November 1709, Pennsylvania

November 30, 1709- Griffith Jones and Elizabeth Cunard are married at the Abington Monthly Meeting, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Twenty years later, in the will of Thones Kunders, he would give to his son-in-law, Griffith Jones, "The bed and furniture standing in the New Room to be for the use of friends."

(Elizabeth Cunard is my seventh great grandaunt. Our common ancestors are Thones Kunders & Elin Theisson.)

St. Ignatius Church, Chapel Point 1641

The oldest active parish in the nation with a continual pastorate, St. Ignatius sits beautifully on a 120-foot bluff above the Potomac River near Port Tobacco, Maryland. St. Ignatius was founded in 1641 by the Reverend Andrew White who accompanied Catholic settlers to Maryland on the Ark and the Dove.

The oldest surviving marker is the burial site of Elizabeth Darnall who died in 1705.

A resident priest explained the lack of older markers. In the 17th century, most of the burials were closer to the river, and mostly of wood.

During the Civil War, soldiers on the Virginia side of the Potomac fired cannon at the stone headstones, destroying them.

In 1866, much of the interior of the church was destroyed by a fire, and records were lost. However, later headstones of Robey, Digges, Neale, Mudd, etc. show that many Charles County colonists were interred here.

Joseph Ambler Inn

The land on which the Joseph Ambler Inn now stands was originally part of a large expanse owned by William Penn. In 1682, William Penn granted 1,000 acres to Richard Pearce. In 1711, 50 acres were sold to William Morgan. Morgan built the original section of the Farmhouse, which consisted of a ground floor where meals were prepared, and a small upstairs sleeping chamber. When Morgan died, the property was sold to Joseph Ambler.

The house remained in the Ambler family until 1825 when the property was acquired by squire John Roberts who married an Ambler daughter. It was Roberts who built the middle section of the farmhouse, adding the living room and dining room.

Over the next 100 years, the property had many owners. In 1929, under the ownership of the Wright family, the "schoolroom" was constructed. It was in this room that the children of the house were schooled. The property passed from the Wrights, to the Flood's, to the Wolfe's, and finally in 1983, the remaining 12 acres were sold to Richard Allman, the present day owner. It was Allman who put the property to use as a small bed and breakfast.

The Joseph Ambler Inn is located in North Wales, Pennsylvania.

The Grater House, Pennsylvania

The Grater house was erected circa 1724. The property on which the house was built was bought by Abraham Op den Graeff in 1706 from Matthias Van Bebber.
The house on the property was built by Jacob, son of Abraham, and Anneken Op den Graeff around 1724. This was not your normal farmstead for the 1700's. This was considered a "plantation" where they, more than likely, grew apples, pears and peaches.
The property, of 100 acres, was in the Op den Graeff family until 1816, when the great grandson of Abraham Op den Graeff died and the property was sold to Abraham and Mary Tyson by Ann Op den Graeff, great granddaughter.
The Tyson’s resided in the house until 1847 when they sold it to Josiah Bechtel. Bechtel lived in the house until 1866 and during this time, he built an addition on the rear of the house, doubling it's size. Bechtel also split the land up, selling about four different pieces off for large sums of money. He sold the parcel containing the house to Abraham and Mary Grater. The land was now 26 acres and 124 perches.
While the Grater family lived in the house, the Underground Railroad was put through the basement. Also, the Grater's added the back addition including the kitchen, dining room and 2 bedrooms. Abraham Grater was very influential in the Mennonite church and caused a reform around the mid 1860's. Within 10 months of the Grater’s moving in, they sold the house to Jacob and Mary Gerges for $4,550. Gerges owned the property until 1875 when he sold it to John H. Tyson for $4,200.
The Tyson’s owned the house with two parcels of land until 1907. In the fall of 1907, Franklin Tyson, executer of estate, sold the now 82 acres of land containing the house to Christian and Susie Bean.

(Abraham Op den Graeff is my first cousin 10 times removed.)

December 27th

December 27, 2009- Happy Birthday to my son, Michael Saul, born December 27, 1972.

Also on this Date:

December 27, 1636-  Elizabeth Baset born in Wales. (Elizabeth is Michael's 9th great grandmother.)

December 27, 1762- Valentine Miller is born to Christian and Mary Miller in Neersville, Loudoun County, Virginia. (Valentine Miller is Michael's 5th great grandfather.)

December 27, 1785- Elizabeth Knott is born to John Basil Knott and Mary Drury Knott in Maryland. (Elizabeth Knott is Michael's 4th great grandmother.)

