My Genealogy Hound

MRS. MARY SHAW (CONARD) SHOEMAKER, residing at No. 1930 Judson Place, Philadelphia, is the daughter of Joseph Phipps and Rebecca Adamson (Shaw) Conard. She was born December 9, 1840, in the family homestead, near Blue Bell, now occupied by her brother, Henry Fassett Conard. She attended the public school at Blue Bell until she reached her fifteenth year, and then remained with her parents until her marriage, on December 24, 1863, to Charles Shoemaker, son of Enoch and Rachel (Mitchell) Shoemaker, of Springfield township, Montgomery county.

Charles Shoemaker was born in Springfield township, July 8, 1836, and there lived until 1878, when he removed to Whitpain. He was reared to the occupation of farming and followed it all his life. He was interested in whatever seemed likely to benefit his community. In politics he was a Republican, believing its principles best calculated to promote the progress and prosperity of the state and country. After his marriage, he rented the farm of his father, who had bought it of the Mitchell estate, until the spring of 1878. He was identified with the Ambler Building and Loan Association from 1883, being a director for several years and holding the office of vice president at the time of his death, which occurred January 6, 1898. He was one of the organizers and first directors of the Ridge Avenue farmers’ market. Mr. Shoemaker was not a public man, caring little for politics, finding his pleasures after the toil of the day, in the refuge of his home and with home companions. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker had nine children. Joseph Conard, the eldest, born July 10, 1865, attended the public school at Blue Bell, and married, February 17, 1887, Tacy C., daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Conard) Walton. He is managing the farm formerly occupied by his parents near Blue Bell, and has three children. Enoch, second son of Charles and Mary Shoemaker, born November 22, 1866, is deceased. Ella, born July 9, 1868, married John Bothwell, son of David and Mary (Bothwell) Park, of Horsham township, and they have two children, Benjamin P. W., born December 11, 1896, and John Bothwell. Rebecca Jane, born January 23, 1871, is unmarried and resides in Philadelphia; Rachel, born September 10, 1873, married, September 26, 1895, Walter, son of Charles and Emma Elizabeth (Shields) De Prefontaine, of Blue Bell, and they have one child, Charles Leroy, born October 25, 1896, and now residing in Norristown where Mr. De Prefontaine is organist at the First Presbyterian church. Annie Cora, born August 26, 1876, attended Abington Friends’ School and the West Chester State Normal School, and is unmarried and resides in Philadelphia. Mary Klauder, born March 29, 1879, attended the public school at Blue Bell and also the Schissler College of Business at Norristown, is unmarried and resides in Philadelphia. Charles, born September 30, 1881, attended the Blue Bell school and the Pierce College of Business, in Philadelphia, and is engaged in the insurance business in that city. Frank, born August 3, 1884, attended school at Blue Bell and the Schissler College of Business, and resides in Philadelphia where he is engaged in commercial pursuits.

The Conard family to which Mrs. Shoemaker belongs is one of the oldest as well as largest in Montgomery county, and is widely distributed elsewhere. Thones (or Dennis) Kunders, who was the founder of the family in this country, emigrated from Germany in October, 1683, and was one of the early settlers of Germantown. In religious belief he was a member of the Society of Friends, as are most of his descendants in this section of Pennsylvania. The first Friends’ meeting in Germantown was held at his house or cave, as their temporary homes hastily constructed in a new country, often were, soon after the arrival of the little band of immigrants. He had been a blue dyer in the fatherland, and he continued that humble occupation after settling in Germantown. The German immigrants believed in education, and as early as 1701 they made provision for it, by starting a school. In 1688 Thones Kunders was one of the little band of Germantown Friends who raised their voices against negro slavery, theirs being the first formal protest ever made in America in opposition to a system that ultimately led to such dreadful consequences in bringing about the war of the Rebellion. In 1691, on a charter of incorporation being granted to the village of Germantown, Thones Kunders was chosen as one of the burgesses. He resided at Germantown a period of forty-six years until his death.

The name Kunders gradually became Anglicized into its present form. In 1722 Thones Kunders wrote his will and signed his name “Cunrads.” In 1747, in the will of one of his sons, the name is spelled “Conrads,” showing the evolution to the established orthography of the present day, although another son spelled it “Conders,” in accordance with the diversity of spelling that then often prevailed in the same family name.

Henry Cunreds, the youngest son of the immigrant, on May 16, 1711, bought of Charles Mullen, a tract of two hundred and twenty acres and one hundred and eleven perches of land in Whitpain township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. This tract was located near Blue Bell, and the small stone house which he built and in which he lived during the remaining forty-seven years of his life, was standing until within a few years. Joseph Conard, fifth son of Henry Cunreds, and grandson of the founder of the family in this country, died in Whitpain in 1786. His second son, John Conard, married Sarah Childs. They had a family of eleven children, of whom the fourth was Joseph Phipps Conard, who married Rebecca Shaw in 1835. The couple had nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was one.