from HISTORY OF THE CONRAD FAMILY by A.A. Aultman Written for the Centennial Reunion held August, 1926 And you mothers when you talk about your hard work and the trials and care of rearing a family, think of Grandmother (Mary Lowe) Conrad. Her mother died when she was an infant and she was reared under the watchful care of a stepmother. She was so watchful that she never kept any date of Grandmother's birth, neither was any attention paid to her education. She had four older brothers and four younger half brothers and sisters; so that much of the household care and work rested on her. She was married before [she] was out of her teens and the next 16 years of her life she worked on the Conrad farm and the Wayside Inn. When she left there she had a family of seven children, - Aunt Katy Croft was the oldest and Uncle Jacob Conrad the youngest. They made the trip in a big covered wagon and moved into a log cabin. Aunt Esther Patterson was born in this cabin. Uncle Henry and Uncle George and Aunt Sallie were born in the log house at the mill. During this time she not only had the care of the family but the cooking for a lot of hired help, yet she lived thru it all. I visited her often in her declining years and always found her a kind old grandmother. Her work was finished February 4, 1871. Today if you will go into the cemetery at New Bedford, you will find a large monument on which is this inscription - "In Memory of John Jacob and Mary Conrad" also monuments of six of their children. We are told that when the Temple was rebuilt the people had a mind to work, and it seems to be a law of nature that where there is a mind or will to work it will be followed by success. I need not tell you that the Conrad family have been successful. They not only inherited 100 acres but have added hundreds of acres to their inheritance and I do not know of a mortgage on any. They all have comfortable homes and the younger folks are now enjoying life with autos and radios.