BIOGRAPHY: Edmund CONRAD, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, page 603.

  EDMUND CONRAD, McVeytown, Mifflin county, Pa., son of Henry and Catharine 
(Koppenhaver) Conrad, is of German descent.  He was born in Myerstown, Lebanon 
county, Pa., July 24, 1840.  His great-grandfather, John Conrad, took part in 
the struggle for American independence, as colonel in the Continental army.  
Michael Conrad, son of John Conrad, was one of the pioneer farmers of Lebanon 
county.  He was an earnest, conscientious Christian, a devout member of the 
Lutheran church.  He reared a family of children:  Eli, who married and had 
children, John, David, Lorilla, Eli, Mary and Rebecca;  Elizabeth (Mrs. 
Heffelfinger), of Lebanon county, lived to the age of eighty-four;  Mary, died 
in early womanhood;  and Henry.  Henry Conrad was born and reared in Lebanon 
county, where he received a limited German and English education in the district 
schools.  He learned the business of tanning at Myerstown with Mr. Bridenbaugh, 
serving an apprenticeship of three years.  His trade being finished, he worked 
as journeyman at Lebanon for several years, and later carried on business for 
himself.  He was considered an expert at currying and tanning.  Besides his 
tanning interests, he became engaged in shipping on the Union canal, where he 
operated a number of boats.  After a successful career, he resided for a short 
time in Lewistown, and then came to Oliver township.  From the year 1852 he was 
a resident of McVeytown, where he died November 28, 1863, aged fifty years.  Mr. 
Conrad was most highly esteemed by all who knew him.  In his earlier years he 
was a Democrat, but afterwards supported the Know Nothing party, and later still 
became an ardent Republican.  He was an elder of the Lutheran church at Lebanon, 
Pa.  Mr. Conrad was married March 23, 1836, to Catharine, daughter of Michael 
and Sophia (Zimmerman) Koppenhaver.  They had two children:  Sophia, who died 
aged five years;  and Edmund.  Mrs. Catharine Conrad died May 5, 1883, in her 
seventy-second year, at the home of her son, Edmund Conrad, in McVeytown.
  Edmund Conrad received his education in the district schools of Lebanon and 
Mifflin counties.  He was yet a young man when he became the support of his 
parents.  At the age of fifteen, he went to work in the rolling mill at 
McVeytown, and some time after began to learn his trade in the same town with 
Adam Brimmer, tinsmith.  He served an apprenticeship of four years, and then 
engaged in business for himself.  This he continued for several years and then 
entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Altoona, following 
his trade there for several years.  But, in 1862, owing to impaired health, he 
was obliged to relinquish his position, and return to McVeytown.  In September 
of the same year, he enlisted in Company C, Fourth regiment, Pennsylvania 
Emergency Troops, and received his honorable discharge at Harrisburg after the 
battle of Antietam.  Returning to McVeytown he resumed his business in the 
tinsmith and manufacturing line, and continued it up to 1873.  Then he became 
the editor and proprietor of the McVeytown Journal, at that time a semi-monthly 
sheet of four pages, about eight by ten inches.  Under the new management the 
paper thrived, and has been twice enlarged.  Its pages now contain seven 
columns.  He is a Republican.  While he has never sought public office, he has 
served the borough in various capacities.  He has been a notary public since 
1873.  During the Fifty-first United States Congress, Mr. Conrad held a position 
in the Document Room, Washington, D. C.  He has been and is still, an active 
participant in fraternal organizations.  He is a past master of McVeytown Lodge, 
No. 376, F. and A. M., and a charter member of Bright Star Lodge, No. 705, I. O. 
O. F., of which he has been secretary since its institution, March 14, 1870.  He 
is also a member of Chaplain Thomas Stevenson Post, No. 482, G.A. R., McVeytown.
  Mr. Conrad was married January 9, 1862, to Hannah C., daughter of James and 
Catharine (Setzler) Stackpole.  They have had three children:  Henry, died 
young;  William J., married Margaret A., daughter of Valentine and Mary 
Rothrock, has two children, Gertrude B. and Stackpole;  and Blanche B. M., died 
aged fourteen years. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.