Omar D. Conger

Who was Omar D. Conger?

Omar Dwight Conger was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the U.S. state of Michigan.

Conger was born in Cooperstown, New York and moved with his father, the Rev. E. Conger, to Huron County, Ohio in 1824. He pursued academic studies at the Huron Institute in Milan, Ohio, and graduated from Western Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio in 1841. He engaged in mineral explorations of the Lake Superior copper and iron regions in connection with the Michigan State Geological Survey 1845-1847. He engaged in the practice of law in Port Huron, Michigan in 1848 and was elected judge of the St. Clair County Court in 1850. He was a member of the Michigan State Senate 1855-1859, and served as President pro tempore in 1859. He was a member of the State military board during the Civil War, holding the rank of colonel. He was a Presidential Elector for Michigan in 1864 and a member of the State constitutional convention in 1866.

He was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives for the 41st United States Congress and to the five succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1869, until March 4, 1881. He represented Michigan's 5th congressional district from 1869 to 1873 and became the first person to represent the 7th district from 1873 to 1881.