Christian Conrad

CONRAD, COONROD, COONRAD, STEINBROOK, SCARBOROUGH

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 2/19/2012 at 07:02:49

Christian Conrad / Coonrod / Coonrad
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Christian Coonrod, a farmer, residing in Coffin's Grove township, about six miles northwest of Manchester, is certainly the oldest man in Delaware county, and probably the oldest man in northeast Iowa. He says that he was born September 22, 1780. He would, therefore, at this writing (September, 1890) be 110 years old. There are no means at hand for verifying the dates, the fact as to the time of his birth resting upon his memory, unsupported by any corroborative evidence. Still, if we grant Mr. Coonrod the same privilege in reference to testifying for himself as to his age that we grant other men, and take his statement in reference to that fact as we take the statements of other men, the date above given must stand in the record as the time when he made his appearance in this world.

He was born in Cumberland county, PA, and comes of ancestry which, according to his statement, was remarkable for its longevity. His father, Jacob Coonrod, lived to be only 55, but his grandfather Coonrod reached the great age of 106; his grandmother Coonrod was something over 100, while his mother died at 102 and his maternal grandfather at 97. He is of German & French extraction, his father having been a native of Germany & his mother, whose maiden name was Catherine Steinbrook, a native of France.

Christian Coonrod was reared in Cumberland county, PA. He served in the War of 1812, taking part in the assault on Queenstown Heights & the battle of Fort Erie, witnessing Perry's great victory on the lake, & concluded his military career at Sackett's Harbor, where he was discharged at the end of the war. He remembers events connected with the war quite well, but he can not fix dates. This, and the fact that he lost his discharge papers years ago, has prevented his getting a pension for his military services at that time.

Returning to Pennsylvania at the close of the War of 1812, Mr. Coonrod took up farming, & followed it until the Erie canal was opened to traffic, when he sought & secured employment on that, running a line boat for several years between the chief commercial points on that water-way. He had previously operated a small boat on the Schuylkill river, when Philadelphia was a place of only a few thousand, Reading, a small country town, & Pittsburgh consisted of two stores & a boarding-house.

~Biographical Souvenir of the Counties of Delaware & Buchanan, IA, Vol II, 1890

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One hundred and thirteen years old! that is a great age, one attained by but few in the history of mankind, yet it is the correct age of an Iowa gentleman, Mr. Christian Conrad, who lives quietly on his farm a few miles from Manchester. He has lived in this state about thirty-five years, and is well known to everybody in Delaware county.

Can we realize his great age? If not, then a few comparisons may assist:
He was three years old when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.
He was twenty when Washington died.
He was forty-eight when Jackson became president.
He was sixty-six when the Mexican war broke out.
He was eighty-two when our late civil war began.
He could have volted for every president, save Washington.
He was twenty-eight years old when Fulton's first steamboat plied the Hudson.
He was twenty-four when the first coal was mined in Pennsylvania.
He was twenty-nine when the first steamship crossed the Atlantic and was forty when they began making regular trips.
He was forty-seven when the first railroad was built and was fifty-three when Morse operated his first telegraph.
He was seventy when gold was discovered in California and yet eight years later he started on an overland trip across the plains.

It was with a good deal of interest and not a little pleasure that a Gazette reporter recently had the pleasure of a chat with this interesting gentleman. After being introduced to Mr. "Coonrod", one of his first remarks was a correction in regard to the pronunciation of his name. "My name is plain Conrad " he said, "that is the way they pronounced it back in Pennsylvania when I was a boy, and I still insist on being called by my right name."

The reporter saw a man who will not now weigh much over a hundred pounds; in fact, as he expressed it himself, he is a good deal "dried up." However, his figure is erect, his eyes bright and clear, and he walks with as much steadiness as the ordinary man of seventy or eighty years. He says he enjoys good health, has a good appetite, and has never been sick in his life, and up to about two years ago he went out regularly and picked corn with the men in the field, and on his farm he now has several head of hogs, seven cows and a lot of chickens, which he feeds and cares for regularly, except that he does not milk.

