ERAD (originally Ehrhard), JOHANN BURGHARD, surgeon; b. c. 1695 in Eutingen (near Pforzheim, Federal Republic of Germany), son of a pastor; buried at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, 24 March 1757.

Aboard the Pearl, a ship carrying “foreign Protestants” to Halifax in 1751, were two former officers whom the British emigration agent, John Dick, described as mere “adventuriers,” in spite of recommendations they possessed from the margrave of Baden-Durlach. Both Johann Erad, 56, and Leonard Christian Rudolf, 40, seem to have had diversified and adventurous careers in various parts of Europe; Erad had been a surgeon in the French service for a long time. These two friends, who were amongst the handful able to pay their own passage, had agreed to emigrate together and were to become two of the outstanding personages of the community begun at Lunenburg in 1753.

Erad was appointed surgeon in Lunenburg that year by Governor Peregrine Thomas Hopson, as was Leonard Lockman who had come over with Governor Edward Cornwallis* in 1749. Erad was the senior of the two and the more highly paid. The territory was divided between them until Erad’s death in 1757 when his work was carried on by a young surgeon named John Phillips, who had been assisting Erad without salary or appointment.

Perhaps because of his military experience Erad was commissioned a captain in the Lunenburg militia regiment in 1753. At the time of the Lunenburg insurrection in December 1753 [see Pettrequin] he remained loyal to the government side and was one of two officers singled out by Charles Lawrence for having “distinguished themselves by their good behaviour in every particular during the Riot.” One of his daughters married another distinguished immigrant, Joseph Pernette, on whose behalf Erad superintended a merchandise business in Lunenburg, from 1754 to 1755.

Ronald Rompkey