Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Harshbarger line: Brick walls 3

Here is my final list for the Harshbarger brick walls I have.  Please note, these lists are not exhaustive.  I am listing the people that I have at least some little tidbit of information, something that gives me hope that with some additional clue, they can be found.

One of my thickest folders is for Barbara N Long.  She married Benjamin Buchtel in Summit County, Ohio in 1844.  Her birth date is given as 1826, in Georgetown,  Clermont or Brown County, Ohio, but I'm not sure that is accurate. I've seen no documentation, and it doesn't make sense to me yet.  The only other nugget I have is that someone named Susan Long was living in the household in 1850 in Portage County, Ohio.  She was 76 years old and Barbara was 24 at the time, so Susan was likely too old to be Barbara's mother.  She may have been an aunt or other relation, however.  She and Benjamin had eight children, so it seems that some other descendant should be looking for her, and possibly even knows who she is! 

Catherine Whetstone is another mystery that should be solvable.  She was born in Berks County, Pa, according to her will, and I have a birth date of December 27,1798.  She married Henry Cook probably before 1817 in Pennsylvania (son William was born there in 1817) and by 1819 they were in Ohio, where son Joseph was born.  They migrated to Whitley County, Indiana sometime before 1850, where Henry died in 1861.  Catherine did not remarry, and lived a long life, dying in 1887.  They had 9 children together.  Again, someone, with these clues, should have one more clue that will help us locate this lady.  There were several Whetstones (Wetstein is another spelling for the same family) in Berks County in 1798, but I haven't located any birth records yet.  Of course, it's possible that Catherine's name was something more like Maria or Anna Catherina, but I haven't located her under those names, either.

Next is Joseph Withers.  He was born about 1804 in Pennsylvania and married Mary Gearhart in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1832.  He was in Marion County, Iowa in 1850 with Mary and a family of eight children.  I am not sure that this is the same Joseph Withers, but a Joseph Withers married Ann Montgomery in 1852 in Richland County, Ohio.  She would have been considerably younger than he was.  I have not been able to locate divorce records, or death records for Mary, so I am left wondering.  I have a gut feeling that he is a grandson or possibly great grandson of Augustin Withers or Widders, but have not been able to make a connection.  I'd love to learn whether I'm right or wrong about that!

Finally, we leave our German-American family and go to Virginia to discuss William Wyatt.  No one seems to know who he was, but he was born about 1627 in England, and may have married a woman named Ann.  He was a captain (and later a major in the militia in Virginia, so he had some degree of responsibility or respect. He was here by 1653, when he was granted head rights of 400 acres of land for transporting eight people, including himself.  Many people would like to know who he was, and whether/how he was related to Francis Wyatt, the first royal governor of Virginia, and I'm one of those people! 

These are the people who are my brick walls for the Harshbarger family.  I hope maybe these short summaries will trigger an email to me because I'd love to hear from other family historians for these people.  My email is happygenealogydancingATgmailDOTcom. (Substitute normal punctuation for AT and DOT.)  New information will certainly require a Happy Genealogy Dance!

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