RUSH, Conrad of Somerset Co NJ and Bedford Co PA

Researchers and published articles propose that Conrad Rush was born say 1734 in Byberry, Pennsylvania, married ca 1754 in Lemington, Somerset County, New Jersey, to a woman named Johanna, and died in 1795 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in what became Somerset County that same year.

I have questioned my Rush lineage, because it seems too easy, with not enough clear documentary evidence to connect Conrad Rush to the Byberry, Pennsylvania, family. I have been looking for autosomal DNA links to other Rushes. I have found one so far, “donmccormack89” at Ancestry.com with 18 cMs across two segments matching me. This person descends from Nathaniel Rush of Somerset County but has a clearly incorrect parentage in the tree at that site. For now, I can say that the two Rush groups are connected.

Looking for facts about Nathaniel Rush led me to a typescript given complete at Ancestry.com, Rush & Skinner families of Lower Turkeyfoot by Harry S. Rush. (insert footnote) Mr. Rush names three brothers, Nathaniel, David, and ???, and connects them to Jacob Rush, possibly a son of Conrad Rush. Interestingly, Mr. Rush does not mention Conrad. More study is needed.

In 1943, Charles Ross Shultz identified the likely father of Maria (Rush) Shultz as this Conrad.[1] This identification was based on Maria and Conrad both being in Somerset County, New Jersey, at the time of her marriage to Michael Shultz. And following Dutch or German naming patterns, their first son was Peter for Michael’s possible father, and the second was named Conrad, probably for her father. Later, Conrad Rush and the Michael Shultz family are all found in Bedford County, later Somerset Co PA.

Because my earliest interest in genealogy was sparked by my mother having a copy of the Shultz book, I was very interested in the Shultz and Rush families. While a college student, I found my first genealogy correspondent, a man named Jason Adamson. I do not at this time recall how I was able to begin writing him and I did not save most of the correspondence. I purchased a copy of his 96-page booklet, Rush Genealogy.[2] I spent many hours over the years trying to organize the Rush family data in the booklet, before finally deciding it was an impossible task.

My last letter from Mr. Adamson stated that he had found my Maria as a daughter of Conrad Rush, identified the mother as Johanna, and listed several other children he attributed to Conrad. He gave no source and subsequent request for more information were not answered. I learned a lesson about taking care of correspondence. I think, in those early pre-Xerox days, that I actually returned the key letter to him, asking for the source. And I never saw it again.

In 1970, I joined the DAR and made an early visit with my sister-in-law to the DAR Library in Washington, DC. That is possibly where I located an article, “Jacob Rush Sr–1757-1835,” by Helen Patrick Leedom.[3] The lineage given in the DAR magazine is different from what I have from Jason Adamson. I have followed here the lineage given by the DAR since Mr. Adamson’s charts and correspondence were not always easy to follow.

Among the facts about Conrad Rush listed in that article were that he:

• registered an “ear mark” in 1781 in Hunterdon Co NJ
• “went west”[4]
• was listed in the 1790 census for Bedford Co PA, p 19, Conrad Rush: 1/4/2
• appeared in tax lists, Bedford Co PA, 1788, 1789, 1792, 1795[5]

The American ancestry of Conrad Rush begins with John Rush, the “Old Trooper,” and his wife, Susannah Lucas, Quakers who immigrated from England to Byberry, Pennsylvania, in 1683. Their descendants were listed in the October 1893 issue of The Pennsylvania Magazine.[6] The article starts with an editor’s note, as follows:

[The following genealogy is taken from a chart presented to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in 1880, by Robert Bethell Browne, of Jeansville, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, it being a copy of a record compiled by General James Irvine in the year 1800, and placed by him in the family Bible of his cousin, Frances Bethell, mother of R. B. Browne, A few additional notes are now added. – Ed.]

The article does not include our Conrad Rush. But of interest here is this lineage:

1. John Rush, “John Rush, third son of John and Susannah, married and had issue:
2. John, m. –.
3. Thomas, m. –.

…

1. [sic] John Rush³ (John², John¹) married Sarah —–, and had issue:

[among others]

1. William, b. February 26, 1708.[7]

…

The article did not continue the line of William Rush. This man is generally stated to have been the father of Conrad Rush and other Rushes in New Jersey.