In the course of the conversation Mr. Conrad gave substantially the following account of his life:

"I was born in Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pa., Sept. 22, 1779, and if I live until next September, I will be 114 years old. The place where I was born is what is called Holland Run, seven miles east of the Susquehanna river. Over eighty years ago I packed up my goods in a covered wagon and moved over the mountains to the new country in western Pennsylvania. When I came to Meadville I camped in my covered wagon and when I got up in the morning I found I was surrounded by nearly 300 Indians. I thought my day had come, but they soon moved away and did me no harm. The Indians were plenty about Meadville about that time, and often committed depredations. I went from there down into Pennsylvania and worked for a while for a man on a farm.

"On the place that I had taken I was obliged to keep batch. It occurred to me that I would like to have a cook. At the home of the man I was working for there was a bright little girl about fourteen years old. I took a fancy to her and she seemed to think a good deal of me, and one day in a half joke I asked her if she would not like to go down to my farm and keep house for me, and she said she would, and when I went back to my place she went with me and did my cooking and housework for a yaer, and then she pleased me so well and she seemed to take something of a notion to me, and the result was we got married.

"From Pennsylvania I moved to Birmingham, Ohio, and there I burned charcoal for the blacksmiths. I also lived awhile in Michigan, where I took a boat for Chicago, which was then a small village on Lake Michigan. I settled in McHenry county, Ill., where I bought a farm of 200 acres. We used to haul our grain to Chicago. I was doing firstrate and had over seven thousand dollars worth of property when my buildings took fire one night and destroyed everything I had. The cows were in the sheds, the horses were in the barns, and all my winter's feed, and we only escaped from the house with the clothing we had upon us. The loss of all this property crippled me so that I had to sell out. Of course in those days we did not have insurance and I lost everything I had.

"From there I came to Colesburg, Iowa, and got 160 acres of land; was one of the first settlers of Delaware county. That was over 35 years ago. I then concluded that I would go to California, and I sold my land and rigged out teams of oxen and cows. We started west and got as far as Council Bluffs, when my wife was taken sick and they did not think she would live. There I met a young man who owned eighty acres of land in Delaware county and I traded him part of our teams and wagons on the land, came back and took the farm and am still living on it."

Wishing to test the old gentleman's memory the reporter asked him in regard to prominent men he had seen after the close of the revolutionary war. "I have seen Gen. Washington," said Mr. Conrad. "It was in Philadelphia at the close of his last term as president. They had a great crowd and the road was filled with people for eleven miles. Gen. Washington appeared at the head of the procession and was accompanied by 32 of his old war officers and generals, and all on horseback. He rode a dapple gray hose. He appeared to be a tall man, smooth face, large nose, and such a man as would be noticed in a crowd. Gen. Washington made a speech that day and I heard him."

Can you recollect anything that Gen. Washington said?

"I remember tha the praised his generals and told the people to be loyal and true to the government. He told them if they would always listen to what General Jackson said, they would never go astray."

I supposed you can remember Gen. Harrison in the war of 1812?

"Well, I should think I could. Wasn't I in the war of 1812? I saw the battle on Lake Erie when Capt. Perry whipped the British. I was in the Sixth cavalry and was on the lake shore before the battle opened. When the ships were in plain sight our regiment was ordered to fall in line, and we were counted off in fives and every fifth man was sent onto the ships. I remained on shore with the regiment. Capt. Welser, who commanded our company, went on board the ship and was killed, and so was our orderly sargant; he had my papers in his pockets at the time."

How was it that a cavalry regiment could take part in the battle and remain on land?

"We had a battery on the shore and we assisted the gunners. We also carried a great big gun, I have forgotten what they called it, that we strapyed on the side of the horses. It had a big bore and took a ball over an inch through and would shoot a mile. We fired at the ships, but as soon as the ships commenced firing at each other there was so much smoke that we could not always tell where they were, but we kept a lively fire in that direction. They shot some shells at us on the shore and some of our men were killed."

Where you under Gen. Harrison in the war of 1812?

"No; I was under Gen. Carter from Northumberland till we went to Stackett's Harbor, and then I went under Gen. Wool. We were discharged by Gen. Wool in 1814."

Were you in any other battles during that war?

"No; we were not in any other; we did a good deal of skirmishing and marching and managed to see a good deal of the war. After the war I saw Gen. Anthony Wayne and Gen. Harrison. I saw him in the battle with the Indians by Lake Champlain."

How did they farm in Pennsylvania in early times when you were a young man?

