Conrad Hawk (Haag) was born in Germany, and while still a child, came to America with his father in 1748.  He married his wife Sarah in about 1759.  With the growth of the families and the shrinkage of available land in Lehigh Township,  word of the "New Purchase" by Penn, located west of the Allegheny mountains, inspired the younger family members to seek this new land.   Conrad, along with his brother-in-law, arrived at the land office to file their claim in March 1770.  Conrad's claim was on Brush Creek, Hempfield Township, Cumberland County.  He constructed a cabin and returned to Lehigh Township.  In the spring of 1771, Conrad and Sarah, their children, along with George and Catherine Haag, departed Northampton County for this new land.

In the early spring of 1774, Conrad took his family and his parents to the eastern side of the mountains.  Their absence from all church records in Westmoreland County for the next three years authenticates this move.  No doubt Conrad visited his sister, Catherine Best and her husband William, and influenced their later move to Westmoreland County by informing them that the farm adjacent to his was to be sold the following year for back taxes.  Conrad returned to Westmoreland County later that spring with supplies for his farm, his neighbors, and for Ft. Allen, which was under construction.  For this return trip across the mountains, he hauled his freight in a Conestoga wagon built in Lancaster County, and by so doing, made history.   To quote from the Western Pennsylvania History Magazine, Vol. VI, page 139:   "These pack horses streamed over the mountains in endless cavalcades, but in 1774, Conrad Hawk drove a wagon over the mountains, and this event also marked a significant milestone in early transportation in the Monongahela river valley."

Conrad and Elizabeth were strong supporters of the Lutheran faith and church records show that they took communion every year from 1802 through 1814.