The Worland Family in America and Beyond

I began my life in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, on an island filled with forests and wild rhododendrons. I was separated from my Worland family there at an early age. Recently, I was reunited with my family and learned of my heritage. And so, this journey to know my ancestors began. The Worlands, Gideons, Newtons, Conards... they were the colonists, the settlers, the pioneers. They fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War. This is their story, and the story of a nation. -Deci Worland MacKinnon

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Surnames: Kunders, Cunard or Conard?

I recently had another discussion about the surname of my Revolutionary War Ancestor John Conard, he is listed by the Daughters of the American Revolution as John Cunard, (DAR RECORD 127512, VOL. 128).
In my family tree, I list him as John Conard to avoid confusion regarding his daughter Sarah Conard...many others also use the Conard surname.
John Conard is descended from Thones Kunders, one of the German pioneers granted a charter for Germantown, Pennsylvania, by William Penn in 1689.
In various documents from Krefeld, Germany, Thones Kunders signs his name as Tunnes Keunen, Tunis Kunders, and Thones Kunders. In the Germantown charter, his name appears as Tenis Coenderts and Tunes Cunders. In 1691, "Touniss Kunders" was elected as one of Germantown's fence-viewers.
The numerous descendants of Thones Kunders adopted the English custom of taking their father's last name as their own, but adopted it in various forms such as Conard, Cunard, Kunraed, Cunraed, Conrad, etc.
One of these descendants was Samuel Cunard, founder in 1838 of the first regular steamship service across the Atlantic, and builder of the mighty Britannia. (Samuel Cunard is the man in the accompanying image.)

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