"We had old fashioned plows and brush drags and it was not much of a farm at all compared with what we have now. We used to haul our wheat sixty miles to Philadelphia, sell it and trade it off, and when we came home we were generally poorer than we were when we started. At times we would ship our wheat by the river. I used to run a boat on the White river down to Philadelphia; that was before we had steam-boats, and we had a tow path along the bank for the horses to walk on and draw the boat. The boats ran from Harrisbur go Philadelphia."

When did you see the first railroad?

"The first railroad I remember of ever seeing was in the state of Michigan. They had none in Pennsylvania when I left there, but I suppose they had them before I saw them in Michigan."

Can you remember when the telegraph was first established?

"I can't tell the date, but I remember when they did not have any telegraphs."

How old were your parents when they died?

"My father died of quick consumption when he was 55 years of age, but my mother lived to be 102 years, 6 months and 4 days old."

Are any of your brothers still alive?

"Well, I don't know much about them. After father died they got to quarreling about his property and went to law about it, and I told them if they went to law about it, i would leave the country and they would never hear of me again. I did not believe in giving the property all up to the lawyers, so when they got the matter in court I lived on a farm by myself, and I just packed everything I had in a covered wagon, hitched on the horses and they have never seen me and I have never seen them since."

You have written to them, I suppose?

"No, sir; I told them that I did not want to hear anything from them. Of course, I wrote to mother, and I always let her know how I was, and she wrote to me; but I do not know anything about my brothers and sisters or their families, except that a grand daughter of one of those who live out at Battle Creek, Iowa, wrote to me and said that she was a grand daughter of my brother, John Conrad."

How many brothers and sisters had you?

"I had eight brothers and two sisters."

How many children have you?

"I had eleven children in all. One is dead and one went out to Idaho and I have not heard from him since he went there and don't know whether he is living or not; the other nine are all living."

Do you know how many descendents you have; your children, grand children and great grand children?

"Oh Lord no; I don't know how many there are. There are lots of them though, they all have big families. But I never counted them. If I had got married when I was young like most men do, there would be nearly enough of them to fill a county."

You did not go to the Mexican war then? I should think they would have wanted you for an officer since you had had experience in the war of 1812.

"No, they wanted me to go, but I was too old to enlist. I do not know how old I was, but I know I was getting along so they called me an old man, although I was stont and hearty as any of them and there wa not many who could put me on my back, even at that time," and the old man straightened himself up and remarked, "you wouldn't think that I was ever much of a man, but when I was in the war of 1812 they offered a reward of $2 to the man who could lay the most of the boys on their backs. We wrestled in what we called catch-as-you-please and I turned down every man that cared to try me and won the prize. I weighted 165 pounds then and was stout as an ox. But there haint much of me now, I am all dried up and about ready to blow away."

Mr. Conrad was then asked in regard to his habits of life, what had been his diet and manner of living.

"Well, I live just like anybody else would. I eat anything that they put upon the table before me, and lots of it. I have used tobacco for 100 years and have always used whisky, but for a good while my teeth have been gone and I have not used so much tobacco."

Why don't you get some teeth made?

"Get some teeth made? Well when my teeth came out they didn't make false teeth then. since these new kind of teeth came in fashion I wnet to a dentist and he took an impression of my mouth, and he said I had been eating on my gums so long that they were worn down till he couldn't make the new teeth stay in. I eat heartily now; eat pancakes, eggs, and bread and meat and almost anything that they put on the table. I also take stimulants; the doctor says it is better for me, and he has them fixed in water and I take some every little while."

Are you sure about your age, Mr. Conrad? Have you any family record or anything to prove it?

"Why, I suppose some of the folks back in Pennsylvania have the records. I had them written out and preserved them until I was burned out in McHenry county, Ill., and they were all destroyed. But I recollect well enough when they said I was born, and I know I can remember seeing Gen. Washington when he retired from being president, and I was in the war of 1812 and I was over 30 years of age when I went in that war, so you can figure out how old I am."

Is there nobody living who has known you a great many years, by whom you could prove your age?

"Yes, there is one man who has charge of my business affairs, Mr. May, who has known me about forty years, and he said from what I said to him when I first saw him forty years ago, that I am now 113 years old."

What does your wife say about your age?

"She says that I was 49 years old when we were married, and she was 15 years old at the time, and she is 79 years old now; but she has always remembered my age for me, she remembers things a great deal better than I do. I never paid much attention to the dates, but the men that looked up my discharge as they have it in Washington say that I was born in 1779."

