
discharged for promotion, having been commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 
Eighty-third Ohio Regiment. When he reached Cincinnati he found that his 
regiment had been ordered into the field. This was in November, 1862. He then 
returned to his home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until the following 
spring, reading the neglected law books. But he could not be content in such a 
peaceful avocation, and, having a strong taste for the navy, he applied for and 
was appointed master's mate. He was immediately ordered to report on board the 
Kenwood, attached to the Mississippi squadron. He took part in the siege of 
Vicksburg, and saw much active service while on the Kenwood, which was one of 
the fastest steamers on the river, and was generally used as a dispatch boat. In 
the spring of 1865 he was ordered to the Chillicothe, an iron-clad. As soon as 
he was mustered out of service at the close of the war, he again returned to 
Pennsylvania and once more renewed his law studies. He had two brothers in the 
Union army, both of whom are now living, one residing in northern California, 
and the other in Missouri.
        As soon as he had been admitted to the bar he started west and located 
at Warrensburg, Missouri, where he began the practice of his profession. He 
remained at Warrensburg until the fall of 1874. During this time he was engaged 
in publishing the Johnson Democrat, a weekly newspaper. In October, 1874, he 
started for San Diego. Upon his arrival here he assumed editorial control of the 
San Diego World, a daily, in connection with Mr. Julian, at present one of the 
proprietors of the San Diegan.  In 1877 he was elected District Attorney of the 
county, and held the office two years. Since then he has been engaged in the 
practice of law. Mr. Conklin has the largest general law practice of all 
attorneys in San Diego. He is the legal adviser of most of the large 
corporations here; is vice-president of the Pacific Wire Cloth Company, and is 
one of the principal stockholders of the Mission Valley Water Company and other 
large corporations. He is a Past Post Commander of Heintzelman Post, G. A. R., 
and is Past Commander of San Diego Commandery, Knight Templars. He was 
instrumental in bringing the railroad here, and has been interested in all 
public improvements. He has a handsome residence lately completed in Florence 
Heights on the corner of Fifth and Ivy streets.
        Mr. Conklin was married in 1867 to Miss Myra I. Reese, born in Hanover, 
Indiana, October 20, 1847. At the time of their marriage she was a resident of 
Warrensburg, Missouri. Their union has been blessed with eight children, three 
of whom survive, viz.: Ralph L. Conklin, born in Warrensburg, Missouri, May 31, 
1869; Sybil Conklin, born July 10, 1878, and Claud R. Conklin, born December 14, 
1883. Both of the latter are natives of San Diego.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California� Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  195-196