Was William Conley always a Millionaire?

 Jose objected to Jerome's article on Conley suggesting that Conley was always a millionaire. As a reminder, comments should be factual. Jose's comment is not, but since others may view matters as he does, I'm posting an extract from Separate Identity volume one: 

William Henry Conley 

Other than the Russells, the only name we can positively associate with the Allegheny Study Group in this period is William H. Conley. Russell described him as “a member of the early Allegheny Bible Class.”12 Since they were closely associated in religious work, his wife would have been a member too.

Conley was born June 11, 1840, in Pittsburgh to George Washington Conley and Matilda Balsley. His father died about 1852, when Conley was twelve years old, and Conley went to work in a woolen mill in Allegheny.13 In 1855 he was apprenticed to an uncle, a printer in Blairsville, Ohio. In 1857, he moved with his uncle to Plymouth, Ohio, where he met Sara Shaffer (also spelled Shafer), two years his junior and a transplanted Pennsylvanian. They married in 1860.

Significantly, Conley associated with the Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Ohio. There is little documentation for Conley’s life there, but it is into this time that one can fit his first acquaintance with George Nathaniel Henry Peters, later the author of the massive three volume work, Theocratic Kingdom. Peter’s obituary as found in The Lutheran Observer of October 22, 1909, notes his service to the Plymouth, Ohio, church. Another source shows him serving as pastor in Plymouth during the years of Conley’s residence.

While it is possible that Russell met Peters through another, it is likely that he met him through Conley. It is also extremely likely that Conley’s interest in the Lord’s return and last-times events derived from his association with Peters. Though somewhat sympathetic toward Adventism, Peters was pre-millennialist Lutheran and would not have led Conley into Adventism.He was already committed to his great study of Christ’s return and rule, having started the research about 1854. His preaching at Plymouth must have been colored by his study. ....

There are three William Conleys listed among Civil War soldiers from Ohio, but none of the biographical notices of William H. Conley list Civil War service. At or toward the end of the war the Conleys moved back to Pittsburgh where he joined a commission house, a wholesale firm. Later he became a bookkeeper for James M. Riter, whose company, established in 1861, worked in sheet metal and copper. The business seems to have been prosperous though not large. Riter supplied major portions of the iron work for the Escanaba furnace in 1872.

James Riter died in 1873, and Conley “took a half-interest in the business with Thomas B. Riter, the firm name being changed to Riter & Conley; he attended to the financial and office work while Mr. Riter attended to the outside and mechanical part.” Eventually Riter & Conley “became the most extensive of its kind in the world.” That Conley focused on a major business venture that year is a strong indicator that he did not take the predictions of Jonas Wendell, Nelson Barbour and others seriously. Others who were swayed, though not enough to form a positive conviction, also engaged in business, and his partnership with T. B. Riter is not proof that he didn’t find the movement interesting or even somewhat persuasive.

One can find supporting footnotes in SI1. There is enough here to show that in his early years Conley was a laborer with little money. Money came later in life. The lesson is this: Put some thought into your comments; support them with a reference to original source material. Do not post silly comments.