During this time he met and married Nellie Rushton Muscott, a nurse from Simpson, Kansas who was working in Seward for Dr. Joseph H. Romig.

In June 1916, the couple moved to Anchorage where Joe found work as a tax assessor for the not-yet incorporated city.

Harding, along with Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and others, arrived in Anchorage on the train from Seward on July 13, 1923 at 9:30 in the evening.

Conroy welcomed them in a ceremony on Fourth Avenue, presenting Harding with a Sydney Laurence oil painting of Mount McKinley.

[1] Conroy resigned on October 2, 1924, with City Council member Charles Bush appointed to complete the rest of his term.