A query appeared in the Somerset County, New Jersey Quarterly, and is here copied in full:

Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Volume 6 (1917), 79-80.

“Department of Notes and Queries”

[137]. Rush—“There were probably a number of brothers of the Rush family who settled in Somerset co. [New Jersey] about 1740, one of whom was named William Rush, who according to the genealogy kept by the descendants of his son, Jacob Rush, a soldier in the Revolution, was b. in or near Philadelphia in 1727, and d. in 1800. He m. Elizabeth Ream in 1751. The descendant of another family by the name of Jacob Rush states that he was b. at Lamington, Somerset co., N.J., Jan. 11, 1757, and, in his affidavit for pension on file in the Pension Office, states that his father’s name was Conrad Rush. Another, by the name of ______ Rush, brother to William above mentioned, settled in Bedminster twsp. About 1740, and neither his name nor that of his wife are [sic] so far known. The children by his first wife were Koon, George, John and Jacob. George was a soldier in the Third Troop, First Regiment, Dragoons, Continental Army, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Henry Lee, of Virginia. He enlisted as a private Apr. 12, 1778, was promoted corporal Arp. 1, 1779, and d. in 1782. He was buried in Somerset Co., N.J., and letters of administration were taken out by his half-brother, Michael Rush, Dec. 14, 1796.

“According to the family history by Matthias Rush, 1899, John Rush also served in the Revolutionary War, and possibly Jacob Rush. The children of this _______ Rush, by the second wife, whose name is also unknown, were Michael, William, Edward, Peter and Daniel. Michael, the oldest of these children, my great-grandfather, was b. in 1747 in Bedminster twsp. He was in the Revolutionary War three months and a half, as shown by his affidavit in the pension papers of William Rush, his brother. He was a Presbyterian. William Ruch, the next oldest, was b. in Bedminster twsp. In 1750. He was a Quaker and later, a Presbyterian; served in the Revolution as a sergeant for about two years. He drew a pension at the time of his death, April 1846, in Morris twsp., Greene co., Pa. He lived at that time with my grandfather, Michael Rush, aged 91 years. As to the other brothers, Edward was known as the ‘American dwarf;’ and Peter may have been a soldier in the Revolutionary War as a person by that name appears on the rolls from Somerset co.

“In the ‘Journals of Andrew Johnston,’ as published in the Quarterly, I find that ‘Peter Rush’ was a landownder in Somerset as early as 1753 on what was known as ‘Rush’s lot.’ It is related of Michael Rush that he m. a Miss Bissett, and in the ‘Journals’ above referred to it is stated that the Bissett family lived on a farm near the farm of Peter Rush. The Bissetts, who were brothers of Michael Rush’s wife also migrated to western Pa., and are said to have been of Scotch-Irish descent.”

S.R.R. (Omaha, Neb.)

[The oldest Rush in Somerset co. as to whom we have found any data, was Peter Rush, Sr., of Bedminster twsp., who subscribed £1 in 1756 toward building St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at Pluckemin. This man we believe to have been a brother to William Rush and the father of Michael, etc. Most of this Rush family seems to have left the county soon after the Revolution, and as there is neither a will nor letters of administration on the estate of Peter, as shown by the records at Trenton, he may also have left the State when an old man. Some members of the Rush family, however, remained in Bedminster and Bernards twsp. until a very recent period and may be there still.—Editor Quarterly].

Further information on his descendants in my Working Notes on Our Rush Ancestry, 1989.

Fred Lathrop, “Hunterdon Co, NJ, Inhabitants 1700-1800.” Conrad Rush, m. 1750 Lemington, Somerset, NJ to Johanna…, b. 1739 Byberry, Philadelphia, PA.

Issue:

1. Maria Rush, b. 1755 Oldwick, Hunterdon Co, NJ, d. 1793 Somerset Co, PA.
2. Jacob Rush, b. 11 Jan 1757, at Lemington, Somerset Co, NJ;

1781 moved to Bethlehem, Hunterdon, NJ, 1801 > Warren Co, NJ,

1. 4 Mar 1835 Warren, NJ. m. 21 May 1780 Sussex, NJ to Margaretha Sinkler.

Jason Adamson wrote me that Conrad’s wife’s name was Johanna, but I have never seen this anywhere else, until recently at Ancestry.com, and I have seen a different Conrad married to a Susanna in the same era but a different place.

