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CHARLES CROZAT CONVERSE, LL.B., LL.D.
Originally published in 1900 |
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CHARLES CROZAT CONVERSE, LL.B., LL.D., of Highwood, N. J.,
was born in Warren, Mass., October 7, 1832. His ancestry is an historical
one. Prior to the Norman conquest of England in 1066 the titled family
of De Coigneries held a distinguished place among the old nobles of
France, its possession of its estates there, and occupancy of its Chateau de
Coignir, extending back to, and being lost in, the remotest antiquity. Roger
de Coigneries, born in 1010, yielded to the persuasions of his youthful companion
and friend, William the Conqueror, joining him in 1066 in his invasion
of England and rendering him conspicuous service in the battle of
Hastings, having his name, anglicized Coniers, recorded in the roll of Battle
Abbey. Throughout William's subsequent contest in subjugating the
North of England, De Coigneries accompanied hint, and at its close was
placed in command of the castle of Durham, one of the most important
strongholds in that region, and which, with the domains about it, by Episcopal
grants, soon became the seat and castle of the Coigneries family, then
known as Congers, and continued for nearly 600 years as such until the
reign of Charles the First in 1625-45. Roger left a son, Roger de Coniers –
or Conyers: to whom the Bishop of Ranulph gave the Manor of Rungstan,
in Yorkshire, between 1099 and 1126. He left a son, Roger, who was Baron
of Durham and Lord of Bishopton, living from 1134 to 1174. He left a
son, John, who lived till 1239 and had the Manors of Sockburn, Bishopton, Stainton, and Auckland confirmed to him. He left a son, Sir Humphrey,
of Sockburn and Bishopton, possessed of lands in Stainton, granted to the
Abbey of Rievaulx in 1270. He left a son, Sir John, whose heir was his
brother's son, in 1334, and named Sir John, to whom was entailed said
manors. He left a son, Robert, in 1395, who left a son, Sir Christopher,
who left a son of the same name, who left a son, Sir John, who married
Margaret, daughter of Lord Darcey and Meynell, who had his seat at Hornby
Castle and was governor of York Castle. In 1460 he joined Richard,
Duke of York, against the king. He left a son, Sir John, who married Alice
Nevile, daughter of Lord Fauconbridge and heir of the Earl of Kent, and
was installed knight of the most noble Order of the Garter in 1484. He left
a son, Sir William, Lord Conyers of Hornby, who married Ann Nevile,
daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland. Sir John's second son, Reginald,
was seated at Wakerley Manor, County of Northampton, and died there in
1514. He left a son, Francis, who married Anne, sister of Sir Richard
Blount, and died in 1560. He left a son, Francis, who succeeded to the
Wakerley estates. He left a son and heir, Christopher, who left a son and
heir, Edward, born January 30, 1590, who came to America with Governor
Winthrop in 1630. Winthrop and his companions reached the shores of New England June 12, 1630, and Charlestown in July following, and there, on July 30th, a church was organized by Winthrop and Conyers. Two years later this church was removed to Boston and ever after was known simply as the First Church of Boston. Immediately after its removal Conyers and others organized the First Church of Charlestown. His son James attained distinction in the French-Canadian War, and was made Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial forces of Massachusetts. He was afterward chosen Speaker of the General Court for three consecutive terms, dying in the third term. Edward Conyers consecrated himself and his wealth to church and town building. In 1640 he founded the church and Town of Wooburn, now Woburn, calling to its pastorate his English friend, Rev. Thomas Carter. Edward Conyers's son Samuel married Mr. Carter's daughter Judith. He manifested; in his new-world life, those characteristics which marked his long ancestral line. His boldness caused him to be doubtless the first subject of King Charles in this country to suffer arrest for charging the king with popery, he having declined to publish the king's letter sent to him for that purpose, on this ground. Conyers was duly tried for this offense, but was discharged by the court for the reason that "his language did not reflect on his majesty's letter." He shunned whatever savored of the worldly distinctions of his English family. He refused to name Woburn after his old family home. His habit of making the letter "y" very short when writing his name, as noted in his last will and testament, led other persons to calling it Convers, and during the subsequent lapse of over two hundred and fifty years an "e" has been added to it, making it Converse. Edward de Conyers died in 1663. His daughter Mary married, in 1643, Simon, son of James Thompson, of England, who settled in Woburn in 1640. His son Samuel, who was, with his father, a legatee of Simon Thompson, removed in 1710 to Killingly, Conn., and became the first settler of Thompson. named so in honor of James Thompson. Samuel Conyers died in 1669. He left a son, Samuel, who died in 1732. He left a son, Edward, who died in 1784. He left a son, Jacob, who died in 1797. He left a son, Jacob, whose distinction it was to unite, by his marriage, the lines of the Winthrop and Robinson settlements in America, as, after graduation from Brown University in 1790, he married Miss Ellen Robinson, of Plymouth, Mass., of the family of the Puritan leader, and whose ancestress, of the same name, was an heir of Captain Miles Standish. He died in 1804, leaving a son, Manning, since deceased, whose son, Charles Crozat Converse, LL.B.. LL.D., of Highwood, N. J., whose birthplace is near Woburn, Mass., is well known by his contributions to general literature and his success in his profession of the law. Charles C. Converse also ranks as one of America's leading orchestra composers. Whilst pursuing his literary and legal studies in Germany he took a course of instruction in musical composition under the great harmonist, Richter, and his professional confreres, at Leipsic. Spohr, Dr. Converse's orchestral mentor, Liszt, and other composers highly praised Dr. Converse's orchestral works, which embrace overtures, symphonies. cantatas, etc. Some of his German songs have been published in Leipsic by Brirtkopf & Haertel. His American Concert Overture, for full orchestra, was played at the Boston Peace Jubilee and since then by Anton Seidl in New York and Theodore Thomas in Chicago. His Concert Overture, " Im Fruehling," for full orchestra, has been played several times in New York under the direction of Mr. Thomas. His Psalm Cantata, on the 126th Psalm, for chorus, soli. and full orchestra, was performed at the concert of the American Music Teachers' National Convention in Chicago in July, 1888, also under Mr. Thomas's direction. On Dr. Converse's return from European study he entered the Law Department of Albany University, graduating therefrom with the degree of LL.B. Since then he received the honorary degree of LL.D. His love for music and musical composition has increased with the lapse of time, as his large accumulation of manuscript works shows. Dr. Converse was married. January 14, 1858, to Miss Lida Lewis, of Alabama. Mrs. Converse is of the distinguished English family of Axtell. Colonel Axtell, her ancestor, who was King George III, official representative in America during the American Revolutionary War, built and occupied, as his official residence, the historic Melrose Hall, in Brooklyn, N. Y., the then finest house on Long Island. She, and their only living child, Clarence, constitute his family, their first child, William, dying in infancy. There are biographical sketches of Dr. Converse in "Allibone's Dictionary of Authors" under his pen-name of Karl Reden, in "Sribner's Cyclopedia of Music," in " One Hundred Years of American Music," with portrait, and in "Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography." Dr. Converse assisted in preparing the " Standard Dictionary," in whose vocabulary is the common-gender pronoun invented by him and presented to philologists in 1858.
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