Speaker highlighting county ancestors

The Wood County Genealogical Society will meet Monday, Nov. 17 at the Quitman Public Library at 5 p.m. Guest speaker will be Robert Mark Conger, PhD., who will be presenting a program on his roots in Wood County, which includes prominent early families of Conger, Flournoy, Haines, Benton and others. 

Conger is a professional geologist with three degrees from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He has worked for more than 43 years as an environmental expert in various capacities. He has authored more than two dozen technical environmental papers over his notable career. He and his wife, Laurina, are residents of Prairieville, La.  

In 1994, he became interested in the history and genealogy of his family after reading several Civil War era letters found in a trunk that originally belonged to his great-grandmother. This led him on a 30-year journey through libraries, cemeteries, courthouses, census records and many other sources to develop an understanding of his ancestry.  

In early 2025, he published a book, “The Last Conger of Wood County Texas,” the culmination of three decades of work on his family history and genealogy. 

Conger will be sharing interesting stories, pictures, history and genealogy of his Wood County ancestors.