2–3.  Conrad Julius Linz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., on Thursday, September 13, 1894, and died in Baltimore on January 26, 1966. Anna Mary Telljohann was born in Baltimore on Friday, August 26, 1898, and died in Baltimore on June 15, 1956. She died of ovarian cancer. They were both buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Baltimore. They were married in Sacred Heart Church, Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday, September 18, 1917. She took the name Anna Mary Linz. The witnesses were John Linz and Caroline Telljohann. He is the son of Andreas Gerald and Anna Mary (Muth) Linz. She is the daughter of George Friedrich August and Catharina Christina (Meyer) Telljohann. They had 16 children:

i. Anna Mary Linz [#2A]: She was born in Baltimore on July 17, 1918.
ii. Agnes Lillian Linz [#2B]: She was born in Baltimore on March 13, 1920, and died in Hanover, Pennsylvania, on February 17, 1998.
iii. Marian Celeste Linz [#2C]: She was born in Baltimore on July 15, 1921.
iv. Clara Dolores Linz [#2D]: She was born in Baltimore on August 3, 1922.
v. Conrad Innocent Linz [#2E]: He was born in Baltimore on August 3, 1922, and died in Baltimore on September 14, 2001.
vi. Paul Walter Linz [#2F]: He was born in Baltimore on September 10, 1923.
vii. John Gerard Linz [#2G]: He was born in Baltimore on August 27, 1925.
viii. Charles Andrew Linz [#2H]: He was born in Baltimore on August 26, 1927.
ix. Helen Margaret Linz [#2I]: She was born in Baltimore on October 18, 1928.
x. Elizabeth Gertrude Linz [#2K]: She was born in Baltimore on December 15, 1931.
xi. Dolores Julia Linz [#2J]: She was born in Baltimore on September 16, 1930.
xii. Kathleen Eva Linz [#2L]: She was born in Baltimore on January 29, 1933.
xiii. Joseph Frederick Linz [#2M]: He was born in Baltimore on June 3, 1934, and died in Baltimore on January 6, 1998.
xiv. Joan Marie Linz [#2N]: She was born in Baltimore on June 3, 1934.
xv. Jane Myles Linz [#2O]: She was born in Baltimore on April 26, 1941.
xvi. Janet Myles Linz [#2P]: She was born in Baltimore on April 26, 1941.

Anna Mary Telljohann, Ann, the ninth of 12 surviving children, attended Sacred Heart School, Baltimore, through the sixth grade, then took a job in a sewing factory. The following year, at age 12, she contracted tuberculosis. Since the only available treatment for the disease was rest and fresh air, she was sent to the Telljohann family farm on Forge Road, off Blair Road, in Kingsville. So deep was the concern of family and friends that many vigils were held and many prayers were offered at her bedside. One night she had a vision of the Blessed Mother appearing to heal her. She completely recovered. It was perhaps from that event that Ann remained a steadfast follower of the Catholic Church, adhering to every detail of its dogma. All her life she arose at 5:30 and attended mass before awakening Conrad and the family and getting them off to work or school.

Little is known of Conrad's childhood.

After their marriage, Conrad and Ann, as she was usually called, lived in Delaware (?). However, they soon returned to Highlandtown where they lived _____ (where?).


The 16 Linzes: Standing: Marian, Charles, Dolores, John, Kitty, Joe, Joan, Walt, Ann, and Conrad
Seated: Lil, Betty (Sr. Annicia), Jane, Janet, Clara (Sr. Conrado), and Helen
On May 8, 1924, the couple purchased the house at 3511 Foster Avenue from Conrad's parents: "in consideration of the sum of five dollars and other good and valuable considerations...". One of the considerations was a mortgage of $2496 with Germania Permanent Loan and Savings Assoc. to be repaid at "the weekly sum of $6.00 as dues until the said sum of $2496 in gold coin of the United States of the present standard of weight and fineness ... shall be repaid ... also to pay as interest the weekly sum of $2.88 until the sum of $104 be repaid. Ground rent was $38.50 payable in equal half yearly installments. Andreas and Anna had purchased it on March 29, 1915, from Mamie Pfisterer. At that time, the house was in Baltimore County.

The Family Home: 3511 Foster Avenue

3511 Foster Avenue was the family home where all 16 children were raised. It and the other houses standing shoulder to shoulder on the block, and the next blocks, and the next streets, were typical Baltimore row houses with the white marble front steps characteristic of the area and time. To this day there is much local pride in having gleaming steps, and scrubbing them is as much a routine household chore as sweeping floors and washing clothes. Conrad's parents lived next door at 3509.

