Not Our Family...
Back in the 1970's, my father and I were trying to figure where Jacob Conrad came from how he might be connected to other Conrad's. By the early 1990's, I realized this was way too confusing. I believe there were about 50 or so Conrad families that immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1700's. In the early 1990's, I set out to solve this mystery by researching all the early Conrad families that settled in Pennsylvania and see how they were connected. I uploaded that information (largely untouched since then) here on ancestry.com. My conclusion was that most were separate immigrant families, although there were a number of early families that moved from SE Pennsylvania into the interior, but our Jacob Conrad was not one of them. I realized that people had been combining many different Conrad families together and since Conrad was a relatively common name, it was easy to do. To see a a list of all 66 early Jacob Conrads, click here. Following are some links to the different Conrad families easily confused with Jacob Conrad of Sunbury and Augusta Township.
- Jacob Conrad (c1731-?) and Margaretha of Falckner Swamp and Chester County (see notes below)
- Jacob Conrad (1717-1798) and Maria Catharine Royer of Berks County
- Jacob Conrad (c1730-1770) and Christina of Donegal Twp, Lancaster Co, PA
- Jacob Conrad (c1757-?) and Anna Barbara Keller of Cocalico Twp, Lancaster Co, PA (see notes below)
- Jacob Conrad (c1750), son of Hans who arrived 1749 and moved to VA
- Jacob Conrad (1749-1829) and Hannah Bogard who moved on to KY
- Jacob Conrad (c1757-?) and Anna Barbara Keller (served in the Revolutionary War)
- Jacob Conrad possible sibling of Rudolph Conrad (from an old ""Three Brothers Story" in a county history with no additional info provided)
Our Jacob Conrad of Sunbury is often listed as having a wife "Catharine Harschberger" (Hirschberger/Herschberger). That's complete nonsense! That was the wife of a Johann Joseph Conrad in Lancaster, PA. Also, the wife "Maria Catharine Royer" is the wife of Jacob Conrad of Bern Township in Berks County - a Moravian who died there in 1798.
The main confusion around our Jacob Conrad of Sunbury has been the Jacob, son of Peter from Montgomery County. If anyone looks closely at this family, they'll notice that that Jacob Conrad had a different wife's name (Margaretha) and had kids Jacob, Joseph, Sarah, and Samuel. He was also alive and living across the Schuylkill River at the time that our Jacob was in Berks County and Northumberland County. This idea should be quickly dismissed.
Also note that it's unlikely that the Peter Conrad from Montgomery County came from Niederhausen. That immigrant is the one who settled in Easton and Williams Township, Pennsylvania. People seem to have missed the records recorded at the Blue Church in Lehigh County (but for people in the Easton area) and the Rev Schumacher records. Together, these records seem to nicely match the Peter Conrad of Niederhausen who immigrated on the ship Two Brothers, 13 Oct 1747. This Peter is different from all the others listed above. Niederhausen (incorrectly listed as Niederhauser on the internet!) is 16 miles east of Sien, so this Peter may be another distant Conrad relative (although I've traced these families back to the 1600's and they appear to have each resided in their own valley for many generations. NOTE: there are no records in Niederhausen matching the Peter Conrad of Montgomery County!
Other Jacob Conrad, s/o Peter and Rosina Conrad, Trappe Church Montgomery Co, money contributor on 27 Nov 1760
Map showing the theory that the other Jacob had moved to East Town, Chester Co, PA, across the Schuylkill River and only 9 miles away from Falckner Swamp
Tax list of Jacob Conrad, East Town, Chester County, 1768
I've seen several instances of people associating our Jacob with the militia soldier from Lancaster County, PA in 1779. Lancaster County is nowhere near Northumberland County, so it's difficult to imagine Jacob being about 40 years old with a large family joining a militia unit down in Lancaster. Note that the record says the unit was of "Lancaster" militia and marched "to" Sunbury. Militia troops often practiced maneuvers by marching to the hinterland. Anyways, I'm confident that this record refers to a local Lancaster Jacob Conrad, mostly likely Jacob Conrad of Cocalico Township, Lancaster who was born circa 1757 and was a son of Leonard Conrad from Cocalico Twp, Lancaster County. Note that the other troops in Captain Smuller's Company were also from Cocalico Township, and the militia company's were organized by township at that time. It was silly to not review the other militia members of the unit to see where they lived. Sorry, no DAR/SAR here.
SAR application, 1957, suggesting our Jacob served in the Lancaster County Militia (no!)