Then you have voted for nearly all of the presidents?

"I guess I voted at every presidential election, except when I went out where they did not have any elections. I may have missed some elections when I was in the new country in Ohio and Michigan. I do not remember about it, but I know I voted for Gen. Jackson."

Then you are a democrat, I suppose?

"Yes sir, I have always been a democrat, and I never voted for anybody in my life but a democrat."

Are you a member of any church?

"I have never joined any church, although I have always held to the Lutherans, and think they are the nearest right of any."

I suppose you will go to the World's Fair and see the sights this summer?

"That is what I intend to do. I have just had a lot of photographs taken, and I am going down there and sell them. I had an offer the other day to go into a museum there in Chicago. They told me they would give me $40 a month and pay my expenses and furnish an attendant."

$40 a week you mean, suggested the reporter.

"No, sir; I know what they offered me; it was $40 a month, and do you known what I told them? I said that if they would give me $50 a week and pay my expenses and furnish me wit two servants I would take the matter into consideration. But then I don't have to be exhibited as a curiosity in order to make a living. I have always worked and made my way in the world, and I guess the little while I have to live in the world, I won't have to be put up in a show to be looked at. Yes, I want to go to the World's Fair. This will probably be the last chance I will have to see one. The fact is I am getting old and I can feel that I am failing. The last card has passed over my head, which means that I will not live through this year. I would like to live until I passed my next birthday."

Well, you rather enjoy life don't you, and would like to stay as long as you can?

"Oh yes; I have a good time. I have got a nice home, a good farm and I have got it fixed so that whenever I want money I can go to the bank and get it. I have always attended to my own business, until a few years ago I began to think it would be well for me to let some body else look after it, and I had a guardian appointed. He looks after the sale of the stuff on the farm and the money is put in the bank and they still let me go there and get it as I want it. Of course, I don't know how to do much business, but I know enough to go and draw a little money when I need it, and I take care of it and spend it to suit myself."

You have your farm rented, I suppose?

"Yes, I rent it to a man who farms it on the shares. All the stock, machinery and everything belongs to me and I give him a share of the crops and produce for taking care of things. I go out yet and tell them where to plant the crops. I would rather farm myself, but I can not do it any longer. Three years ago I followed the plow and turned under three acres a day."

Mr. Conrad is truly a remarkable man. He has been a man of great endurance and stong vitality. It does not appear that he ever took especial care of himself, in fact he has all his life desregarded the commonest rules of good health. He has lived the life of a common farmer, taking small interest in affairs outside of his immediate neighborhood. Only a few weeks ago he spent a couple of weeks with his granddaughter, Mrs. J.C. Scarborough, at Walker, this county. She has known him for over thirty years and at one time made her home with him. She says that when he was 96 years of age he would take a team and drive twenty miles across the country in a farm wagon at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour, and in going and coming paid little attention to the weather.

As to his age there seems to be no doubt that he states the matter correctly. When he came to Delaware county thirty-five years ago he gave his age as seventy-five or eighty years, and the pension agent who solicited his application for a pension informed the family that his enlistment papers at Washington corresponds to his statement of his age. And this recalls a curious characteristic of Mr. Conrad. He absolutely refuses to accept a pension under the general law that gives a pension to every soldier of the war of 1812. He says he don't have to take a pension and it makes him sick to see so many worthless fellows "feeding off the government." He says he went to the war to "lick the British" and having done that he is amply repaid.

It is entirely probable that Mr. Conrad is the only living person who remembers having heard Washington make a speech, or who can truthfully say he saw the famous father of his country.

~Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, May 3, 1893

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~Researcher Alert!
Census records do not appear to support Mr. Conrad's age claims. In the 45 years from the 1850 US census to the 1895 Iowa State census, he "aged" 66 years:

1850 US Census, Grant co. WI, he is age 50 & his wife Elizabeth is 38.
1860 US Census, Delaware co. IA, he is age 68 & Elizabeth is 45.
1870 US Census, Delaware co. IA, he is age 80 & Elizabeth is 56
1880 US Census, Delaware co. IA, he is age 94 & Elizabeth is 67
1885 Iowa State census, Delaware co. IA, he is age 104
1895 Iowa State census, Delaware co. IA, he is age 116

~Photo credit: Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, May 3, 1893

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