Editing Roscoe Conkling (section)

===Family===
[[File:Alfred Conkling crop.jpg|thumb|left|Conkling's father [[Alfred Conkling|Alfred]] was a United States Representative and Ambassador to Mexico.]]
Roscoe Conkling was born on October 30, 1829, in [[Albany, New York]] to [[Alfred Conkling]], a U.S. Representative and federal judge, and his wife Eliza Cockburn, cousin of the late Lord Chief-Justice [[Sir Alexander Cockburn]] of England.<ref>{{Cite news| url =http://www.nndb.com/people/241/000050091/ |title=Roscoe Conkling |publisher=[[NNDB]] |access-date = October 13, 2014}}</ref> His father's ancestors emigrated to the North America around 1635 and settled in [[Salem, Massachusetts]] before moving to [[Suffolk County, New York]].{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|pp=2–8}} Conkling's maternal grandfather James Cockburn was Scottish by birth, but emigrated to the Bahamas and later to the [[Mohawk Valley]], where he married Margaret Frey, the daughter of a feudal lord.

Conkling was the youngest of seven children, four sons and three daughters.{{sfn|Jordan|1971|p=4}} He had two older brothers, Frederick and Aurelian. A third brother also named Roscoe died before this article's subject was born. Both Roscoes were named for the British author [[William Roscoe]], whom Eliza Conkling read during her pregnancy.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|pp=2–8}}

Conkling's mother was said to have a "talent for repartee and brilliant talk" which her son inherited.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=360}}