Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Certificate of Death
File No. 10671

1. Place of Death: Phila
No. 1729 No 4th St; 19 Ward
2. Full Name: Catharine Conrad
3. Sex: F
4. Color or Race: W
5. Single, Married, Widowed or Divorced: W
6. Date of Birth: 4 23 1835
7. Age: 75 yrs 9 mos 5 ds
8. Occupation: [indecipherable possibly abbrev for  Housewife?]
9. Birthplace: Ger
10-13. Information on parents not reported
14. Informant: Geo Conrad, 1729 No 4th St. (son)
…
16. Date of Death: 1 29 1910
…
19. Place of burial: Glenwood; Date of burial: 2/1 1910
20: Undertaker: Emma L. Shelly

—-

Original Citation:
Pennsylvania, Department of Health, death certificate 10671 (1910), Catharine Conrad; Division of Vital Records, New Castle.

These are probably the naturalization records for my second great-grandfather Nicholas Conrad. The Kingdom in the declaration of intent may have been an attempt to spell Bayern. I have not found a Birne or Bairen or anything like it.

Transcribed from photocopies received from the Philadelphia City Archives.

Nicholas Conrad, Declaration of Intent, Philadelphia, 1855
Click for full size

Declaration of Intent

United States of America
State of Pennsylvania,
City and County of Philadelphia, fs.

Be it Remembered, That before the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of Philadelphia, on the Twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five personally appeared Nicholas Conrad who, upon his solemn Oath did depose and say that he is a Native of Germany now residing in the City of Philadelphia, aged Twenty-Eight years, or thereabouts, and that is bona fide his intention to become a Citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty whatever, and particularly to the King of [Birne?] of whom he is now a Subject.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the Seal of Said Court, this Twelfth day of July in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
[indecipherable signature] Prothonotary

Nicholas Conrad, Naturalization Petition, Philadelphia, 1858
Click for full size

Naturalization Petition

To the Honorable the Judges of the District Court for the City and County of Philadelphia:

The Petition of Nicholas Conrad
A Native of Germany
Respectfully showeth:

That he declared on oath before the Prothy of the Court of Common Pleas of Said County on the 12th day of July A.D. 1855

that it was and still is bona fide his intention to become a Citizen of the United States, and of renouncing forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty what-ever, and particularly to The King of [Bairen?]

of whom he was at that time a subject.– That your Petitioner has resided within the United States upwards of five years, and one year in the State of Pennsylvania last past, immediately preceding this his application to become a Citizen of the United States.

That he was never borne any hereditary title, or been of any of the orders of nobility in his own or any other country.

He therefore prays, that on his making the proof, and taking the oath prescribed by law, he may be admitted a Citizen of the United States of America, and he will ever pray, &c.

[signed] Nicolaus Conrad

George Feitig a Citizen of the United States of America, being duly sworn according to law, saith, that he knows and is well acquainted with Nicholas Conrad the Petitioner; that to his knowledge he has resided in the United States five years, and one year last past in the State of Pennsylvania, immediately preceding his application to be a Citizen; that during the said period he has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of our Constitution, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same.

Sworn in open Court,
3rd of May 1858
[signed] George Feitig
[Indecipherable signature] Prothonotary

I Nicholas Conrad do swear, that the contents of my Petition are true; that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and I now renounce and relinquish any title or order of nobility to which I am now, or hereafter may be entitled, and I do absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty whatever, and particularly to the King of Bavaria of whom I was before a subject.

Sworn in open Court,
this Third day of May A.D. 1858
[signed] Nicolaus Conrad
[Indecipherable signature] Prothonotary

———

Original Source Citation:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas Naturalization Declarations and Petitions, 63-1858, Nicholas Conrad, Declaration of Intent 1855, Naturalization Petition 1858.; Philadelphia City Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I was so excited to find the marriage record of my second great-grandparents Nicholas Conrad and Catharine Emminger in Ancestry’s Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records database. Progress has been slow in the Conrad line, and I was happy to discover that they were married 3 Oct 1853 at the Saint Michael’s and Zion Church in Philadelphia.

They were indexed as Nicolaus Konrad and Catharine Emminger and however much Ancestry is paying people to index old German records it is not enough. I don’t even know how the indexer recognized Emminger.

When I opened the image I realized there was more information than what had been indexed, seemingly interesting and important information, but I could not read it. For those unfamiliar, letters are very different in old German handwriting and I have not yet mastered them.

Below are the pertinent sections for Nicholas and Catharine. Click on the images to see them full size. Click here to see the whole page for reference.

Nicolaus Conrad
from ?
in ?
(click to see full size)

Catharine Emminger
from ?
in Württemberg?
(click to see full size)

Below their names appears to be perhaps the town/region where Nicholas and Catharine were from, which would be a huge help to me. In the census, it was reported that Nicholas was from Bavaria and Catharine was from Württemberg.

