Item

Obadiah Conley and His Flying Machine

Beacon
Dec 19/1907
Early Flying Machine. Invented Fifty Years ago by St. Andrews Man.
We wonder if the scientific world, which is now raving over the exploits of Santos Dumont, Prof. Graham Bell, and the other inventors of flying machines, is aware of the fact that one of the first men to experiment on flying machines was a humble lad in a Canadian lighthouse, none other than Mr. Obadiah Conley, of SA
            It is fifty years or more since Mr. Conley [1857ish] since Mr. Conley made his first attempt at flying. His friends laughed at him and jeered him for a silly fool, but the experience of the years has proven that he was wiser than some of those who ridiculed him. The following account of Mr. Conley’s exploit is taken from the Beacon, Nov 28/1889. . . . This is Mr. Conley’s story as it was published eighteen years ago by this paper. Since then, “the womb of the future” has been unlocked and people no longer call the man foolish who exploits flying machines. Mr. Conley, who I still active, told the Beacon that the people laughed at him so that he gave his flying machine away to a man named Fisher who lived at Machias. He heard afterwards that it had fallen into the hands of a scientific gentleman interested in aerial navigation who improved on it and utilized the ideas his own. Mr. Conley has never received any public recognition for his early effort in the interests of aerial navigation. Surely he is entitled to some.

Campobello Schemes. As Outlined by Resident Manager Merriman. St. John Telegraph. Important changes which, it is planned, will add to the attraction of the island of Campobello as a summer resort are promised form the policy of the Campobello Corporation, Limited, which is now applying to the provincial government for incorporation with a view to developing the resources of the island. H. M. Merriman, of New York, the treasurer of the new corporation, was in the city Friday and accompanied by E. H McAlpine, K. C., s his counsel, had an interview with the government with reference to the matter.
            Speaking to a Telegraph reporter last evening Mr. Merriman said the corporation had bought out of the interest of the Campobello Island Company and now owned 8,000 of the 10,000 acres which compose the island. It was proposed to modernize the Tyn-y-maes and Tyn-y-Coed hotels and to develop the natural resources of the island, including the fishing and lobster industries. A number of cottages would also be built for tourist sand summer visitors.
            Much was expected, Mr. Merriman added, from the development of the fisheries. A drying plant was to be put up and it was expected to make large shipments to the West Indies. Lobster would find a ready market in the States. The Dominion government was building a new wharf on the island and with an hourly service to Eastport in the summer season it was confidently expected that the prosperity of the island would increase considerably not only as assumer resort but as center of the fishing industry.
            Mr. Merriman, who is one of the provisional directors, mentioned that those also on the directorate at Albert Buchanan, a prominent New York Architect, Paul Askenasy and Paul Armitage, all of New York. The capital of the company is 250,000. Mr. Merriman intends to remain on the island all winter to supervise the improvements to the hotels which are already underway.

Rural Cemetery Burial
Obadiah Conley
Age 69
Son of late John Conley
Lot 13B
July 7, 1913

St. Croix Courier
Sept 19/1940
Shiretown Items—Born Fifty Years too Soon
Most older residents of St. Andrews will recall the one and only and rather disastrous attempt of one of our inventive and ingenious citizens who tried to soar above the earth in a heavier-than-air machine. The incident occurred more than fifty years ago and the daring experiment was performed by Obadiah Conley. The wings constructed of light wood and cotton were attached to the arms. The tail, a sort of aerial rudder, was to be controlled by the legs. But therein hangs the tale. The tail got out of control, the ship became unmanageable, and rather precipitously fell to the earth, casting the would-be pilot upon the stony beach. The leap was made from the shed of the light house on the C. P. R. wharf, at a height of about forty feet from the ground, and although this local escaped without broken bones or serious bodily injury, his feelings were sadly hurt, and his enthusiasm for flying received a shock from which he never recovered. The matter was looked upon as a huge joke by the townspeople, and the crude contraption thought to be the product of a disordered mind. But the truth of the matter is that Mr. Conley was years ahead of his time, and his attempts compare favorably with the beginnings in automobile and aeroplane studies. What recalled all this to my mind was being told today by Thomas Pendlebury, who can remember the actual incident, that the skeleton of this wonderful and premature flying machine can be seen now in the museum at Machias, Maine. Mr. Conley was for years light keeper at Machias Seal Island, and when he left there this souvenir of his one and only flight was turned over to the museum. What a tragedy that Mr. Conley could not have been spared to witness the flying of today! What a thrill it would have been to him, and how justified he would have felt in his early beliefs.