[1] Conley was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1815 and moved to Savannah, Georgia, in his youth.

He died in 1886 in Atlanta in an area known at the time as West End.

[2] Conley's previous political service included the office of mayor of Augusta, Georgia, from 1857 to 1859.

Conley was serving as the president of the Georgia Senate when his predecessor, Rufus B. Bullock, was forced to resign.

Under the Constitution of Georgia in effect at that time, as the Senate president, Conley assumed the governorship and served for only two months.