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Souvenir Edition, The Williamstown Courier, Williamstown, Ky, May 30,
1901, reprinted September 19, 1981 by the Grant County KY Historical
Society.

J. C. B. CONRAD. The most numerous, the most wealthy and one of the
most historical families in Grant County is the Conrad family. Yet it
all sprang from one common branch, and each member of the family can
trace their ancestry back in an unbroken line to the honest, sturdy,
German pioneer who pitched his tent in Grant County early in the
present century. It was about the date of the organization of the
county that William Conrad and his wife came to Grant County. He was
then a young man in the full strength and vigor of life and his wife
was a strong, intellectual woman able to assist her husband in all of
his undertakings. As all old settlers did in that day he found a good
spring and built his house in sight of its rippling waters. That was
on what is now known as the R. P. Conrad farm. He was a tanner by
trade, erected and for many years operated a tannery near his old
residence. He laid the foundation deep and broad for the subsequent
wealth of the Conrad family. Surrounding his home he bought and
acquired by trade and traffic more than 1,000 acres of land. It cost
him less than $1.00 per acre and is yet in the family, and much of it
today is worth $100.00 per acre. He also bought for a similar price
some fifteen hundred acres with the residence of J. C. B. Conrad as a
center, and from his last named tract the farm is now owned by "Brack"
Conrad, Lee Conrad, Perry Conrad, Worth and Newt Conrad were partially
carved and is today as fine a spot of earth as can be found within the
limits of this state.
William Conrad, Sr., was a minister in the Primitive Baptist
Church and helped to organize the church in the county. For nearly
half a century he went in and out before this people preaching in his
humble way the truth as he saw and understood it. To him and his wife
there were born five children [sic], all boys. Isaac B. Conrad, was
the oldest, and the others were Jacob Seldon, William G., and Joel
Conrad. These boys were all born in Grant County and lived, married,
raised families, died and are buried in Grant County soil. Each of
them inherited the provident saving disposition of their father, and
left large estates to their children.
Isaac B. was the father of Newt, Robert P., Perry, Mrs. Lucia
Young and Ida (now dead), and Jennie Conrad. He has been dead many
years.
Jacob Seldon, the second son, left the most numerous progeny of
them all. His children now living are John, William, Ada, R. Lee,
Clay, Mrs. Elizabeth Steers, Mrs. Kate Renaker, Mrs. Mollie Terry, Mrs.
Alice Gossett and Mrs. Effie Blackford. Jacob Seldon Conrad has been
dead more than twenty years.
William G. Conrad died when quite a young man, but left a family
of vigorous children. His sons and daughters were T. J. Conrad, Hon.
J. C. B. Conrad, William Worth Conrad, Mrs. Elizabeth Childers, Mrs.
W. W. McCoy and Mrs. Belle Smith.
Esau Conrad has long since passed to his final reward. His only
living son inherited his estate and is living on the old home place.
His name is Eldred.
The youngest son was Joel, and he was of the first to pass away.
He left of [sic] sons and daughters. Henry, now at Hamilton, Missouri,
Arthur, Edward, Jeff and Mrs. Sidney Eskridge and Mrs. Emma Conrad.
But is is not of the dead we wish to write, but of the living.
Hon. J. C. B. Conrad was born in Grant County in the old home in which
he now resides on November 5, 1856. His mother was Miss Lucinda
Hedger, daughter of the late Jacob Hedger and sister of James Hedger,
of near New Eagle Mills. "Brack", the boy, was raised on his father's
farm and there learned the habits of industry and frugality that has
made him one of the richest men in Grant County. He attended the
common schools of his neighborhood and the best schools to be had at
Dry Ridge, for eight months was a student of Eminence college. While
in that institution his father died, and he was compelled to come home
and go to work on the farm. There he grew up to manhood and began life
as a farmer. In the division of his father's estate the old home farm
fell to his part and there he resides yet. Early in life he contracted
a marriage with Miss Katie Points, daughter of the Hon. William Points,
who was a member of the legislature from Grant County. His wife did
not survive the marriage long and later in life, or rather on December
3, 1885, he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Lee Gulick, of
Pendleton County, daughter of the late Hon. William Gulick. To this
last union one child has been born, a lovely girl, Corrine, now almost
a young lady.
Mr. Conrad has continued as a farmer to this day, and owns 461
acres of the best land in the county. He owns stocks and crops, stock
in nearly, if not quite all, of the banks of Grant County, and some in
other counties, and is reckoned today as one of the rich men of the
county. For many years he was a director in the Dry Ridge Deposit Bank
and only resigned when he became a member of the legislature. He is
now a director in the People's Bank. On his farm he has made a
specialty of fine stock, sheep being his preference, and for many years
was the largest breeder of sheep in the county, and yet has vast flocks
of them. On the sloping hillsides of his broad acres he has all manner
of stock, and all of it in good condition and well bred.
His father was a member of the legislature when he died, and while
Mr. Conrad has never been an office seeker, in the sense of running for
office, he had an ambition to represent the county in the General
Assembly of Kentucky. He was nominated by the Democratic party in
1899, and served with distinction and credit to himself and his
constituents during the last memorable session, when riot and bloodshed
was on every hand. All of the Conrads in this county from the
beginning have been Democrats, consistent and honest in their views,
and "Brack" is today one of the most loyal and devoted members of the
party in this county. His services in the last session was so
eminently satisfactory that he has been renominated by his party and
will be the member from Grant in the next Assembly.
In all of his dealings with his fellowmen, Mr. Conrad has been
liberal and broad minded. He has been in favor of education and good
schools, even if the burden of taxation fell hard on himself. He
belongs to no church, but his wife is a member of the Missionary
Baptist Church at Dry Ridge. Mr. Conrad is yet a young man, in the
full flush of his strength, and no doubt many years of usefulness to
himself and his people are in the future for him.