An early noted portrait, sill life, animal and landscape painter in Detroit, 1847 and 1873 - 1911, William Conely was born in New York City, December 15, 1830.  At age seven, he moved with his parents to Brighton, where he attended the local school.

He was a self-taught artist, except for a few months study at the National Academy of Design, New York, which he attended after serving in the Civil War.  He was wounded in the war and crippled for the rest of his life.

At seventeen he opened an art school in Detroit.  Later he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, and still later to Atlanta, Illinois, opening art schools in both cities.

First exhibited at the Illinois State Fair at age eighteen, and won a blue ribbon for crayon drawings.  He spent some time in Kalamazoo and Peoria, Illinois, painting portraits of prominent citizens.  He was married to Anna McCallum of Ann Arbor, 1860, and was the father of Katherine Conely Margah.

In 1873, he settled in Detroit and remained there the rest of his life.

He was a charter member of the Detroit Art Association, 1875.  His work is represented in the Detroit Institute of Arts and many public buildings.

He died at his summer home in Algonac, October 12, 1911.