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.

Anna May Funston (30 January 1876 – 21 March 1928)

Anna May Funston (1876-1928)

Born:

30 January 1876 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States^1,2

Married:

19 June 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States to Joseph Elon Carman¹

Died:

21 March 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States²

Parents:

Joseph Funston (1849 – 1921)^1,2
May Whitaker (abt1852 – 1886)²

Spouse:

Joseph Elon Carman (6 Apr 1872 – 3 Nov 1956)

Children:

Kathryn Carman, Joseph Elon Carman, Jr., Florence M. Carman, Naomi Evelyn Carman, Jacob Carman, Robert Carman, Anna May Carman, Alice Ellen Carman.

Ancestors
Anna May Funston is a descendant of Joseph Funston & Frances Miller.

Biography
Anna May Funston was born on 30 Jan 1876 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.^1,2 Her parents were Joseph Funston^1,2 and May Whitaker. She lived her entire life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She lived with her parents at 2034 Amber street on 1 Jun 1880.³
Anna May Funston and Joseph Elon Carman, son of Elon Carman and Catherine Hornef, were married on 19 Jun 1895 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.¹
She lived at 1649 Eyre street with her husband and his parents on 1 Jun 1900.⁴ She and her husband and children lived at 2762 Martha Street on 15 Apr 1910⁵ and at 3859 Coral Street on 1 Jan 1920.⁶ On 1 Jan 1920 she was working in a Cloth Mill.⁸
Anna died on 21 Mar 1928 at the age of 52 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.^2,7 At the time of her death, she lived at 715 E. Ontario Street.⁷ She was buried on 24 Mar 1928 in New Glenwood Cemetery in Broomall, Delaware, Pennsylvania, United States.^2,7,8

Last updated: 30 November 2014

———————————–

Citations

1. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, marriage license no. 77493 (1895), Joseph Elon Carman & Annie May Funston; Clerk of the Orphan’s Court, City Hall, Philadelphia.
2. Pennsylvania, Department of Health, death certificate 22204 (1928), Anna M. Carman; Division of Vital Records, New Castle.
3. 1880 U.S. Census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Ward 31, Philadelphia, enumeration district (ED) 665, p. 9, dwelling 69, family 73, Joseph Fonson; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1417683 : accessed 25 June 2011).
4. 1900 U.S. Census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Ward 18 Philadelphia, enumeration district (ED) 351, Sheet 2A, dwelling 26, family 26, Elon Carmen; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1325221 : accessed 12 June 2014)
5. 1910 U.S. Census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Ward 25 Philadelphia, enumeration district (ED) 551, sheet 13A-B, dwelling 251, family 244, Joseph Elon Carman; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1727033 : accessed 17 November 2013).
6. 1920 U.S. Census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, 45 Ward, Philadelphia, enumeration district (ED) 1706, sheet 4B, dwelling 82, family 84, Joseph Carman; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1488411 : accessed 17 November 2013).
7. “Carman, Annie May obituary,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 March 1928, p. 28. “CARMAN– March 21. ANNIE MAY, wife of Joseph Carman. Relatives and friends, also Ongwe-Honwee Council No. 183, D of P.[Degree of Pocahontas], and Temple Lodge, No. 8, S. of B., invited to funeral services, Sat., 1 P.M. at her late residence, 715 E. Ontario st. Int. New Glenwood Cem. Friends call Friday eve.”
8. Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Delaware County: Broomall: Glenwood Cemetery register, Lot 252 – J, graves 2-3, Joseph E. Carman, Anna M. Carman & Robert M. Carman; digital images, Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Historic Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2451 : accessed 6 August 2014).

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.

It pays to go back and search a source again. Some time ago, Ancestry introduced its Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records database. When it first came out, I searched it for all of my Pennsylvania and New Jersey ancestors. I found baptisms and marriages and burials. It has been a great source for my genealogy.

I think they must continue to work on the index because lately new hits have been  turning up in that database. For example, I recently found the marriage of Joseph  Funston to Frances Miller. I mentioned my third great-grandmother Frances “Fanny” Funston  in my January bucket post  as  a big mystery. I knew Joseph divorced her, but then, to me, she disappeared. I was excited to find this marriage record and to at least be able to put a tentative surname to her.

Then, I found a marriage record of a George W. Bieber and Frances Funstone in 1865. Five years before the divorce of Joseph and Frances, but stranger things have happened. I looked for  George and Frances Bieber in the census to try to confirm this was my Frances, but came up empty.

And there it stood, until an unrelated Funston researcher came across my bucket list and  mentioned the Bieber-Funstone marriage and an 1870 census record I had found and filed  years ago:

George & Fanny Beaver above Joseph & Sarah Funston, 1870 census

 At the time I had not noticed Frances Beaver directly above Joseph and Sarah Funston (her children). And thanks to a  certain young pop star I know that the pronunciation of Bieber is similar to Beaver. So, it also pays to review sources you saved and filed years ago. Now that I was certain this was my third great-grandmother I felt energized to search GenealogyBank, another database that has been of immeasurable help to my research.

And I found this:

Fanny Bieber obituary, Philadelphia Inquirer 27 Sep 1873

BIEBER — On the 24th inst., FANNY, wife of Geo. W. Bieber, and daughter of the late John and Mary Miller, in the  44th year of her age.
The relatives and friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, from her late residence, No. 1938 Trenton avenue, on Sunday afternoon at 1 o’clock. To proceed to Palmer Street Ground.

Fanny Bieber, formerly Frances Funston(e), was the daughter of John and Mary Miller,
and thus was Frances Miller when she married Joseph Funston. It all ties together and I feel confident that I have found my previously lost ancestor.

By appearances, Fanny did not have an easy life. She was only about fifteen when she married Joseph, a man ten  years her senior. She remarried in 1865 while still legally married to Joseph, for reasons unknown.  I do know that Joseph joined the military in 1861 at age forty-two and served four years, leaving Fanny to raise  four children, ages 5-14, alone. I still need to review his pension file to see if I can glean some more information about this time period, but I have transcribed some of it here. According to court records, Fanny  did not respond to Joseph’s  1870 petition for divorce and it was therefore granted in 1871. She was married to George Bieber for eight years and was only  44 when she died in 1873.