The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 834 
A portrait of Oscar E. Conat appears in this publication.
 
OSCAR E. CONAT.

Oscar E. Conat, deceased, was prominently known during the period of his
residence in Yakima county as an orchardist and business man of ability. He was
born in Rosendale, Wisconsin, January 14, 1858, a son of John and Harriet
(Struthers) Conat. The father was a native of Canada and the mother of
Pennsylvania. They were pioneer settlers of Wisconsin and in 1856 removed to
Minnesota. It was upon their return visit to the former state, that Oscar E.
Conat was born. His parents retained their residence in Minnesota until they
were called to their final rest.

Oscar E. Conat obtained a public school education in Minnesota and when
nineteen years of age left home, going to Nevada, where he remained for three
years. He then returned to Minnesota, where he lived for a year, and in 1881 he
removed to Brown county, South Dakota, where he took up government land and
began the arduous task of developing a new farm upon which hitherto not a furrow
had been turned nor an improvement made. He devoted his energies to the
cultivation of that place for twenty-one years, or until 1902, when he came to
Yakima county and invested in twenty acres of land on Nob Hill, for which he
paid two hundred dollars per acre. Later this property was sold for thirteen
hundred and fifty dollars per acre. Mr. and Mrs. Conat resided thereon to the
time of his death. Part of the land was planted to fruit and later Mrs. Conat
planted the entire tract to fruit. She continued to own the property until July,
1916, when she sold. She then purchased sixty acres near Grandview, upon which
she has a fine home and large, substantial barns. She has twenty-three acres of
this tract planted to apples and pears and it is a very productive property, her
fruit raising interests classing her among the successful orchardists of this
part of the state.

On the 18th of November, 1885, Mr. Conat was united in marriage to Miss Emma E.
West, who was born in Roscoe, Minnesota, a daughter of Renselaer and Deborah
(Austin) West, both of whom were natives of Cayuga county, New York. Her father
was a son of John West, a native of the Empire state, who in 1856 took his
family to Minnesota, where his remaining days were passed. The father of Mrs.
Conat became a prominent farmer of Minnesota and there he and his wife spent
their remaining days. The mother of Mrs. Conat was a daughter of David Austin,
who was born in New York and with his removal to the west cast in his lot with
the pioneer settlers of Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. West were married in New York and
in 1853 removed to Clayton county, Iowa, whence they went to Minnesota in 1856.

To Mr. and Mrs. Conat were born three children, but the firstborn, Harriet, died
at the age of eight months. The second daughter, Ada, is the wife of Sylvester
Cornell, who operates her mother's farm. They have become parents of two
children, twins, Leon and Lloyd, but the former is deceased. The third member
of the Conat family was Edwin, who died in 1911 at the age of seventeen years.
The family circle was again broken by the hand of death when on the 14th of
March, 1907, Mr. Conat passed away. He was a citizen of worth, loyal to the best
interests of the community, was a faithful friend and a devoted husband and
father. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in politics he
maintained an independent course. His sterling worth was widely recognized by
all who knew him and the circle of his friends constantly grew as the circle of
his acquaintance broadened. Prospering in his business affairs, he left the
family a comfortable competence and also left to them the priceless heritage of
an untarnished name.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.