| KONRAD KRAIN |
Conrad Grein/Konrad Krain, The Hessian Soldier
The patriarch of the Green/Crayne family in America was Conrad Grein, born
11
July 1749, Allendorf, in Hessen Kassel, Germany. He was the second child
and
oldest son of George Heinrich and Gehla Stecher Grein and the grandson of
Johannes and Magdelena Grein. His siblings included an older sister, three
younger sisters, and a brother. When Conrad was thirteen years old, his
father died at the age of 40. Prior to his induction into the Hessian army
in
1769, he had learned the trade of linen weaver, at which he no doubt worked
before his military service and on his rotation from the army. In April of
1775, he was mustered into Company 5 of Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Freiherr von
Knyphausen's 2nd Hessen Cassel Regiment as Konrad Krain, one of
approximately
12,000 soldiers provided by his Landgrave, Friedrich II, to the British
government in their fight to quell the American rebels. As a fusilier in
the
1st Division of German soldiers to depart for America under the command of
General Heister, his regiment marched from the garrison town of Ziegenhain
on
3 March 1776 for embarkation at the port of Bremerlehe on 15 April.
Conrad,
along with his regiment, boarded the ship, Claudina, arriving in
Portsmouth,
England 26 April to meet the other troop ships and their British escort
ships
for their voyage to America. On 6 May, their sea voyage began. Although
it
could probably be characterized as "the trip from hell" since it was
hampered
by overcrowding, unfavorable weather, spoiled food and water, rats, and
sick
soldiers, the1st Division finally anchored below Staten Island on 12
August,
1776 to begin its American campaign.
Conrad's regiment was called to duty shortly after arrival, participating
in
the Battles of Long Island, White Plains, and Fort Washington before being
dispatched to New Jersey. It was at the Battle of Trenton that Conrad was
among the 978 Hessian soldiers of the Rall brigade who were captured on 26
December. His regiment was escorted to the Delaware River and ferried
across
to the Philadelphia side near Frankford and taken to a large prison.
Several
days later, the Hessian prisoners were paraded through the streets of
Philadelphia before the crowds of curious Americans and then marched sixty
miles to Lancaster where they would be quartered in the barracks there.
Conrad was among the more than 400 Hessian prisoners who were subsequently
signed out to work for farmers, merchants, and tradesmen in the surrounding
area, as part of the American plan to not only use Hessian labor for their
war
effort but to illustrate the advantages of American life to Hessians who
might
wish to defect. In this regard on 15 October 1777, Conrad was assigned to
Peter Heilman, the son of the deceased immigrant farmer, Peter Heilman, in
North Annville, now Lebanon County. Then, on 17 June, Conrad was exchanged
as
a prisoner and marched to back to Philadelphia and on to New York to join
the
Consolidated or Woellwarth Brigade.
When sufficient Hessian prisoners were returned to New York and
replacements
arrived from Germany, the individual units were reconstituted and Conrad
was
back with the von Knyphausen regiment. This regiment was headed for Quebec
in
September 1777, accompanied by the von Lossberg and British 44th Regiments,
to defend it against a possible French attack. Companies 3 and 5 of the
von
Knyphausen Regiment boarded the transport ship Triton which, along with
the
five other vessels, found themselves in one of the most violent
equinoctial
hurricanes ever recorded in the North Atlantic. The ordeal aboard the
Triton
was described in detail by Lt. Wiederholdt in his diary. The storm blew
the
ship as far down as the Virginia coast, where it waited out the storm.
While
limping back off the coast of New Jersey, the Triton was captured by
American
Privateers and Conrad found himself a prisoner again. He was marched back
to
the Philadelphia jail where he evidently volunteered to return to Lancaster
Borough to work, this time, for Matheus Schmidt, a shoemaker. Nothing is
known about his personal life in Lancaster, but his final listing in
Hetrina
III for May 1783 was Code 11, or that of prisoner. At some point, he
decided
not to return to the ship taking him back to Germany and his final
disposition
was listed as unknown.
After his defection from the Hessian Army, Conrad apparently remained in
Pennsylvania for a time among his friends, the German-Americans, whom he
met
while he was farmed out as a prisoner. In 1788, he traveled the Great
Wagon
Road which ran along the Shenandoah Mountains from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
to
Pittsylvania County, Virginia with a group of settlers led by Harmon Cook,
a
colonizer. He purchased 100 acres in Toshes, a small community where other
Germans had settled in the northwest part of the county, and must have
married
shortly thereafter to a woman thought to be named Elizabeth. His name was
often spelled as Conrad/Conrod/Coonrod and Crain/Crane/Grain/Grane on
records
there. Beginning in 1792, seven children were known to be born to him and
his
wife:
Conrad died sometime in 1818, and by 1830 all of his children had moved to
Livingston County, Kentucky where the Green and Crayne families flourished
for
a century before dispersing to other parts of the country.
Hazel G.Pflueger
Submitted by Hazel Green Pflueger, ggg-granddaughter
pflueger@montana.com
George Crain/Green, b. 1792; m. Mary Polly Crider in 1813
Jacob Crain/Crayne, b. abt. 1797; m. Nancy Deboe in 1820
Margaret "Peggy" Crain/Crayne, b. abt. 1798; m. John W. Turley in 1818
Mary "Polly" Crain/Crayne, b. abt. 1799; m. Sandford Turley in 1823
Henry Crain/Crayne, b. abt. 1801; m. Elizabeth McNeely in 1820
Conrad Crain/Crayne (Jr.), b. 1809; m. Mary "Polly" Deboe in 1834
m. Martha Hunt in 1868
Nancy Crain/Crayne, b. abt. 1810, m. James Hill in 1832
m. William M. Crider, 1848
pflueger@montana.com