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Saturday, April 18, 2020

CONARD, Alfred F. (West Grove PA)

ALFRED F. CONARD

IDENTIFICATION ON PHOTO: "Alfred F. Cunard, of West Grove PA"
PHOTO TAKEN: C. M. Gilbert Studios, Philadelphia PA, Nov 2, 1903
PURCHASED: 2015 Dec, South Florida Fairgrounds Antiques Show

According to Quaker Meeting records, Alfred Conard was born 18 Feb 1835 in Chester County, PA to parents Thomas Conard and Rebecca Shoemaker.

1850 Federal Census > PA > Chester > London Grove
CONARD, Thomas, 43, farmer
CONARD, Rebecca, 41
CONARD, Alfred, 15, farmer
CONARD, Sarah C., 12
CONARD, Thomas P., 10
WILLIAMSON, Margaret, 28
SHOEMAKER, John H., 15, farmer
SHOEMAKER, Elizabeth P., 1

Married in 1862 to Lydia C. Hughes, daughter of Samuel Hughes a "progressive agriculturist of the county."

This Bio (below) was found at Ancestry.com and was compiled in 1999 by Marca L. Woodhams, Libarian, Horticulture Branch Library, Smithsonian Inst. Libraries.

Alfred Fellenberg Conard was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1835.  He descended from German Quakers who were part of William Penn’s Colony in 1683.  He worked on his father’s farm and learned the nursery business from Thomas M. Harvey.  Conard formed the firm of Conard & Brother, but some time after 1862 he started a nursery business with Charles Dingee under the name Dingee & Conard.  The business had two greenhouses and the establishment was known as the Harmony Grove Nursery.  About 1867 the firm started propagating roses under a new system introduced by Antoine Wintzer.  Conard conceived the idea of disposing of their rose stock through the mail.  Their first catalog offered bedding plants, shrubbery, bulbs, seeds, and roses.  About 1892 Conard separated from Dingee and along with Antoine Wintzer joined with S. Morris Jones in 1897 to become Conard & Jones Co.  The new company continued with the growing and distribution of roses and flowering plants.  As another specialty, they worked on the improvement of the canna.  Conard died on December 15, 1906.
  --- Biographies From the American Seed and Nursery Industry

1900 Federal Census > PA > Chester > London Grove
CONARD, Alfred, head, Feb 1835, 65, m. 37 yrs, born in PA of PA parents, rose grower and florist
CONARD, Lydia C., wife, Aug 1838, 61, m. 37 yrs, born in PA of PA parents


Alfred Fellenberg Conard died in his sleep Dec 15, 1906. (Note on back of photo says he died Dec 16. but this is incorrect, as several newspaper inserts all mention the 15th.)

His wife Lydia died at age 73 in January of 1913.

They are buried at the West Grove Friends Cemetery.

They had no children.

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