Since Adamson wrote me her name was Johanna, I added notes that she might have been the Susanna Schoenbach, who married a Conrad Rush; and now a dozen or more gedcoms at Ancestry.com call her Johanna Susanna! Blame me. Let’s go back to Johanna, since the Conrad who married Susanna left a will with no daughter Maria.

Sylvester R. Rush, Historical and Genealogical Account of the Rush Family, Omaha: Festner Printing Co, 1925 (http://www.members.tripod.com/~lolson/syl-rush.htm)

“The following are not accounted for in other lines of descent and are believed to be the issue of William Rush: 17. Peter, m. and had issue. 18. William, b. 1727; d. 1800; m. and had issue. There were no doubt other children; Michael Rush of Burlington County, N. J.; d. 1808; John Rush of Somerset and Washington Counties, Pa., and Conrad Rush of Somerset County, N.J., are believed to be of his issue…

“CONRAD RUSH, Lemington, Bedminister Twp., Somerset Co., N.J., (believed to be a brother of Peter Rush, 17, Part I). Issue:

“Jacob Rush, b. Jan. 11, 1757, at Lemington, Bedminister Twp., N.J., migrated to Roxbury Twp., Morris Co., N.J., and thence to Warren Co., Pa.; a soldier in the Revolution; m. May 21, 1780; no children mentioned. States his father’s name in application for pension.

“William Rush, soldier in Revolution; Jersey line; m. Jean Rush, Bedford Co., Pa., Apr. 11, 1791; d. in Jefferson Twp., Greene Co. Pa.”

I have DNA matches to descendants of these Rushes:

• Now_What                    ConradRush>JacobW>JacobJ>PeterJ>>>> [6c1r] (10.2/1)
• George Milligan           ConradRush>Jacob>Wm>WmP>>>> [5c2r] (6.6/1)
• Readsewmuch             William Rush>Wm>Sarah>Maryan Sloan>>>> [7c1r] (8.8/1)
• DP(jodiblacksnook)    JohnRush>Wm>James>Anne>>>> [5c1r] (61/4)
• Hearditnow                   JohnRush>Wm>James>Joseph>>>> (10.1/1)
• DL(danraylewis)          JohnRush>Susannah>ThomasHart>Heth>>>> (8.3/1)

Genforum, posted by Susan Voelkel: I have discovered that there were two men named Conrad Rush in Philadelphia in the 1750s-1770s. They were mixed up in the DAR records and have caused confusion ever since. My Conrad Rush was probably named Rosch (with umlaut), arrived in Philadelphia 10-4-1752, married Susanna Schoenbach on 5-10-1759 in St. Michael’s & Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. The will of “Conrad Roush”, proven 12-3-1779, named wife Susanna, son Daniel, daughter Elizabeth, and stepchildren Peter and Magdalena. In 1796, this will was referenced in a deed where Elizabeth (now married to Frederick Teese) deeded her part of the property to her brother Daniel Rush. Conrad’s stepdaughter Magdalena Schoenbach married Christian Schutz/Sheetz, so I think it’s likely that the Daniel Rush who married Susanna Sheetz is the same person as Conrad’s son Daniel.

[1] Ancestry.com. Rush & Skinner families of Lower Turkeyfoot [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Rush, Harry S.. [Rush & Skinner families of Lower Turkeyfoot]. Fargo, N.D.: unknown, 1943.

[1] Charles Ross Shultz, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Michael Shultz. Privately published, 1943.

[2] GoogleBooks identifies this as Jason Adamson, Rush Genealogy: Captain Peter Rush of Pa., and His Descendants, with Notes on Dr. Benjamin Rush, ca 1965, publisher not identified.

[3] DAR Magazine, April 1969, p. 389ff.

[4] Leedom, op. cit.

[5] Letter from Jason Adamson (1483 Berkeley Av, Turlock CA), to Kathy Alvis, 27 Jan 1967. I corresponded with Mr. Adamson several times but only retain the first page of his first letter to me, plus the Jesse Alvis papers he ordered for me from the National Archives.

[6] “The Descendants of John Rush,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 17, pages 325-335.

[7] Other sources give the year 1703, with the statement that since his parents were married in 1707, the date was either mistaken or poorly written.

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