Harshbarger line: George Harter (Herder) m. Eva Bracker

We know so little about George that it seems useless to do a blog post about him.  I'm writing this because he does appear to be an immigrant, and because I frequently review my posts to see what else I need to learn about the subject of the post.

Johan George Harter (Herder, Herter) appears to have been born about 1730, probably somewhere in what is now Germany.   We are guessing at his date of birth because, thanks to the hard work of Robert Harter, we do know he was married on October 26, 1752 in what is now Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, to Eva Bracker, daughter of Christian Bracker.  Mr. Harter thinks it likely that Johann George had arrived on the ship Phoenix on September, 15, 1749, when he would have needed to be at least 16 years old to have migrated by himself.  Many men were married at about the age of 25 so if this was a first marriage then 1720-1730 is a likely time frame for his birth.  At least we know their religion-they were married at the St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Upper Saucon Township.  This was a German speaking church, and so supports our supposition that Johan George was of German descent.  Again according to Mr. Harter, there is a tradition that the family was from the area of Frankfort.

George and Eva's family grew quickly, although there are few known birth records.  By 1769, the family was in Frederick County, Maryland and at the St Peter's Lutheran Church there, they took communion with daughter Christina, who would have had to have been at least thirteen.  Christian and Johann (Johann George II) took communion with their parents three months later, and Adam and Frantz were confirmed around this time.  Jacob, Conrad, Magdalena and Elizabeth were confirmed in 1778, with ages of 18, 16, 14, and 16.  Dorothea was confirmed at age 14 in 1780. 

The family left Maryland about 1792 and moved on to Franklin County, Virginia, where it is believed that both Johan George and Eva died, probably in 1800.  Johan George would have been at least 60 by then, so it's possible he didn't own land there, but lived with one or another of the children. 

Robert Harter has much more information on the US gen web archives website for Frederick County, Md at files.usgwarchives.net/md/frederick/history/family/harter.txt  I encourage you to read his wonderful article, which in turn, is excerpted from his book, The Joh. Georg and Eva Harter family: 250 years in the U.S.  

The line of descent is:

Johan George Harter-Eva Bracker
George Harter-Mary Kitterman
Johan George Harter-Mary Miller
George Harter-Elizabeth Geiger
John Harter-Mary Bennett
Clara Harter-Emanuel Harshbarger
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants

Update July 31, 2021  Please disregard this post.  The George Harter who married Elizabeth Geiger is not the son of Johan George Harter and Mary Miller.