1854 - 1941 Person Name: A. Byron Condo Author of "The Mystic Gateway" Pseudonym: A. A. Armen, Asa, Alvin, Dr. Arm.
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Adam Byron Condo (also known as Asa Allan Armen) was born November 16, 1854 in Washington County, Indiana to John Condo and Catherine Beaver. Sometime in the 1870's, in his youth, he got into trouble. He was advised by an attorney to legally change his name and move away. He moved away and changed his name to Asa Allan Armen without telling his family. He served as a minister in the United Brethren Church. According to the 1880 census he was living in Hillsdale, Michigan and teaching music. He was then hired as a music teacher at Hartman College in Indiana. He met his wife, Lucretia Shuck, there, and they were married in 1884. His wife was hired as a music teacher at the high school in Columbus, Indiana and Asa continued his ministerial duties. He was promoted as presiding elder of the Indiana Conference of the United Brethren Church. Meanwhile, Rev. A. C. Wilmore, who knew both Armen and his brother Samuel Condo, who was minister of the Congregational Church in Marion, Indiana, recognized Armen from photos shown to him by Samuel Condo. Samuel Condo and two other ministers confronted Armen in 1897 and threatened him with consequences if he did not confess his true identity. Armen then resigned his commission, left his wife (assuming she knew why) and fled to Maine to have his name legally changed back to Adam Byron Condo. He then moved to Texas and taught music. His wife later learned what had happened, tracked him down, and they started corresponding and visiting each other; however, her mother was opposed to them reuniting. In 1904 Condo was recommissioned as a minister in the United Brethren Church, working a circuit headquartered in French Lick, Indiana. He was reunited with his wife in 1906 after his mother-in-law passed away. He wrote several hymns and edited "The Welcome Voice" under the name of Asa Armen. Condo died in Hartsville, Indiana in 1941 at the age of 87.
Dianne Shapiro, from Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) accessed 8/27/2018
A. Byron Condo
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