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Conrad, Simon P. and Ann McMullen |
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Written by Craig B. Adams
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Jun 04, 2006 at 07:23 PM |
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Simon P. Conrad (1848 - 1902)
Ann (McMullen) Conrad (1841 - 1905)
Simon P. Conrad was born on August 2, 1848 in Clearfield Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph M. and Mary Ann (Long) Conrad. Simon grew up on a farm in Clearfield Township, the second of eleven children.
Ann McMullen was born on August 27, 1841 in Allegheny Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of James and Susan (McDermitt) McMullen. She was baptized at St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Harts Sleeping Place, Carroll township Township. Her sponsors were his aunt and uncle, Matthias McMullen and Anna McMullen. Like Simon, Ann grew up on a farm in Clearfield Township. She was the third of eleven children.
When Simon was 16, his father and his uncle enlisted to fight in the Civil War. His father was 39 years old and had elevenIt was September 1864, and the Civil War had been going on for four years now. Sadly, Joseph never returned from the war. He died of typhoid fever at an army hospital in North Carolina on January 7, 1865.
Sixteen year old Simon was now the man of the house. In April 1865 his mother gave birth to his youngest sibling, Sarah Isabella. Now Simon had a mother and ten brothers and sisters to care for.
Fortunately, his mother obtained a widow's Civil War pension after three years of haggling, and in 1868 she purchased 45 acres of land in Chest Springs, Cambria County. Simon ran their new farm. At that time his brother James was "bound from the home" and living with a foster family. His brother Silas later went to work for another family as well. Because of their desperate financiial situation, his sisters all married when still teenagers.
Simon became involved in the lumbering industry as a lumberman. In the early and mid 1800s Cleafield Township was known for its "splendid forests of pine timber, then covering the northern part of Cambria and Clearfield Counties. This timber was cut and hewn into square logs, then called squared timber, an entire tree sometimes 90 to 100 feet in length being squared by the use of the broad axe, hauled to the banks of Chest creek, and in the spring of the year rafted in rafts and floated down the creek to the Susquehanna River, and thence to market to Lock Haven and Maryetta. Part of the year was spent in the cutting of pine logs and sawing them into boards and plank, which was loaded upon the raft of square timber, and thus floated to market. The timber along Chest Creek was regarded as especially good. The trees were tall and straight. Many of them were cut and trimmed up as round logs, called spars, from 80 to 100 feet long, and with the use of many teams of oxen, ropes, blocks and tackle, were hauled to the creek, rafted together and floated down to market, and later used as spars upon schooners and masted ships sailing the Atlantic Ocean." (1)
The tress were cut down in a matter of a few years. However, large quantities of bituminous coal were disocered in the area east of Clearfield Creek in what became Dean Township. Around 1880 a railroad was built over the mountain from the east to Highland Park on the Blair-Cambria County line and beyond to Dougherty Mines. By this railroad, known as the Altoona Northern, coal moved from the Dougherty Mines to Blair County.
On February 13, 1872 Simon and Ann were married in Cambria County. Ann was seven years older than Simon, and her younger sister, Ellen, was married to Simon's first cousin, J.W. Conrad.
Simon and Ann had seven children: Joseph A. Conrad, Mary Ann (Conrad) Cassidy, Jane Elizabeth "Jennie" (Conrad) Storm, James E. Conrad, Matthew Aloysius Conrad, Ella M. Conrad, and Catherine Josephine (Conrad) Hanlon.
Simon and Ann raised their children on their farm in Chest Springs.
Simon died at their home in 1902. He was 53. Ann died just three years later on March 31, 1905. She was 63. The are buried in St. Monica's Cemetery, Chest Springs.
Simon and Ann's six married children produced 46 grandchildren.
Sources.
1. Storey, Henry Wilson. History of Cambria County, PA Vol II. New York: Lewis Publishing Co, 1907.
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Last Updated ( Jun 08, 2006 at 07:29 PM )
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Conrad