Conrad came to the United States in 1855, quite possibly by himself, and worked for a while on a farm in Lisbon, Chester Township, Ottawa County. In 1857 he went to Illinois where he remained only a few months before returning to Michigan. In any case, by 1860 he apparently worked for and lived with the family of Anton Cline in Chester.
Conrad stood 5’5” with blue eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was 21 years old and probably working as a farm laborer in Chester when he enlisted in Company C on May 13, 1861. He was taken prisoner on July 1, 1862, at Malvern Hill, Virginia, and in early July was reported sick in a rebel hospital along the York River. He was soon released on parole, and on the afternoon of July 11 arrived at Old Point, Virginia, near Fortress Monroe, on the John Tucker. Conrad returned to the Regiment December 20 at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, and was wounded slightly “in the body” on May 3, 1863, by a fall from some breastworks at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and was hospitalized in June and July of 1863. He was transferred to the Veterans’ Reserve Corps on July 3, 1863, where he remained until April of 1864.
Conrad was eventually discharged from the VRC and by 1865 had settled on 80 acres of land, presumably in Newaygo County. He soon moved to Grant, Newaygo County, and then on to Ashland, Newaygo County where he was living when he married Hesse-Darmstadt native Elizabeth Schafer (1846-1909) on June 4, 1868, at the Lutheran German church in Grand Rapids. They had at least six children: John (b. 1870), Charles H. (b. 1873), Henry S. (b. 1875), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1878) and “Maggie” (1879-1887).
By 1870 Conrad was working as a farmer (how owned some $1000 worth of real estate) and living with his wife and daughter Matilda in Ashland. By 1880 Conrad was working as a farmer and living in Ashland with his wife and children. Indeed, Conrad probably lived in Ashland the rest of his life. He was living in Ashland in 1890.
He became a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association in September of 1885, and both he and his wife were members of P of H. Lodge No. 545 in Ashland. Conrad himself was a member of Lodge No. 331 I.O.O.F. at Ashland; he was also a Republican.
In 1880 he applied for and received a pension (no. 231179).
Conrad died a widower in Grant, Newaygo County, on March 22, 1916, and was buried in Ashland cemetery: section A, grave no. 64.
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