For Nicholas, I see “aus” or from (a bunch of indecipherable German) and “in” (not looking like Bavaria/Bayern to me.) The first letter of the word after “in” looks the same as the first letter of the last name of the person below Nicholas and the indexer recorded that name as Rins.

For Catharine, the last line does look like it could be Württemberg.

I could be completely wrong in my interpretation of this being their hometowns, but whatever it is I think it would help my research. I found a German Script Tutorial to complete and will continue to study this record but I am hoping someone out there may offer some insight.

Honeymoon at Paradise Valley Lodge in Mt. Pocono, PA

My parents would have been married 55 years today. I have recently begun to scan old photographs and came across the photo above which is now my favorite photograph of them. So young, so happy, so corny. Bonus for the weird stuffed squirrel near the ceiling.

Like many young newlyweds in the 1950’s in the Philadelphia area, they honeymooned in the Poconos, specifically at the Paradise Valley Lodge which appeared to cater to the honeymoon crowd.

Honeymoon certificate from the Paradise Valley Lodge, 1959. Click for full size.

 They received a certificate (right), signed by the proprietors, to commemorate the occasion.

And, in case the newlyweds ran out of things to do, the lodge offered hay rides:

Charlie & Carol Conrad (upper left), 1959. Click for full size.

My parents also sampled the nightlife of Mt. Pocono. Here they are at the High Point Inn:

Charlie & Carol at the High Point Inn (right), 1959

As far as I can find, the Paradise Valley Lodge no longer exists. The High Point Inn burned down in 1968 and I found out in an obituary for the former owner that the nightclub had animal acts, including lions, bears, horses and dogs. My parents never mentioned that.

My father loved my mother and it was a love that lasted until his death. I never knew the depth of my father’s love until my mother became ill with terminal brain cancer. It was the day my mother had surgery, after which we would find out if the tumor was benign or malignant. I don’t remember what kept me from being at the hospital when the doctor told my mother and father the news. It was a chaotic time. When I arrived, my mother was sleeping and my father was no where to be seen. I found the doctor and after he told me the news, I went in search of my father. I found him in an out of the way sitting area, hunched over and staring at the floor. I put my arm around him and he wept and he told me how lost he would be without my mother. My father was not one of those stoic men who hide their emotions but I had never seen him so bereft. I have tears in my eyes thinking about it now, fourteen years later.

Letter from my dad to my mom, 1959
Please do not post to Ancestry or other sites.

After my parents passed away, I found a letter my father had written to my mother the summer before they wed. She was visiting her Roth cousins in California and he was back home in Philadelphia. My father was twenty-two years old and my mother was twenty-one. Here is that letter.

August 22, 1959
At Home.

Hi Lover: Just a few lines to let you know that I received your letter. To tell you the truth I was getting a little worried, I thought that you would send me a post card from one of the places that you had a lay over.

So you got stranded in Albuquerque, that is a great town. What did you do while you were there? Did you get off the train? What made you think that Albuquerque was a small town, it’s know[n] as the fastest growing town in the US.

My father was stationed out west while he was in the Air Force and had a fondness for Albuquerque. I remember when we drove through it on our way to dropping me off at college in Arizona he was impressed by how much it had grown. I think he was a little hard on my mother here. Even when I went out west in the nineties, I had someone ask me if Tucson had tumbleweeds blowing down the streets. I think people back east think of the southwest as being like the old western movies.

So far I’ve done absolutely nothing but eat sleep and work and think about what’s going to happen on October 24th. I can hardly wait.

I took Marge and her Mother down to Wildwood last night and drove back this morning. I felt so lonely in that town that I had to get out of there fast. I missed you so much. Dick couldn’t go because he had to work so I went out Friday night by myself for about two hours and that was all I could stand.

My parents married on October 24th and apparently my father could not wait! Marge was my mother’s best friend, the maid of honor at their wedding, and my godmother. I think it is nice my father drove her and her mother down to the shore. I don’t know who Dick was, but apparently my dad missed my mother so much he couldn’t enjoy a Friday night out alone.

I hope that you are enjoying your vacation, next year we’ll go on one together if we can afford it. Remember I love you, I need you and I’m going to have you. Give my best to your mother and tell you[r] cousins that I hope that I have the pleasure of meeting them.

Your Everlovin
Chuck

There is something awkward and indescribably sweet about finding a letter between your parents that begins with “Hi Lover” and ends with “Your Everlovin.” A side note, my mother’s mother always called my dad Chuck and my mother told me he never went by Chuck, always Charlie. Well, I guess he did once.

And at the end of the letter he adds this in case my mother did not catch it throughout the letter:

P.S. I miss you.

My father passed away six weeks before my mother. I know it is a cliché but I think he could not stand to live without her.

They were engaged on Valentine’s Day 1959.