It is certain that one of the main attractions of these houses was their proximity to the church: directly across the street was the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, Convent, and School. It occupied the entire city block at the highest point in Highlandtown and was the center of most of the Linz family's social, religious, and educational life. Since the front of the Linz's house was very visible from the convent, there are numerous stories of the activities of the children in front of the house being reported to their parents by an observing nun.

The house is 14 feet wide, an average width for such houses, 45 feet long, and has three stories. From the wide sidewalk (or "pavement" in Baltimore parlance) which extends from the road to the front of the house, one enters the middle floor via the three white marble steps. From this level one can proceed directly upstairs or enter the parlor. These houses were designed to be subdividable into two apartments: one on the top floor and a larger one consisting of the basement and first floor. The separation is accomplished by simply closing the sliding door to the parlor.

Since the house is near the top of the hill from which Highlandtown received its name, the ground slopes slightly and the back entrance opens into the basement where the kitchen is. The rest of the basement originally contained the big, coal-burning furnace, the coal bin, and some storage.

The main floor consisted of three rooms: the parlor, the sitting room or living room, and the dining room. The parlor, in the front of the house, was reserved for entertaining visitors, often a priest from across the street. The living room and dining room were the center of family activity. Here the children studied, played, and danced. Even though the dining room, at the back of the house, had a beautiful table, chairs, and buffet, it was seldom used for a meal. It could not seat as many people as the kitchen table and everything had to be carried up the narrow stairs from the kitchen.

The top floor had four rooms, including a bathroom. As a separate apartment, there would be a bedroom in the front, a living room in the middle, the bathroom, and the kitchen in the back. Part of Baltimore harbor can be seen from this kitchen. However, since the house was home to as many as 16 people (all 18 were never there at one time since the eldest two daughters were married before the youngest twins came home from the hospital), the top floor was used as bedrooms. Conrad and Ann's bedroom was in the front, and the children were divided between the other two rooms as best served the current circumstances. At one time, the eight oldest girls shared one room. It had two double beds and the girls slept four to a bed: two at the top and two at the bottom. The middle bedroom, which Conrad and Ann had to walk thru to reach their room, slept the five boys in two double beds. Even after they all returned from the war, the last one in had to sleep in the crack.

Finally, there was a second toilet outside in the back of the house. It was a flushing toilet with the high tank and pull chain but it was only accessible by walking outdoors. In later years this was incorporated as part of the house with access from the kitchen.

Most meals were eaten in the kitchen at a very large table that was made for the Linzes at the jail. When not being used as a table, the children could play ping-pong on it. Along one side, against the wall, was a long bench, on the other side were chairs also made at the jail. Breakfast began when Ann returned from mass. As time came for each group of the family to arise, she would walk to the base of the stairs to the top floor and call each name once—only once.


Anna and Conrad Linz
1947
Dinner was served when Conrad arrived home in the evening. When the family was larger, it was served in two shifts: first table and second table. Conrad, the working children, and as many of the older children as would fit ate at first table. The remainder had to wait.

On Saturday, Ann would bake six to ten Kuchen, large sheet cakes topped with butter and cinnamon or whatever fruit was available. The huge pot of dough was left to raise on the furnace in the winter. By Monday, the kuchen were gone. It was probably not a coincidence that the local priests found Sunday afternoon a convenient time to visit. The fruit would come from Fred Kram, a huckster who plied the local alleys. He would stop by the Linz house after selling all he could for the day and sell his remaining fruit and vegetables for a very nominal sum.

Each year as winter approached, it was the responsibility of their eldest son, Conrad, to build a coal bin in the basement near the front window. And every spring it would be broken up and burned for heat. Also, a local brewery would occasionally deliver a truck load of damaged wooden beer boxes which he would break up and burn. By spring the basement corner was filled with the steel straps burned off the boxes. It seemed that many people in this German Catholic neighborhood were keenly aware of the large Linz family and would offer help whenever they could. When police officer Bates would spot coal rackers carrying home sacks of coal they had just stolen from a passing train, he would give chase, causing them to drop the sacks and run. He would then call the Linzes to come and get the coal.

Conrad was a quiet man. Consistent with his German heritage, he drank a lot but never to excess. He always supported the underdog and took up for the person in trouble. He worked as a ship fitter at the Coast Guard shipyard. He was good at what he did and would teach others. He would use chalk to drawn the plans for a hull or some part of a ship on the basement floor and explain how it went together.

Conrad grew to have a lot of responsibility for some major shipbuilding projects. However, he and many of the workers were Catholic and many of the management were members of the Masonic Order; these two group did not like each other. Eventually, Conrad irritated the Masonic management enough that they removed him from his position; effectively firing him. This was after the war. After that, he never really held a job again.

Conrad had two weaknesses: drinking and gambling. As his son, Paul, said: "If he had five dollars in his pocket, three dollars went for booze and two for the horses."

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