Confer Biography
Christian Carel Conver

 

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Sometimes his middle name is given as Gabriel. He arrived on the "Patience" September 9, 1751. Surname also spelled Conveare. He was naturalized in Philadelphia in 1765. He died intestate about 1785. He lived in Hatfield Township. I don’t know his relationship to the other Confers. It appears he came here relatively young as his children are listed in the Indian Creek Records. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t married in the Palatine and could even have brought a small child with him. Was he a son of Henry? A nephew? No relation at all? Maybe he was Henry’s brother. The following is the information I found on him.

Montgomery County records begin in 1784. Hatfield Twp. records begin in 1787. There was a reference to a Christian Convear of Hatfield Twp. will 9030. I checked this on microfilm, but it was just an administration listing and it was not the same Christian anyway. The Index of Wills & Administration Records of Philadelphia County 1682-1782 lists a Christian Conver, file 15, Admin. Book 1, pg. 17 for 1770. This does not appear to be the same Christian.

I checked the Grantor-Grantee books in the Deed section. The name did not appear at all under K (nor did it in the Will Books). The earliest reference was to a Peter Confer who bought land in Franconia Twp. in 1793 and Peter Conver who sold land in Upper Salford in 1798.

The Montgomery Co. Abstract of Wills 1784-1824 had nothing.

At the Montgomery County Historical Society the lady was very helpful, but we couldn’t find any references to Henry or John Peter, only to Christian and his descendants. She suggested they could have been in Bucks (as Hatfield Twp. is right next to Bucks Co.) or went straight to Lehigh (Northampton County) although Henry didn’t take the deed to his land till five years later. But apparently, not taking deed till some years after you’d lived on the land was not uncommon.

From UPDATE 1976 HATFIELD HISTORY: The cowpath is the old road that divided Hatfield Twp. evenly into north and south. The northern part of Hatfield was settled mostly be Germans from the palatinate. These folks were mostly Mennonites. Also Reformed and Lutheran came. Among the pioneers of this section were: Conver…….families.

The CONVER PLANTATION (Geo. Heckler farm, on the cowpath)

In 1770, Thomas and Richard Penn sold 53 acres to Christian Conver. In 1775 he bought 12 acres from Jacob Swartz; 1774, 2 acres of John Rosenberger. Christian died about 1805 (another record gives May 23, 1785) leaving children: Jacob, Peter, Catherine Leidy and Margaret. Jacob, the eldest son, inherited the homestead where he lived for many years. His will was made in 1827. In 1828 Abraham Clemmer bought the property of the heirs of Jacob. His son-in-law, Jacob D. Gehman became owner in 1851. Acreage consisting of 87 acres. This farm during Christian’s time was adjacent to that of Lieut. Col. Jacob Reed (Rev. War).

The following records are taken from the INDIAN CREEK REFORMED CHURCH (1753-1851) Franconia Twp., Montgomery County. If he came in 1751 and Catherine was indeed his first child, born about 6 years after he arrived, then it would seem he was relatively young when he emigrated, married here and raised his whole family in Hatfield Twp. He never moved out of that area, unlike the other Confers who seemed to move all over the place.

The children of Christian and Barbara Kunfer/Comfort are:

After these 16 years we have no further record of Christian & Barbara. It is now Jacob & his wife, Elizabeth, who leave a long record. But note Christian named one of his sons John Peter and one Henry and his first daughter is Catherine. Jacob is also a common name in the Cunfer family.

Note: The above is somewhat confusing, esp. since they had another Elizabeth in 1792. Either one year is wrong, or they are sponsors, not parents in one instance.

After these approx. 12 children, Jacob & Elizabeth appear in the church records mainly as sponsors.

(This information was submitted by Patricia Shirock)