William Conrad and the Fight for America's Independence

 The story I don’t want to be forgotten is the contribution my ancestor William Conrad made in America’s fight for independence.

During the Revolutionary War, Maryland established a militia of all able-bodied free men between the ages of 16 and 50. These men served as a home guard and could be called out if the British threatened the area. They were volunteers, not part of the Continental Army, and served for short periods.¹

William was about 28 years old² when he was commissioned as an Ensign in Captain Peter Beall’s company, 1st Battalion of militia in Washington County, Maryland, on January 15, 1777.³ An ensign was the lowest-ranking commissioned officer, responsible for carrying the regimental colors and assisting the captain and lieutenant.

In 1778, Maryland’s General Assembly enacted an Oath of Fidelity and Support, requiring all free, male residents aged 18 and older to renounce allegiance to the King of England and pledge loyalty to the revolutionary government of Maryland. William Conrad took that oath before the Hon. Joseph Sprigg before April 1, 1778.⁴

On June 27, 1778, William was again called to duty as an Ensign in Captain John Kershner’s Company to guard British prisoners of war at Fort Frederick, Maryland.⁵ With a history since 1756 when it was built for the French and Indian War, then reconstructed in 1922, Fort Frederick, stands today, about 25 miles west of William's home in Hagerstown — a quiet but enduring witness to the Revolution.

I want my family to know that our roots in the American Revolution were built not only by famous generals, but also by men like William, who stood guard, took the oath, and served quietly.

His service and loyalty to the cause of American independence made it possible for me, many generations later, to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution — a connection I hold with great pride.

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<sup>1. Maryland State Archives. “Understanding Maryland Records: Militia in the Revolution” March 2025. https://guide.msa.maryland.gov/pages/viewer.aspx?page=militia#:~:text=During%20the%20Revolutionary%20War%2C%20Maryland,the%20British%20threatened%20the%20area↩
2. Brumbaugh, Maryland Records, Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church, from Original Sources. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1915.↩
3. Archives of Maryland, vol XVI. “Journal of Correspondence of the Council of Safety, January 1, 1777-March 20, 1777” and “Journal and Correspondence of the State Council, March 20,177-March 28, 1778” (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1897).↩
4. Hodges, Margaret Roberts. Unpublished Revolutionary Records of Maryland, Vol. 3, Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity taken in Washington County in 1778. (Compiled by author c. 1939).↩
5. Archives of Maryland, vol. XVIII, “Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, 1775-1783” (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1900), p. 328.↩</sup>

The Box

This post has nothing to do with what research I have been doing lately or my family history really, but instead, its about inspiration..and a box.

A few minutes ago I sent Thomas MacEntee an email, one of several that we have exchanged the past few days but this one had a .pdf as an attachment. Not unusual of course to attach that kind of file to an email but the creation of this one had pushed me out of my box, as I told Thomas. I knew about digital signatures, but had the thought to learn about that stored safely in the ‘someday I will’ box.

The original file I received from Thomas, a contract for him to provide a virtual presentation to our genealogical society. “…slap your signature graphic on it” he said. Yeah, right Thomas! Of course I could have printed it out, used a pen to sign it, a stamp and envelope and a trip to the post office as he also suggested but that phrase: “slap your signature graphic on it” rang out like a huge challenge. Besides, I have been working very hard to eliminate paper waste whenever possible, oh yeah and I hate spending money on printer ink too. Hmmm, could those ideas also have been planted by Thomas?

Anyway, I tackled the task, or rather Googled it, and finally managed to create that digital signature to ‘slap on it”, but not without some trial and error, mind you.

About the time I hit the ‘send’ button it dawned on me. Yeah, he pushed me out of that box but bigger than that he inspired me. He INSPIRES me. This isn’t the first time. I’ve been ‘following’ Thomas for a pretty long time although I can’t put my digital signature on exactly when I started. I remember reading something about him…who knows where…then we became friends on Facebook and one day he wrote about blogging. “What the heck is blogging?” I thought. So I had to get out of my box and find out. Then-what-does-he-do?! HE makes a new WORD! ‘Geneablogger’. Dang it, Thomas, don’t you know I have laundry to do and a museum to run and..and…and… So, I figured out the Geneablogger thing and then he comes up with Google Docs, and Dropbox and Cloud Computing and Weebly….and….and…and….all these other things that I have to stop life for and figure out.

Thanks Thomas. Seriously. What’s next?

This is the Face of Genealogy

The Edwin Plummer Longwell Family.
Plummer, Ida Edana (Conrad), Trever, and Floy about 1899. Tower Hill, Illinois