Early Conrad immigrants to Pennsylvania
Following is a table of many of the Conrad immigrants. Note, most of the origin locations posted on the internet are without sources, so I am not including those. In cases where I do know the location, the internet is full of incorrect ones. Sometimes people just matched up a record on ancestry.com and seeing a Johannes Conrad born around the same year, assume it's their ancestor. Also note that many county histories or even census records use various generic names for regions of Germany. When a record says someone was from "Prussia", that doesn't mean the boundaries of Prussia at any one point in time. Prussia's borders changed constantly so someone from Prussia might be refering to the Prussia when they were born, or when they left, or in current newspapers, etc. And a census take might just use Prussia to mean Germany. The best cases have:
- a family in the church records at a location in Germany, then
- their listing as leaving the area (eg Hacker's book), then
- their name in the ship lists coming to America, then
- their mention in records in a location of Pennsylvania where the name didn't exist previously, and where the same name doesn't appear suddendly in some other part of the country
It's expected that not everybody will appear in ship lists. There are some missing years, but most years only have adult males signing the manifests. So minors could be with their parents, or a step-father, an uncle, a cousin, a friend. One can see this by looking at the few early lists that did include minors and their ages. Many of Burgert's books on immigrants document these extended family migrations as well.
| Name | Date | Ship | S&H | Origin | Destination | Notes |
| Dennis Conrad,Thones Kunders | 12 Apr 1683 | Concord | Germantown | see History of Montgomery Co, PA | ||
| Heinrich Conrad | 1709 | New York? | ||||
| Martin Conrad, age 45, wf Anna Catharina, 2s, 2d | 1709 | |||||
| Leonard Conrad | 11 Sep 1732 | Pennsylvania Merchant | pg 67-70 | Cocalico, Lancaster | ||
| Peter Conrad [& Anna Rosina] | c1733 | ? | Montgomery Co | This Peter was a prelist immigrant | ||
| J Jacob Conrad, age 28 [& Christina] | 14 Sep 1737 | Virtuous Grace | pg 176-8 | Webenheim | Donegal, Lancaster | see Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 78 |
| George Conrad, Conrath | 26 Sep 1737 | St. Andrew | pg 179-183 | prob Mietesheim | York? | see Burgert, N Alsace, pg 108 |
| Jacob Conrad, Conrath | 26 Sep 1737 | St. Andrew | pg 179-183 | Mietesheim | Bern, Berks | see Burgert, N Alsace, pg 108 |
| Johan Steffen Conrad, Conradt | 8 Oct 1737 | Charming Nancy | pg 188-193 | Tulpehocken, PA and Rockingham, VA | ||
| Yerick Conrad, George Conrad, age 50 | 15 Nov 1740 | Loyal Judith | pg 283-285 | Unkenbach | see Hacker pg 68 and Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 374 | |
| Anna Catharina Conrad | 15 Nov 1740 | Loyal Judith | pg 283-285 | Unkenbach | see Hacker pg 68 and Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 374 | |
| Jacob Conrad Jr, age 16 | 15 Nov 1740 | Loyal Judith | pg 283-285 | Unkenbach | see Hacker pg 68 | |
| Hans Martin Conrad | 3 Dec 1740 | Robert and Alice | pg 288-9 | Ittlingen | Montgomery Co | see Burgert, N Kraichgau, pg 84 |
| Henrich Conrad, age 40 | 29 Sep 1741 | Lydia | pg 300 | |||
| Conrad Conrad | 25 Oct 1746 | Neptune | pg 363 | |||
| J Peter Conrad [& Anna Eva] | 13 Oct 1747 | Two Brothers | pg 367-8 | Niederhausen | Lehigh/Northampton | see Hacker, pg 69, and Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 373, possibly on to Lincoln, NC? try DNA... |
| Henrich Conrad | 15 Sep 1749 | Edinburgh | pg 402 | Baumholder | see Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 77 (she guesses Montgomery County, I don't think so) | |
| George Conrad | 15 Sep 1749 | Edinburgh | pg 402 | Baumholder | (but I think they may still be from Baumholder) | |
| Friederich Conrad | 15 Sep 1749 | Edinburgh | pg 404 | Baumholder | ||
| Johannes Conrad | 26 Sep 1749 | Ranier | pg 412 | |||
