Conrad, Germano João Frederico (1887–1960)

Germano João Frederico Conrad, canvasser, evangelist, and administrator, was born April 9, 1887, in Campos dos Quevedos, in the municipality of São Lourenço do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul.¹ His parents, Hermann and Wilhermina Conrad, were Germans and lived in Stetin, capital of Western Pomerania (current Poland). After serving the German army in Kaiserhof, at the time when Otto von Bismark was chancellor, and participating in the Franco-German War (1870-1871), Hermann was traumatized by the war experience and immigrated with his family to Brazil.² When they arrived in the country in the 1870s through Rio Grande port, in Rio Grande do Sul, they went to Picada Feliz, in the same state, where they started living. Together, they had eight children: Carlos, Guilherme, Augusto, Emílio, Emília, Maria, Frederica, and Germano.³

Between 1902 and 1904, Adventist canvassers arrived for the first time in the area of Campos de Quevedos and Picada Feliz, starting with Henrique Berg. Later, between 1903 and 1904, Augusto Brack and Artur Schwantes⁴ were canvassers. Germano Conrad converted to Adventism when he was 15 years old as a result of the Bible studies given by the canvassers. After his conversion he was expelled from his house because of his father’s religious intolerance, so he started canvassing himself.⁵

He also worked for some time at the Adventist printing press in Taquari, Rio Grande do Sul, assisting Leopoldo Preuss in printing the missionary magazine O Arauto da Verdade (The Herald of Truth), which had 16 pages and was printed by a manual printing machine. Although traveling, Germano continued as a member of the church of Campos dos Quevedos until November 1909, when he transferred to another church. In 1911 he received a credential that identified him as “Evangelist Canvasser” from the Rio Grande do Sul Conference.

Together with Emílio Froemming, Germano canvassed in Barra do Pirahy and in other cities that were near the railroads in Rio de Janeiro. Then they went to the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, where they were successful in their work with Methodists who, according to the canvassers, “proved to be good friends of the Adventists and bought a lot of literature.” From there they went to Leopoldina, Minas Gerais, where they canvassed in another nine cities in the same state.⁶

Germano Conrad married Emília Joanna Carolina Beskow on May 22, 1912, in the district of Cerrito Alegre.⁷ Emília was born into a German family that immigrated to Brazil.⁸ Together they had six children: Willy Conrado, Irma Conrado Weidle (1914-1999), Waldemar Emanuel Conrado, Lídia Conrado Siqueira, Hugo Ernesto Conrado, and Naor Germano Conrado.⁹

After his wedding in 1912, Germano Conrad was appointed as the first director of canvassing and also as a missionary in the former São Paulo Mission, that covered the whole São Paulo state.¹⁰ In 1914 Germano was part of an evangelistic campaign carried out in Santo Amaro, São Paulo, that resulted in the establishment of the Adventist church in the old Santo Amaro Village. In 1915 he accompanied the delegation of pastors that inspected the land located nine kilometers away from Santo Amaro that would be bought to the establish Brazil College.¹¹ Also in 1915, he left São Paulo Mission¹² and went with his family to Brazil College, where they lived for two years. After this they moved to Juiz de Fora, where he went to work in the office of the former Minas Gerais Mission. There, around 1917, Conrad worked in the position of director of canvassing.¹³

Later the Conrad family moved to the city of Itajaí, Santa Catarina, where Germano started to dedicate more time to pastoring, although he was never an ordained minister. He worked for the Paraná Mission,¹⁴ and during his stay in that state, he contracted malaria, so he had to sell his own furniture to afford the treatment. Due to regular bouts of malaria, Germano needed to retire before the end of the 1920s. However, he continued working until the end of his life, but with less intensity.¹⁵ He served as a worker in the Santa Catarina Conference from 1920 to 1923.¹⁶ In 1924 and 1925 he worked at the West Minas Gerais Mission.¹⁷

After his retirement, he continued visiting groups in the countryside, leading weeks of prayer and revival, and holding baptismal classes. Then he moved to Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo.¹⁸ Germano and his family were the only Adventists in the city, and this concerned him. Seeking to change this scenario, Germano went to the city of São Paulo in 1932 to request Pastor Enis Moore, resident of São Paulo Conference, to send an evangelist to Mogi das Cruzes. Pastor Moore accepted his suggestion and quickly sent Pastor Jerônimo Garcia.¹⁹ The series of meetings were successful and the auditorium was full every night. An Adventist church was established. After the end of the series, Germano Conrad continued to work with those who were interested and organized the construction of the church.²⁰

