Family ownership- A journey through 200 years of the CONLEY IDENTITY IN AMERICA

The history of CGH’s controlling owners has been closely connected with the Tennessee Valley Region ever since John Oldham Connally (1783 - 1845) relocated from North Carolina to Huntsville, Alabama. The modern-day family is largely comprised of the mixed-race descendants of John Connally and his siblings: Archibald Conley (Illinois), Drury Connally (Texas), and George Connally (Georgia). The owners of CGH are among their descendants.

The original Connally name occurs in American legend as early as the time of Jamestown Era. The original spelling in the Ireland is Ó Conghalaigh - a Gaelic-Irish surname. It derives from the forename Conghal, meaning "fierce as a hound". It is often anglicised as Connolly, Connally, Connelly, and Conley. The varied American spellings of Ó Conghalaigh name used by European settlers appear to have been the result of misspelling of the original name, whimsical choice, and low literacy.

“Between the years 1805 to 1809, wealthy and cultured slave owners came into the county in large numbers from North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia,” wrote historian Edward Chambers Betts. Large groups of settlers poured into the Tennessee Valley, on the western frontier of the British colonial Georgia called the “Georgia Territory”. Today the area is known as the Tennessee Valley Region. Much of the documented history of the Conley/Connally/Connally/Connelly people starts here. This vast geographic area includes parts of the states of Tennessee, Georgia, The western edge of the Carolinas, and Northern Alabama. The Tennessee Valley’s fertile soil would generate great wealth and opportunity. The State of Alabama would not be established until 1819, and the Conley/Connally Family would be among its first families.

The most prominent branch of the loose knit clan began with John Oldham Connally - a landowner and hotelier originally from North Carolina, and whose family came from Virginia. He moved to “Twickenham” in the ‘Georgia Territory’ between 1804 and 1809, and built a minor fortune in trade, hoteling, and horse stabling. He was a brash and bold man, and archetype frontiersman who forged his own identity in a new nation where rules were few.

WESTWARD migration from VIRGINIA,TO ALABAMA AND OHIO

1815-1845

The area of Connally’s initial land purchase only became known as Huntsville after the War of 1812 (the unsuccessful attempt by the British to retake the American Colonies.) In 1815, Connally began construction of the Green Bottom Inn & Equestrian Sporting Center, which opened with great fanfare. The resort quickly became known as one of the finest in the nation. No less than three early U.S. Presidents: Jackson, Monroe, and Polk, stabled their sporting horses at ‘Old Green Bottom’ resort.

AFTER GREEN BOTTOM - A NEW CHAPTER

James managed to bequeath much of his assets, resources, and social capital to his son-in-law Green Conley, and seven sons and Washington, Felix, Paschal, William, James Jr., John, Hamilton.

After James Conley, the family would produce six generations of military quartermasters, construction managers, logistics coordinators, trucking professionals, archivists, librarians, engineering project managers, accountants, and financial regulators. The family became known as reliable stewards of processes, procedures, and protocols for many kinds of organizations.

1845 THE CONLEY BROTHERS EMERGE

James Conley’s profession station as equerry and stable master was the beginning of several family traditions. From his experience, his sons would be trained as indentured servants at ‘Old Green Bottom’ in livery stable management, carriage manufacture, and hotel construction. They would be led by James’ new son-in-law, Green Conley, a new arrival to Huntsville from Augusta, Georgia. Green’s marriage to Harriet - the dominant elder sister of the Brothers - would shape the family in innumerable ways. Green’s tall stature, green eyes, red hair, and his entrepreneurial spirit would result in his leading his wife’s brothers upon the death of their grandfather in 1845 and the demise of Green Bottom. All of the brothers would adopt the spelling ‘Conley’ from Green Conley.