December 27, 1858- Sebastian Worland dies in Liberty Township, Shelby County, Indiana. (Sebastian Worland is the 3rd great grandfather of Michael Saul.)

Irrelevent Conard Trivia

Dingee & Conard Company.

Our New Guide to Rose Culture 1901. West Grove, Pa.: Dingee & Conard Co., 1901.
The Dingee & Conard Company began nursery operations in West Grove, Pennsylvania in 1868 and began its mail order business in 1874. It later became the Conard-Pyle Company, a mail-order nursery and seed business specializing in roses. It became known for its trademarked "Star Roses," which includes the famous Peace Rose. The Company, which is still in business, donated its archives to the University of Delaware Library.
 
(The 1880 census for London Grove, Chester County, Pennsylvania, shows that an Alfred F. Conard was working as a rose grower. Alfred was actually Alfred Fellenburg Conard, son of Thomas Pennington Conard and Rebecca Miller Shoemaker. I don't know if he is the founder or what, but I really like the picture.)

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.)

1800 Kentucky

1800- Thomas Worland appears in the tax lists for Woodford County, Kentucky.

1803 Virginia

April 9, 1803- John Conard, father of Sarah Conard Miller, dies in Loudoun County, Virginia at the age of 65. He was a veteran of the American Revolution and is buried at Pott's Cemetary, Loundoun County, Virginia.

1803 Kentucky

September 9, 1803- Joseph Pike Newton, grandfather of Thomas Clement Worland, marries Elizabeth (Betsy) Knott in Nelson, Kentucky.

1806 Scott County

Thomas Worland was a signer of an appeal sent to Bishop Carroll in Maryland, regarding the need for a priest in the parish of St. Francis in Scott County, Kentucky.
They enclosed in their appeal the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars to furnish a horse and pay traveling expenses for the priest.
They stated that they had "built a church, purchased a piece of land, built a house with offices, and made improvements for the residence of a priest, which included some furnishings and two negro servants."

Early Settler on Kentucky

"When I was a boy there was a tradition rife here to the effect that when the old pioneers from this section used to meet Saturday evenings in Bardstown, as soon as they had shaken hands, one would turn his back to the other and beg him for half a dozen kicks under his coat-tail, and when they were duly administered, the other would turn around and ask his friend for his kicking... Not infrequently, half a dozen pairs have been noticed exchanging civilities of this nature, in the course of an afternoon. Why was this done, you ask? Why, in order to get temporal punishment inflicted, to expiate the grievous sin they had committed in abandoning the peaceful shores of Maryland for the wild forests and savage Indians of Kentucky. But the plunge had been made, the labor and exposure of going forbade the idea of return, and it was a clear case of "root hog or die'".

1806 Kentucky

1806- The list of names from Father Charles Nerinckx' Register of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, St. Mary's on the Rolling Fork, Kentucky includes some familiar ones:

Thomas Livers, Rachel Hardy, Thomas Worland, Sirlinder Worland, Anna Pike, Henrica Luckett, Charles Livers ...

1807 Kentucky

1807 or 1808- Mary Brady Worland, wife of John Henry Worland (John III), dies in Scott County, Kentucky.

1808 Pennsylvania

January 10, 1808- Lucinda, wife of Frederick Wagoner, is born in Pennsylvania.

1808 Kentucky

1808- From "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky" by Hon. Ben J. Webb:

I James Leak, T.C. Jenkins, James Gough and Thomas Worland, applied by letter to Bishop John Carroll for instructions in regard to a proposed sale of the church property in Scott, and the investment of the proceeds of the sale in more desirable realty for church purposes.

There is some evidence that Thomas Worland may have returned to Maryland at least once on errands for the Catholic Church.
The following letter from Father Edward Dominic Fenwich to Archbishop Carroll in Maryland, suggests this:

I have troubled you with so many of my scrowls of late that I am almost ashamed to attempt it again. But so favorable an opportunity as this by Mr. Thomas Worland, trustee of St. Francis Chapel, in Scott County, will, I trust, be a sufficient apology.

1809 Kentucky

February 12, 1809- Abraham Lincoln is born in a log cabin near Hudgensville, Kentucky.

1809 Germany

1809- Frederick Wagoner, maternal grandfather of Estella Lucinda Randall, is born in Stuttgart, Baden, Germany.

1810 New York

1810- John Samuel (or Seamans) Randall marries Amea Wasson in Colesville, Broome, New York.

1811 New York

August 24,1811- Hiram Randall is born to John Samuel Randall and Amea Wasson Randall in Rensselaer County, New York.