From The Settlement of Prince Edward County by Nick and Helma Mika. Transcribed here by Linda Herman

Pioneers of Prince Edward County 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

DAVID CONGER

Born 1731 in Piscataqua, New Jesrsey. 

David Conger was born in 1731 in Piscataqua, New Jersey. He was a silversmith and brass-founder and lived on a small farm in Ulster County, New York. During the Revolutionary War, his loyalty was to the British Crown, which rendered his position unpleasant after the establishment of the new government and in 1786 he came to Hallowell. Here he bought a mill site on the Bay of Quinte two miles east of Picton. By 1787 he had his saw mill built and running.

Next he decided to build a grist mill, being fully aware of the hardships involved in travelling to the mill at Kingston. David was a deeply religious man. He generously donated a site for a Methodist church on his own lot of land. The white wooden church, built in 1908, is now the oldest church of this denomination still in use in Ontario.

David's ninth child, Stephen, was fourteen years old when his parents brought him to Canada. A brave and self-reliant lad, he helped to drive the cattle north, a difficult and arduous task taking more than a month. He became Justice of the Peace at the age of thirty, and was one of the first magistrates in Prince Edward County.

In early days, not all ministers were allowed to perform legal marriage ceremonies. Consequently a Justice of the Peace was often required to serve in this capacity. Stephen Conger acted in solemnizing seventy-six weddings between the years of 1803 and 1823. He sat on the bench with Circuit Judges, and was frequently sought for advice within his community due to his profound knowledge in many areas.

Stephen was married to Mary Bates and had eight children. His eldest daughter, Nancy L., married John P. Roblin, M.P. Roger C. Conger, Stephen's third child, was a member of Parliament for Prince Edward County. Eliza B. Conger married Rev. Daniel McMullen whose son, Harvard C. McMullen, was Mayor of Picton in 1904. One of David Conger's descendants, John W. Conger, became publisher of the Picton Gazette.