Gunrod "Hamilton" Conrad

Gunrod was a Cherokee man

Biography

The origins of the Conrad/Rattling Gourd family are uncertain. The tree and notes from Starr are different from contemporary records kept by the Moravian missionaries.

Emmet Starr's Conrad family begins with a man named Hamilton Conrad and his Cherokee wife named "Onai," and says that this couple were the parents of Rattlinggourd, Hair, Young Wolf, and Quatie Conrad. [1] Starr is usually considered the authoritative source for early Cherokee genealogy, but a March, 1810 entry in one of the Moravian Journals says that the father of Young Wolf, a man named "Gunrod," visited Spring Place. The entry goes on to say that the father of Gunrod [named Johannes or John Conrad] was German and a trader to the Cherokees who died when Gunrod was 4 years old. [2] Gunrod's wife may be the woman called "Onai" by Starr. They were the parents of five children: Rattlinggourd, Hair, Young Wolf, Quatie, and Terrapinhead.

The Moravian Journals make numerous references to this family, mentioning a visit from Rattling Gourd in 1802 [3] An entry in Volume 4 describes Rattling Gourd as the brother of Young Wolf... [4]

It appears that Starr may have missed a generation and that the person listed as ‘Hamilton’ Conrad should be listed as ‘’Johannes” Conrad, father of "Gunrod," who was the father of Rattlinggourd and his siblings.

Sources

1. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 426
2. ↑ Crews & Starbuck, eds. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 3, pp. 1376-76
3. ↑ Crews & Starbuck,"Moravians," Vol. 1, p 353
4. ↑ Crews & Starbuck, "Moravians" Vol. 4, p. 1843
Gibbs, Joseph L., Biographies of the Cherokee Indians: "...Onai, a full blood Cherokee of the Bird Clan, married Hamilton Conrad whose father was a Hollander and his mother a Scotch woman. Their oldest son was Rattlinggourd Conrad, but all of his descent in the male line was always known as Rattlinggourd's or Gourds, instead of Conrad..."
Hamilton Gunrod Conrad on Find A Grave: Memorial #129301397 15:55, 11 March 2018 (EDT)
Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LRSC-729 Judyann Kelley Townsend

Ancestry.com, Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Conrad-398
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Conrad.
11 Onai. Hamilton Conrad.
1112 Rattling-gourd Conrad. Mary Toney.
2 Hair Conrad. Ollie Candy and Melvina McGee.
3 Youngwolf Conrad. Jennie Taylor.
4 Quatie Conrad. Alexander Brown, Archibald Fields and John Benge.

Source: Starr, Emmett. “History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folklore.” Warden Company, 1922.
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GUNROD (JENNIE4ANI'-WA'YA, OCONOSTOTA3, MOYTOY2, A-MA-DO-YA1) was born Abt. 1750, and died Bet. 1810 - 1817.
He married A-LI.She was born Abt. 1760, and died Aft. 1851.
Notes for GUNROD:

• Starr's Conrad-1 family begins with Hamilton Conrad [apparently an Englishman]; however, in the Moravian Journals, 3/25/1810, the father of Young Wolf visited Spring Place his name was Gunrod "a man honored and loved by White and Brown people alike".His father was German and a Trader to the Cherokees and he died when Gunrod was 4 years old.
• Blood: Cherokee
• Clan: Ani'-Wa'ya = Wolf Clan (Peggy Scott)

More About A-LI:

• 1851 Drennan roll: Saline, 493 as Ar-le Gun-rod
• Blood: Full Blood Cherokee
• Clan: Ani'-Tsi'skwa = Bird Clan (Onai)

Children of GUNROD and A-LI are:
152. i. RATTLING-GOURD6 CONRAD, b. Abt. 1780; d. Abt. 1837.
153. ii. YOUNGWOLF CONRAD, b. Abt. 1786; d. 1814.
154. iii. QUATIE CONRAD, b. Abt. 1790.
155. iv. HAIR DE-GO-S-KA CONRAD, b. Abt. 1794; d. November 02, 1844, CNW.
156. v. TERRAPINHEAD CONRAD, b. Abt. 1796.

Source: Hicks, James R. “Cherokee Lineages: Register Report of Amatoya Moytoy” Genealogy.com, Sites.Rootsweb.com, https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0021...
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Other Speculation:

Some sources make Jennie Cherokee aka Conrad, Taylor, wife of Johannes Conrad, mother of Charley Thomas Taylor (abt. 1771), who would then be brother of Gunrod.

The citation from the Brainerd Journal is simply a re-statement of Starr's error. It is not part of the journal, it's an appendix created by the author. Starr was completely wrong on the origins of this family.
Jennie Walker, [granddaughter of Nancy Ward] who married Thomas Fox Taylor, not his brother Charles, made the following statement: "Charles Thomas Taylor came into the C Nation a Captain in a Brittish Regiment & married a Cherokee woman by whom he had a son named Thomas. Thomas married a Cherokee woman by whom he had three children; Richard, Fox, & Susan, the first named Taylor was a natural son of the Fox family in England, on that account the son of Thomas was called Fox & they have ever since continued to say that they by blood are allied to the late Charles Fox. Thomas had a brother named Charles who died in the west Indies. The simple narative from the widow of Thomas [NOTE: this would be Jennie Walker] who is still living bears all the marks of truth. It will be observed that the first mentioned Taylor had a brother named Charles & a son also named Charles so that there were three heirs of that name including the first-mentioned, that bore the name of Charles & the son of the first named his son by the Cherokee woman Fox [knowing?] at the time that he named him after his great grandfather in England. November 14, 1811 [marginal notation] The first Charles Taylor died in Charles Town, SoCarolina RG75, Records of the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, 1798-1838 (correspondence, 1811-1813) Microfilm #M208, Roll 6 digitized at Fold3

There is no evidence to connect Charles Taylor, British soldier, to the Fox family in England although he and his sons continued to make the claim. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taylor-26455 is the correct profile for the father, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taylor-60771 the correct profile for his son.

There is no “Charles Thomas Taylor” related to Gunrod Conrad and his (possible) sister Nan-ye-he. Charles and Thomas Taylor were brothers, the sons of a British soldier named Charles Taylor. Thomas married Jennie Walker. Charles married in the Bahamas where he received land as a Loyalist. Neither one had a daughter named Isabella. There is a remote possibility that white trader Johann Conrad’s Cherokee partner (the mother of Gunrod and Nan-ye-hi) was also the partner of British soldier Charles Taylor.

There is no evidence to support Charles Taylor's claims that he was connected to the Fox family in England. This profile combines two men, father and son. Charles the father was a British soldier probably born in the 1720's - he was an Ensign, the lowest officer rank, in 1754. He fathered two children, Charles and Thomas by a Cherokee woman about 1756-1758. Charles the son was a Loyalist, fought with the British in the Revolution and then went to the Bahamas. Thomas remained in America and married Jennie Walker, granddaughter of Nancy Ward.

Source: Coments section @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taylor-26105
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