A Revolutionary War Doctor & Politician: Dr. John Condict (1755-1834)

Congressional archives/sources  note Dr. John Condict , a doctor in the Revolutionary War, who later became a politician, serving in Congress for thirty years.

Here are some sources/ with info relating to John, the politician, who was the son of Samuel Condict/ and Smith, of SamuelCondict/Mary Dod, of Peter, of John the ancestor.  John's father, Samuel and grandfather are also documented as Condict in the New Jersey Historical Society archives, and in the Jemima Condict diary of 1752, specifically here: http://njahgp.genealogyvillage.com/death-records-from-an-okd-diary-1772-1778.html  that also names several other well noted New Jersey family ancestors, like Baldwin, Dod, & Harrison (also cited below with other colonial surnames).

Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the US Senate, by US Congress,(Washington: Duff Green, 1828), Forty-Ninth Congress at page 591, 586.

Public Documents of the Fourteenth Congress, 1789-1817, Papers Relating to Early Congressional Documents, by General A. W. Greely, (Washington, 1900), page 886 ; published for the 56th Congress.

He is indexed as Condit in the 1885/1916 Condit-authored/indexed genealogy books:  at pages 14- 20 of the 1916 "Genealogical Record of the Condit Family, Descendants of John Cunditt" by the Condit Family Association and authors, Jotham H. Condit and Eben Condit, linked to this blog.

Dr. John Condict was the great, great grandson of  John, the Norman ancestor, an immigrant from Wales to Newark, New Jersey, (1678), noted as "Condict" as early as 1738 in the New Jersey State Archives.

Dr. John Condict's lineage:  John the Norman ancestor (of the lines of Condits and Condicts), is noted in history with several surname spellings, including likely misspellings by others. But, the oldest surname, Condict,  is noted  noted for John, as early as 1695 in colonial documents in the State of New Jersey Archives: Colonial Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, 1738-1747, V. VI,  by William A. Whitehead, (Newark, NJ: 1882), at pages: 346-350: John Condict and other Horseneck/Horse Neck Rioters, Land Purchasers; also page 361, John Cunditt, 351, Jotham Condict, Index @ 478. And, at V. 15, in 1738, pages 53-533 where we see  John Candet and Canduct noted, and corrected by archivists to Condict for John the ancestor--John's great, great grandfather.

His surname is often spelled as Condit (without the 2nd "c") in some sources like the Condit authored/indexed genealogy books. The Condit authored/indexed genealogy books of 1885 & 1916 by its two Condit authors, Eben and Jotham, and their Condit Family Association, indexed nearly all descendants of John's great, great grandfather, John, as Condit (with the 2nd "c"), and said it was the accepted surname, although, it appears no Condicts were involved with the books.

 Other spelling variations of the surname (by others) also surface including: Cundit, Cundict & Cunditt, Candet, Caundet, Although many of John's family lines in later generations, adopted the Condit surname, some still carry on the ancestor's Condict surname even today.

John's grandfather's and great grandfather's memorial/ gravestone, was erected by the Honorable Silas Condict, some 50 years before the 1885 Condit-authored/indexed genealogy book was published.   John, the ancestor's memorial is found here :  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=condit&GSfn=john&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=7630383&df=all&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=condict&GSfn=john&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=12179447&df=all&
John's and his son, Peter Condict's, 200-year-old family gravestone/memorial, erected by Hon. Silas Condict) is found at Find A Grave.  The ancestor John is noted as Cunditt  in a 1709 will, according to the Condit genealogy book authors of the 1885/1916 genealogy books, who said John only signed with "his mark." the surname can be found as  Condit by those of the Condit lines in their books. As an immigrant to America, who likely arrived not knowing English-- being of Norman descent, likely others did not know how to spell his name, thus signing with a mark, while others spelled conflicting surnames within a single document. John's great, great grandfather's Norman Welch surname, based upon it Norman pronunciation? is evidenced by the surname spelling variations.

Please note, the New Jersey Historical Society-housed Revolutionary War diary of Jemima Condict Harrison (Major Aaron Harrison), and 1930 book transcript of the Jemima Condict Diary, titled" Jemima Condict, Her Book, Being a transcript of the diary of an Essex County maid during the Revolutionary War", Newark NJ: The Carteret Book Club, 1930,  reveals & documents  not just the Condict surname, but numerous colonial surnames, like:
Acorn, Baldwin, Bose, Brown,Burell, Canfield, Chapman,Crane, Dod, Freeman, Gold,Harrison, Hatfield, Jones, Lampson, Luis, Morris, Ogden,Pedesto,Pierson, Ready, Regs, Row, Smith, Soverel, Spear, Stage, Taylor, Tomkins, Ward, &Williams, including Jemima's uncle, Samuel Condict (Dr. John Condict's father), Jemima's grandfather, Samuel Condict & her father Daniel Condict.
The 1752 diary surnames  are shown here: http://njahgp.genealogyvillage.com/death-records-from-an-okd-diary-1772-1778.html ..     including: https://archive.org/details/newjerseyhistori09maga.

To change a historical name, even by one letter, like a "c" does matter, to family, and to the history of those who put it all on the line for our country. Preserving a Revolutionary War period surname is one's duty.  Unfortunately the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), have many,actually all 22  Revolutionary War patriots of this family lineage shown and listed as Condit. DAR librarians say they use Soundex, an algorithm for easy indexing, as the reason for the indexing of the  Condit name, other than the true, historical surname.  However, the DAR archives in Washington, D. C., seem to preserve the original surname of Condict (by those who joined long ago), even though it  does not appear in their new database for any of the  Condict  patriots of the Revolutionary War. When searching on DAR for Condict patriots, one can only find all 22 patriots as Condit.

Unfortunately, many on the internet, such  as family genealogists, continue to use the DAR database name of Condit (with DAR's flag logo) for all patriots, even though it is not historically accurate for many who served during the Revolutionary War.  This may change, but a search for the true spelling of the historical surname is not easy to locate as of the date of this post.