In September 1941 he moved with his family to the state of Paraná and lived near the newly-founded Educandário Adventista de Butiá (Butiá Adventist School) so two of his children, Hugo and Naor, could study there. During the period he lived there, he traveled to the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, participating in Ingathering campaigns, building churches, and preaching.²¹

At the end of 1950, Germano and Emília were invited to direct the Elderly Home near Brazil College. The couple accepted the invitation and worked there until the middle of 1955, when they moved to the city of Penha, Santa Catarina, where they built a seafront house. Germano lived there until his death on November 22, 1960, in Prainha, Penha,²² the city where he was buried.²³

Germano João Frederico Conrad left an important legacy to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He served the church for 58 years, being one of the first Adventists born in Brazil to take up canvassing.²⁴ He was also the first director of canvassing for the São Paulo Mission, administrator of Brazil College, and missionary in Curitiba, Juiz de Fora, Varginha, Mogi das Cruzes, Butiá, Rio Negro, Itajaí, and in other Brazilian cities.²⁵ Germano also helped to found Petrópolis Adventist Academy, in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro.²⁶ He was the first canvasser to work in Minas Gerais, and the first converts of that state accepted the Adventist message through his work.²⁷

Sources

Appendix C. In: Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC). Shelf 2. Rack 13. Folder “Conrad, Germano João Frederico.” Accessed March 21, 2018.

Conrad, Germano João Frederico – Enciclopédia ASD. In: Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC. Shelf 2. Rack 13. Folder “Conrad, Germano João Frederico.” Accessed March 21, 2018.

Death Certificate (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC).

“Emília Beskow Conrado,” Revista Adventista, year 75, no. 7, July 1980, 28. Accessed March 22, 2016, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

“Germano Conrado (1887-1960).” In: Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC. Shelf 2. Rack 13. Folder “Conrad, Germano João Conrad.” Accessed March 21, 2018.

Marriage Certificate (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC).

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1916. Accessed March 22, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/YB1916.pdf.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1918, 1921, 1924-1926. Accessed March 22, 2018. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Siegfried Hoffmann. “Fim da Jornada,” Revista Adventista, year 56, no. 2, February 1961, 37. Accessed March 22, 2016, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

Notes

1. “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” in Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC, Shelf 2. Rack 13. Folder “Conrad, Germano João Conrad,” page 1; Death Certificate (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC).↩

2. Appendix C (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC), 115; Marriage Certificate (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC).↩

3. Appendix C, 115-116.↩

4. Ibid., 116.↩

5. “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” 1.↩

6. Appendix C, 117.↩

7. Marriage Certificate; Appendix C, 118.↩

8. Appendix C, 118; “Emília Beskow Conrado,” Revista Adventista, year 75, no. 7, July 1980, 28; “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” 2.↩

9. “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” 7; Appendix C, 118.↩

10. Appendix C, 118-119; Siegfried Hoffmann, “Fim da Jornada,” Revista Adventista, year 56, no. 2, February 1961, 37.↩

11. Appendix C, 119.↩

12. “São Paulo Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1916), 155.↩

13. Appendix C, 119.↩

14. Ibid., 120; “Parana Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1918), 170; “Conrad, Germano João Frederico,” Enciclopédia ASD (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC), 281.↩

15. Appendix C, 120.↩

16. “Santa Catharina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1921), 124; “Santa Catharina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1924), 153.↩

17. “West Minas Geraes Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1925), 164; “West Minas Geraes Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926), 179.↩

18. Appendix C, 120.↩

19. Ibid.; A. G. Ana, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1984), 67.↩

20. Appendix C, 120.↩

21. Ibid., 120-121; “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” 4-5.↩

22. Appendix C, 121; “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” 6.↩

23. “Conrad, Germano João Frederico,” 280-281.↩

24. Appendix C, 115.↩

25. “Germano Conrado (1887-1960),” 6; “Conrad, Germano João Frederico,” 280-281.↩

26. Appendix C, 121.↩

27. “Conrad, Germano João Frederico,” 280; Hoffmann, 37.↩