1800-1820 origins
The capital of Alabama, when the Georgia Territory achieved statehood in 1819.
Present-day Alabama was a Spanish territory beginning in the sixteenth century, before it was annexed by France, and subsequently Britain, in 1763. The newly formed United States claimed the that is now Alabama in 1776, and opened up to for white settlement around 1806 as the “Alabama Territory.” The ‘Big Spring’ that was once Chickasaw hunting grounds, became the center of Huntsville we know today. Business people, land speculators, and settlers rushed in starting in 1809, when the U.S. declared land for sale and Homesteading.
As the settler town boomed, John Oldham Connally would complete construction of his Green Bottom Inn & Equestrian Center in 1815. His illegitimate son James would be put on a trajectory to prosperity. The Alabama Republican was the first newspaper published in Huntsville in 1816, and its ads for Green Bottom would draw the wealthy from across the South. December, 14, 1819, the Alabama Territory achieved statehood and the State of Alabama was born with Huntsville as its capital.
JAMES - ThE PROGENITOR
James Conley, progenitor
James Conley, progenitor of The Conley Family. He was equerry to U.S. Presidents Jackson, Polk and Monroe, who boarded their horses at the stables of Green Bottom resort from 1815 to 1845.
John Oldham Connally
Father of James Conley, and proprietor of the Green Bottom Inn & Equestrian Resort. Originally from North Carolina, he joined the land grab in the newly created Alabama Territory which secured statehood in 1919.
James Conley was a product of the Antebellum Period which spanned from the death of George Washington in 1799 until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. As was common in the early 1800s, James was legally free, but obligated to work for his father in a number of roles of personal service first in North Carolina as a child, and eventually in Alabama as a teen. As James matured, and his father’s prominence grew, he became stable master of the Green Bottom equestrian facility. In his older years, James would become a general manager of the hotel, stables, grounds and the entire operations of Green Bottom Inn & Sporting Resort. From extant records promoting Green Bottom, we know that James was a well-trained, and highly organized manager of his father’s resort. His social status was complicated, as an indentured servant of partial African ancestry, yet holding a job of high status and close proximity to power.
In 1816 James married Jane, an octoroon slave of unknown origins. Her exact date of birth is uncertain, and estimates place her between at most 15 at the time of her marriage. Such marriages between Free Coloreds and the enslaved were common before the Civil War. Together, James and Jane managed the Green Bottom Inn & Equestrian Sports resort, with their children occupying various roles. It was not unlike depictions of staff in popular media such as Downton Abbey with the peculiarities of life in the Antebellum South. As of 2023, Conley Family members still live own the land, and live on the western edge of the grounds that were once the legendary Green Bottom Inn & Equestrian Sporting Center.
James Connally prospered as owner of The Green Bottom, but also became a successful horse breeder and outdoor sportsman.
According to a tourism guide promoting the new state of Alabama, “Connelly was a race horse breeder of no mean renown. At his Old Green Bottom Race Track, he raised and trained Gray Gander, the fastest horse then known to the racing world. The many notable visitors, included U.S. Presidents Andrew Jackson, James Monroe, and James K. Polk, gathered here for rest and diversion.”
- - - Passage taken from the Alabama Guide, published circa 1850
The original cabin where James and Jane began their family was located on the north edge of The Green Bottom resort. Conley Family members still live near that location, which is adjacent to Alabama A&M.
James Conley was a rare Free Colored in 1820. It is likely his wife Jane was born a slave, and such unions between Free Colored and Slaves were common in the era. Due to this inconsistent application of the law across the Antebellum South, the children of James and Jane were listed as Free. James may have bought their freedom, or their work paid for manumission.
The grand entrance of the Green Bottom equestrian resort, made with stones from the Cumberland plateau which John Oldham crossed during his journey from North Carolina to Alabama. The masonry was supervised by James. This stone work from 1815 remains at modern-day Alabama A&M University.
The Green Bottom Inn & Equestrian Resort became the Alabama A&M, successor school to the original Lincoln School, founded by William H. Councill with Conley Family support.