| Ully Conrad, Ulrich Conrad (Woolrich) | 27 Sep 1749 | Isaac | pg 415 | Augusta, VA, Pendleton, WV | ||
| Hans Conrad | 27 Sep 1749 | Isaac | pg 415 | Augusta, VA, Pendleton, WV | ||
| Hans Conrad (sick) | 27 Sep 1749 | Isaac | pg 415 | Augusta, VA, Pendleton, WV | ||
| J Michael Conrad [& M Elisabetha] | 11 Aug 1750 | Patience | pg 427 | Niederweiler | Bethel, Lebanon | |
| Nicholas Conrad | 11 Aug 1750 | Patience | pg 427 | prob Niederweiler | Berks? | maybe Ens in French and Indian War |
| Jacob Conrad | 11 Aug 1750 | Patience | pg 427 | prob Niederweiler | Bethel, 1765? | |
| Jacob Conrad Jr | 11 Aug 1750 | Patience | pg 427 | prob Niederweiler | ||
| Caspar Conradi | 13 Aug 1750 | Edinburgh | pg 430 | |||
| Friederich Jacob Conrad, Cunnerad | 15 Aug 1750 | Royal Union | pg 433 | ? | see Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 76 (that FJ died 12 Aug 1716 so the book is wrong on this one) | |
| J Henrich Conrad, Conrath | 31 Aug 1750 | Nancy | pg 443 | |||
| J Friederich Conrad | 16 Sep 1751 | Edinburgh | pg 461 | Baumholder | York and later VA | see Burgert, W Palatinate, pg 78, and Yoder, Rhineland, pg 74 (vs. Fred 1750 above) |
| Michael Conrad, Conradt | 22 Sep 1752 | Halifax | pg 483 | |||
| Wilhelm Conrad | 23 Sep 1752 | Ann Galley | pg 486-7 | |||
| Johannes Conrad, Conrath | 26 Sep 1752 | Richard and Mary | pg 487 | |||
| Daniel Conrad | 4 Oct 1752 | Neptune | pg 492 | Exeter, Berks 1765? | ||
| Johannes Conrad | 4 Oct 1752 | Neptune | pg 492 | Exeter, Berks, 1765? | ||
| J George Conrad | 14 Sep 1753 | Edinburgh | pg 521-4 | |||
| Jost Conrad, age 37 | 28 Sep 1753 | Halifax | pg 559-562 | |||
| J Henrich Conrad [& M Margaretha] | 1754 | - | - | Niederlinxweiler | Snyder Co, PA | see Hacker, pg 68 for emigration |
| J George Conrad | 1754 | - | - | Niederlinxweiler | Snyder Co, PA | see Hacker, pg 68 for emigration |
| J Nicholas Conrad | 1754 | - | - | Niederlinxweiler | PA? | see Hacker, pg 68 for emigration |
| George Magnus Conrad | 1 Oct 1754 | Phoenix | pg 629-635 | Niederlinxweiler | Heidelberg, Lebanon Co | see Hacker, pg 68 for emigration |
| Christian Conrad | 1 Oct 1754 | Phoenix | pg 629-635 | not Niederlinxweiler | Oley, Berks? | s/o Nicholas and Barbara |
| Erhardt Conrad, Conradt | 10 Nov 1756 | Squirrel | pg 683 | |||
| French and Indian War | 1754-1763 | limited immigration | ||||
| Jacob Conrad, Conrath [& Anna Catharina] | 10 Nov 1764 | Boston | pg 702 | Sien | Oley, Berks & Sunbury/Augusta, Northumberland | |
| Paul Conrad | 23 Sep 1766 | Chance | pg 709 | |||
| Johannes Conradi | 23 Sep 1766 | Chance | pg 709 | Berks Co? | ||
| Peter Conrad, Conrath | 18 Sep 1773 | Brittania | pg 750 | |||
| Johann Michael Conrad | 1 Oct 1773 | Hope | pg 753 | Wurtemberg | See Notices by German Settlers, pg 33 | |
| Carl Ferdinand Conrad | 1 Oct 1773 | Hope | pg 753 | Wurtemberg | ||
| Mathias Conrad | 8 Dec 1773 | Montague | pg 757 | |||
| American Revolution | 1775-1783 | limited immigration | ||||
| Godfrey Conrad, Conradi | 5 Sep 1785 | Favourite | pg 10 | Dehlingen | see Burgert, N Alsace, pg 560 | |
| Catharine Conrad | 5 Sep 1785 | Favourite | pg 10 | Dehlingen | see Burgert, N Alsace, pg 560 | |
| John Conrad | 5 Sep 1785 | Favourite | pg 10 | Dehlingen | see Burgert, N Alsace, pg 560 | |
| Carlina Conrad | 5 Sep 1785 | Favourite | pg 10 | Dehlingen | see Burgert, N Alsace, pg 560 | |
| JJ Conrad | 20 Aug 1794 | Holland | pg 71 | |||
| Michael Conrad, Conradt, age 50, wf 7c | 19 Sep 1804 | Margaret | pg 154 | Ludwigsburg | ||
| J Henry Conrad, age 27 | 3 Nov 1804 | Fortune | pg 159 | |||
| Magdalena Conrad, age 28 | 3 Nov 1804 | Fortune | pg 159 |
Above, S&H refers to the page in Strassburger and Hinke's book, "Pennsylvania German Pioneers", which has the ship lists. Some names can be clicked on to see more info in either my main "A_Tims's Tree" (recent research) or my "Conrad's in PA" tree (mostly old notes).
To see my original notes (tax records, census, etc) on the early Conrad's of PA, click here. This will show the large number of early Conrad's scattered across the state in the 1700's and early 1800's.