DUANE
Duane's take
The marker in Shackelford County tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, Frank Eben Conrad came into this world in 1842, born in Rockford, Illinois, to John and Mary Ann Conrad — she was a Brookbank before she married. His early years took a hard turn when both his parents died in Florida, and in 1854 the boy moved to San Antonio to live with family.
He found his footing as a store clerk, the kind of work that teaches a man patience and arithmetic — two things that would serve him very well down the road. Then the Civil War came, and Frank Conrad did what a great many young men did in those years: he enlisted, on the Confederate side. When it was over, he didn't drift or wander.
He set himself back to work, establishing a trading company all the way out at Fort McKavett in Menard County. That right there tells you something about the man's appetite for the frontier edge of things. Now here's where the story starts to stretch its legs.
In 1875, Conrad partnered with one Charles Rath — and if you knew the buffalo hide trade, you knew Charles Rath. The pair opened a store and hide yard near Fort Griffin, doing business under the name Conrad and Rath. That store sat right along the Great Western Trail and served as a provision point for buffalo hunters coming in off the plains and South Texas cattle herders pushing their herds north.
Whatever you needed out there — Conrad and Rath had it, or were working on getting it. By 1878 they moved the operation down onto the flat at Fort Griffin with a brand new store, and they were being advertised, at that point, as the largest stock supplier west of Fort Worth. Let that sit a moment.
West of Fort Worth. That's a lot of country, and apparently they were the ones supplying most of it. But the buffalo couldn't last.
The market declined sharply, as markets built on diminishing things tend to do. Now most men would've seen those empty plains and felt only loss. Frank Conrad looked out at all those bones left behind by the hunters and figured out how to sell those too.
The bones were ground into fertilizer, and Conrad profited from the transaction. The frontier buffalo trade ended. Frank Conrad did not end with it.
When Fort Griffin closed in 1881, Conrad moved south to Albany, opened a business, and eventually served as Shackelford County Commissioner. By the 1880s he and a new partner, John Bradley, had turned their attention heavily toward the sheep trade. And when Albany's wool market opened in 1887, F.E.
Conrad and Company came to the table with around 700,000 pounds of wool for sale. Seven hundred thousand pounds. That is not a man who did anything in a small way.
Conrad married twice. His first marriage was in 1872 to Davidella Ella McGavock, and he later married Rose Ella Matthews in 1881. He had one child with Davidella and five with Rose.
In 1891 Frank Conrad stepped back from the long grind of commerce and retired to his Chimney Creek Ranch right there in Shackelford County. He didn't get long to enjoy it. On May 4, 1892, he died at his Albany residence, and was buried in Albany Cemetery.
Store clerk to Confederate soldier, hide trader to bone merchant, wool dealer to county commissioner — Frank Conrad had a habit of finding the next thing before the last thing was even finished. Albany remembered him, and the marker makes sure the rest of us do too.
What the marker says
Frank Eben Conrad (1842-1892) was born in Rockford, Illinois, to John and Mary Ann (Brookbank) Conrad. After the death of his parents in Florida, he moved in 1854 to live with family in San Antonio. Conrad worked as a store clerk until the advent of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army. After the war, he established a trading company at Fort McKavett in Menard County. In 1875 Conrad partnered with Charles Rath, the notable frontier buffalo hide merchant. The pair opened a store and hide yard near Fort Griffin, under the name Conrad & Rath. The store was a provision point along the Great Western Trail for both buffalo hunters and South Texas cattle herders. In 1878 Conrad & Rath opened a new store on the flat at Fort Griffin. They were advertised as the largest stock supplier west of Fort Worth. When the buffalo market declined sharply, Conrad was able to profit from selling the vast quantities of bone left behind by hunters, which was ground into fertilizer. In 1881, with the closing of Fort Griffin, Conrad moved south to Albany, opened a business and eventually served as Shackleford County Commissioner. By the 1880s, he and his new business partner, John Bradley, were heavily involved in the sheep trade. When Albany's wool market opened in 1887, F.E. Conrad & Co. offered some 700,000 pounds of wool for sale. Conrad married twice: first in 1872 to Davidella Ella McGavock, and then to Rose Ella Matthews in 1881"with one child from Davidella and five from Rose. In 1891, Frank Conrad retired to his Chimney Creek Ranch in Shackleford County. He died at his Albany residence on May 4, 1892, and was buried in Albany Cemetery.