Harshbarger line: Johan George Harter 1778-1844 Not ours!!

 I was all set to write this blog post about Johan George Harter, born August 22, 1778 in Frederick, Maryland, to George and Mary Magdalena Kitterman Harter.  I'm still going to write about him, but more as a plea for help than as a statement of facts.  

I do know a bit about George.  What I don't know is whether the George Harter who married Elizabeth Geiger in Licking County, Ohio in 1825 and went on to Whitley County, Indiana is the son of the George I'm writing about here.  I haven't found proof, I guess, of that father-son relationship.  

Here's what I think I know about the George who was born in 1778.  He was baptized in St Peter's Lutheran Church (now Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church) at Woodsboro, Maryland, and was one of at least 10 children in the home.  He married Mary M Miller on March 13, 1798 in Franklin County, Virginia, and owned bought, and sold land in Franklin County from 1803 to 1806.

By 1810 he and his family were in German Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, where he stayed until his death, which is given as May 13, 1844.  I found a will for a George Harter of Montgomery County but it carries an 1842 date of death.  It mentions several sons but not George who married in Licking County, although it does say he had already given other sons and daughters their share of the estate.  So the question is, was George of Whitley County, Indiana, the son of this George?

George of Whitley County was born September 22, 1795, in Rockingham County, Virginia.  This brings up several questions.  Why was George, born in Maryland, and presumably with a stop in Rockingham County, in Franklin County, which is considerably south of Rockingham?  And equally puzzling, how did George become a father in 1795 when he didn't marry until 1798?  At the very least, we seem to have a wrong mother for George of Whitley County, and possibly a wrong father.  Or is the birth date and loction for George of Whitley County incorrect?

Adding more questions: How did George of Whitley County get to Licking County, where he married his wife Elizabeth Geiger in 1825?  He would have been in his early teenaged years when his parents, if they were his parents, moved to Montgomery County, Ohio, from Virginia, and I don't see a logical migration path where they would have just dropped off their fourteen year old son.  

I thought I had this line pretty well wrapped up but as you can see, I need more.  I need explanations.  I need documents tying the two George's together.  I need help!!

The supposed line of descent, which I'm not at all sure I trust, is:

Johan George Harter-Mary M Miller

George Harter-Elizabeth Geiger

John Harter-Mary Bennett

Clara Ellen Harter-Emmanuel Harshbarger

Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

Their descendants

Update:  Further research is leading me to the conclusion that this is not our line.  I've found undocumented reports that make much more sense, tying the George who married Elizabeth Geiger to George Harter born 1770-1835 Licking County, Ohio, and tying this George to a George who died in Rockingham County, Virginia in 1806.  I'm off to do more research on that line now.

I am going to leave this post up on the off chance it will help someone either avoid the same error I've made, or give a descendant of the George of Montgomery County Ohio and Franklin County Virginia some help.