Wells Family - Person Sheet
Wells Family - Person Sheet
NameHenry Smock Conrow
Birth15 Dec 1861, Deal, Monmouth Co, NJ
Census1910, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
MemoED 123, fam 105
Census12 Jan 1920, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
MemoED 148, sht 15
Census15 Apr 1930, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
Memoroll#721, pg 21
Census15 Apr 1940, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
Memoroll#1273, pg 12
Death16 Sep 1945, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
BurialMaple Grove Cem, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
MemoSect-AX, Lot-7, GR-A
OccupationArchitect
FatherDaniel Van Note Conrow (1834-1907)
MotherSarah Vanderveer Smock (1831-1911)
Misc. Notes
Robert S. Conrow Jr says they moved to Kansas in 1906/07. Was an Architect according to papers in Wabaunsee Hist Soc. He designed the office building at Commonwealth Rolling Mills at Port Kembla near Wollongong, NSW at the request of his son Robert.
[from History of KANSAS State and People; 1928]
The career of Henry Smock Conrow is strongly entrenched in the history of architecture in Kansas, where numerous buildings stand as monuments to his skill, ingenuity and originality as a member of his profession and as testimony to his talent as an artist. Few if any of the members of the profession of architects engaged in their vocation at Wichita have had more difficulties to overcome in the attainment of training and recognition, but perhaps this very quality makes Mr. Conrow's success all the more gratifying, for the rewards that have to be fought for are always those which are the sweetest.
Mr. Conrow was born on a farm near Long Branch, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, December 15, 1861, and is a son of Daniel and Sarah (Smock) Conrow, natives of New Jersey and of Holland descent. He traces his ancestry back to Herman Jansen Knickerbocker, of Friesland, Holland, one of the earliest settlers of New York. A descendant of this ancestor, Johannes Knickerbocker, 1749-1827, was an intimate friend of Washington Irving, who immortalized the name by his "History of New York" by "Diedrick Knickerbocker" (1809). It has since been used as a generic term for New York families descended from the original Dutch settlers, and the city of New York frequently is referred to as Father Knickerbocker. Daniel Conrow brought his family to Kansas in 1881 and settled in Wabaunsee County, where he was engaged in agricultural operations until his death.
Henry Smock Conrow attended public school in New Jersey, where he was reared on his father's farm, and was twenty years of age when he accompanied the family to Kansas and settled in Wabaunsee County. There he also had several months of schooling, but his services were needed on the home place in the tilling of the soil and the reaping of the crops. The youth, however, had other plans for the future than the daily routine of farm life, and managed to learn the carpenter's trade and of subsequently the contracting and building business. In 1889 he returned to New Jersey, where he resided for some years, in the meantime applying himself to learning his profession in the office of a well-known architect of that state. Returning to Kansas in February, 1906, he settled at Wichita, which has since been his home and the scene of his success.
From 1906 until 1912 he was associated in the way of his calling with the United Sash and Door Company, and in the latter year entered upon his independent career as an architect, his present offices being located at 616 Fourth National Bank Building. Mr. Conrow has designed many of Wichita's beautiful and substantial structures, including the Young Women's Christian Association Building, the College Hill Methodist Episcopal Church and the South Western College Gymnasium, Library and Industrial Training Buildings at Winfield, Kansas, as well as numerous residences at Wichita and near-by cities and towns. He occupies a high place in his profession and belongs to its leading organizations and to the Chamber of Commerce. A member of the College Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, he has belonged to the Official Board thereof since 1907, and at present is secretary of that body. Mr. Conrow makes a hobby of designing Mission furniture, and is also fond of gardening.
In 1893 Mr. Conrow was united in marriage with Miss Mary L. Perrine, who was born near Freehold, New Jersey, a daughter of Simon and Anna (Lane) Perrine. The Perrine family are direct descendants of the Carteret family, the original settlers of the Province of New Jersey. She died in 1915, leaving three children: Marion L., a graduate of Fairmount College, Wichita, now a missionary teacher, the head of the English department in the Ewha Haktang Missionary College at Seoul, Korea; Robert S., a graduate of the Cincinnati University at Cincinnati, Ohio, and a resident of Cincinnati, who is married and has one son, Robert S., Jr.; and Francis Perrine, residing at home. In 1919 Mr. Conrow married Mrs. Etta B. Orr, of Wichita. The attractive Conrow home is situated at 1330 Fairmount Avenue.

Listed in 1920 census at the Fairmount Ave address with his 2nd wife Etta, his three children from the previous marriage and the two children from her previous marriage.
They are in the same location in 1930 with only her daughter Eulah Bell living with them. Henry is listed as a building Architect.
In 1940 Henry is listed as an Architect (78, NJ) with wife Etta (70, IL) at their home on Fairmount. Henry with 2 yrs of high school education, Etta with 4.
He designed the office building at Commonwealth Rolling Mills at Port Kembla near Wollongong, NSW at the request of his son Robert.
Spouses
Birth27 Jun 1865, Tennent, Monmouth Co, NJ
Death17 Dec 1915, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
BurialMaple Grove Cem, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
MemoSect-AX, Lot-8, GR-A
FatherSimon Van Wickle Perrine (1826-1890)
MotherAnne Lane (1829-1892)
Misc. Notes
Died while her daughter Marion was in high school.
[Obituary]
Mrs. Henry Conrow, died on Friday, 17 Dec 1915, at Wichita, Kansas, after a short illness aged 50 years. She was the daughter of the late Simon and Ann Lane Perrine and was born at Tennent, where she passed her early life. After her marriage to Mr. Conrow she continued to reside in Freehold until fifteen years ago when she accompanied her husband to Asbury Park, who had a position with Buckanon & Smock, the lumber merchants. About ten years ago they removed to Wichita. Besides her husband she leaves three children, Marion, Robert and Frances and one brother Wm. of East Orange, and three sisters, the Misses Lida, Anna L., and Sarah Perrine, all of Tennent. The funeral was on Tuesday at 2 P.M., at her late residence. Interment at Roseland cemetery, Wichita, Kansas.
Note: Her headstone and cemetery record is actually at Maple Grove Cem in Wichita.
Marriage3 May 1893, Freehold, Monmouth Co, NJ
ChildrenMarion Lane (1894-1986)
 Robert Smock "Bob" (1897-1981)
 Francis Perrine (1904-1954)
Birth10 Apr 1870, Yates Twp, McLean Co, IL
Death10 Dec 1952, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
BurialMaple Grove Cem, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
MemoGr 2-Lot -68c-ET
Misc. Notes
Listed with her parents James Bell (32, OH) a farmer and Catharine Stage (26, OH) in the 1870 census as Anna L. Bell just after her birth.
Appears to be listed (30, IL) with her first husband and son in Big Timber, Sweet Grass Co, Montana in 1900, but the microfilm is damaged and unreadable.
The 1905 Kansas state census lists her and her two children with her In-laws and other members of her deceased husband’s family.
In 1910 census, she was listed as Etta Bell Orr, a widow (40, IL) head of household with her two children, Ernest (11, KS) and Eulah Bell (9, KS), teaching in public school, and both parents born in Ohio.
In 1920, she is listed as age 49 with her second husband, Henry Conrow.
She is listed with her (2) husband as Etta B. Conrow (60, IL) in 1930, and first married at age 27.
Marriage27 Jun 1919, Wichita, Sedgwick Co, KS
No Children
Last Modified 21 Nov 2015Created 5 Aug 2023 using Reunion on a Mac