I am one of the many descendants of Conrad Lippard, a German farmer who immigrated to North America in 1738. His wife, Anna Martha, his son, Wilhelm, and Wilhelm’s family came with him to this land of opportunity. Conrad’s descendants are now scattered throughout the United States.
Disease, starvation, unsanitary conditions, accidents and storms at sea took a devastating toll on the ship’s passengers, and more than half died before reaching their destination.
Conrad left Germany in the wake of French persecution to come to William Penn’s New World colony. He settled near Philadelphia.
Conrad’s son, Wilhelm, couldn’t afford land in Pennsylvania, so he went to North Carolina in the 1750s in search of a better life. This was the beginning of the Conrad Lippard family scattering throughout the New World. My mother was a North Carolina Lippard.
Jessie Kelly
Dalton City, Illinois
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then CAPPER’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
