She was notable for her campaign to prevent the sale and development of the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, now known as the Wyandot National Burying Ground.

Her case appears to be the first in which "a plaintiff argued that the burying grounds of Native Americans were entitled to federal protection.

"[1] Conley gained the support of Kansas Senator Charles Curtis, who proposed and led the passage of legislation in 1916 to prevent the sale of the Huron Cemetery and establish the land as a federal park.

In 1998, the two groups finally agreed to preserve the Wyandot National Burying Ground only for religious, cultural, and related purposes in keeping with its sacred history.

The Conley family's move West was also part of a larger Wyandot migration as white encroachment of their ancestral land increased.

Isaac Zane lived with the Wyandot nation for 17 years and married White Crane, daughter of Chief Tarhe.

In 1843, under United States government pressure, the Wyandot were forced to leave Ohio and move further west to Kansas as part of an Indian removal.

In later years, the property collapsed into the Missouri River, forcing the grown Conley daughters to move into Kansas City.

[3][4] In 1855, some of the Wyandots accepted the government's offer of United States citizenship, as they were judged ready to join the majority society.

[5] When this controversy arose, the Wyandot descendants in Kansas City were considered an "absentee" or "citizen class" of the Wyandotte Nation and did not have legal control of the burial ground.

[6][better source needed] The burial ground had been excluded from the allotments, and as American Indian land, it was considered to be controlled by the Wyandotte Nation, which has a tribal government based in Oklahoma.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled in favor of the lower courts, which had determined the government's proposed action was legal.

US Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas, also of mixed Native American ancestry, introduced a bill in Congress that precluded the sale of the cemetery and made the land a national park.

Their grandmother Hannah Zane, mother Elizabeth and sister Sarah were buried there, as well as numerous cousins, uncles, and aunts.

The revolt of the three sisters got underway in 1907, after plans broached the previous year for the city's purchase of the Huron cemetery for private redevelopment as retail property.

[9] Although she lost in the Supreme Court, Conley persevered in her fight, gaining support for preservation from women's clubs and civic associations in Kansas City.

In 1916, Kansas Senator Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Prairie Potawatomi) introduced a bill in Congress (and secured its passage) that precluded sale of the cemetery and designated it a federal park.

[5] In February 1916 she was reported to been handling an appeal of a Bannock Indian named Luther Bearskin who was serving a sentence for being involved in the shooting of a man and woman eight years before.

A newspaper item of June 16, 1937, headed "Miss Lyda Conley Leaves Jail", was the last article about her until the notice of her death in 1946.