1876 - 1957
GEORGE WASHINGTON CONRAD was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, in the Country’s centennial year of 1876. Two of Grandma Loeffler’s brothers - Henry and George - befriended two of her children - Mary and George. George Loeffler was befriended by his Uncle, George Conrad. Mom says:
My brother George got his start with my Uncle George - he went to Canada with him and Uncle George sorta took him under his wing. George went to college when he was living in Canada.
While interviewing Mom in 1977, we often got sidetracked and didn’t get back to some of the people I wanted her to talk about. Granduncle George Washington Conrad was one of those. But thankfully Uncle George took up the story as follows:
While it may not be of much interest to others, I would like to append a further record of Uncle George Conrad as he and I had a special relationship. When he was about 16 years old, he was permanently blinded in his left eye by a cartridge explosion during a Fourth of July celebration. About the same time my father, Joseph Charles Loeffler, sustained powder burns in his face which may have been from the same incident. At the age of 18, Uncle George became my Godfather and he always took his sponsorship seriously, so much so that I considered him as a second father.
After finishing high school, he became an employee of The Woodstock Company, located at either Hoboken, Jersey City, or New York, who were in the lumber and millwork business. George lived with his parents in Newark and was one of the early commuters. He became an expert reader of building plans and millwork estimator. He later took a position in this line of work with a concern in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.