The family of James Allen 1769-1820

 I've been writing these "family of" posts for several months now, and this is the first family I've come across with only one of the children fairly well documented on line.  The other children were mysteries when I started preparing this post.  I have found a little about some of them and want to get this information out there, in it's current state of being unfinished, because we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  I hope to find some new cousins by doing this, or at least leave bread crumbs that someone else can follow.  My information for this post comes from James's will in Mercer County, Kentucky, census records of Mercer county, and a book of Mercer County marriages found on Internet Archives.

James Allen, son of James and Sarah Crowdas Allen, was born in Goochland County, Virginia in 1769.  He married Tabath or Tabitha Parrish, daughter of Moses and Mary Hill Parrish, on October 19, 1775 in Goochland County.  I am not sure when the couple moved to Mercer County, Kentucky, but they were in Mercer County in the 1810 census, and their last son states on later census that his birthplace was Kentucky.  James still was paying taxes in 1815 in Virginia, and if he had rented this land to someone, he would have had a source of income while settling into his Kentucky home.  James may not have owned any land when he died, as he gave directions in his will that his land in Virginia be sold for the benefit of his wife and that personal property both in Virginia and Kentucky be sold and used for the benefit of his children. 

I don't know the birth order of the children, so I will mention them in the order of the will, except the daughter was listed last, and she is already married.  So she clearly belongs earlier in the list, and she was probably either the first or second barn.  I've placed her as the second born but that may not be correct.  According to the 1810 census, there was were five males under the age of 10, one 10-16, one female 10-16, and a male and female each in the 26-45 year category. 

James is listed first in the will.  He was James P (perhaps for Parrish?), and he was married to Jane Glazebrook on September 28, 1824.  Either a Yancy or a Nancy Glazebrook gave permission, but I haven't been able yet to trace the Glazebrook family.  On the 1850 census, the following are probably their children: Robert, Tabitha, Joseph, Charles, Jane, James, and possibly another Jane, or possibly this is a different name (the writing is hard to read).  There may be other children, also, for there is an 8 year gap between Robert and Tabitha, and those children, if any, would have been old enough to possibly be out on their own.  Tabitha Allen, aged 76, is also a member of the household.  This would be James's mother.  I haven't found her in the 1860 census, so she may have died during this time.  

Eliza was born about 1800, and at the time James wrote his will in 1820, she was Eliza Vandavier, according to the spelling in the will. Eliza Vandevere is found in the 1850 census in district one of Mercer County, with five presumed daughters living with her-Mary, Ellen, Justina, Nancy, and Elizabeth.  Mary is 32 and Elizabeth is 18, with Justina being the youngest at the age of 5.  So her husband, as yet unidentified, may have died sometime after 1844, or this being 1850, it's possible that he was in California.  Also, it may be that Mary was not a daughter to Eliza, because James in his 1820 will uses the phrase "making her children equal if she should have any". Perhaps Mary was a step-daughter.  There is also the possibility that Justine is Mary's daughter, which would make sense if the Eliza Vandovier in the 1840 census is also our Eliza.  Husband may have died prior to the 1840 census.  In the 1840 census, is one male 16-19, three females 10-14, three aged 15-19, and Eliza, aged 40-49. Interestingly, there is a Henry "Vaneliver" in the 1830 census, just three names below that of Tabitha Allen, whose family includes a female of the right age to be Eliza, and includes one male aged 5-9, two females 5-9, and 3 females 10-14, indicating that Henry and wife, possibly Eliza, had been married at least 10 years.  Henry is single in the 1840 census, so it's possible that there was a separation or divorce. Clearly more research is needed. 

Isaac Allen is the next son.  I am not sure I have located him at all, until 1850, when he is living in the household of William Allen.  The census shows him as being seven years older than William, his presumed brother.  Where was he prior to this?

Moses is the next son mentioned in the will.  I've found him in the 1830 census, in Perryville, Mercer County. with a wife and one son under the age of 5.  I have not found him in Mercer County after that date.  There is a man by that name, and aged 10 years, in Daviess County, Indiana in 1840 and again in 1850.  In 1850 he is 48, his wife is Lucinda, and presumed children are Benjamin, John, Mary, Hiram, Zeporah, Elizabeth, and Susan.  I do not know whether this is our Moses or not.  The only jarring note in the census is that he was born in Ohio (or someone thought he was), and I don't know that our Allen family was ever in Ohio.

John Allen is the next listed son.  I have found nothing I can positively identify as being our John.  There is a John Allen in Harrodsburg, Mercer County in the 1830 census, who is one of two males aged 20-29.  Also in the household is a male under the age of 5, a female 20-29, and, sadly, a male slave under the age of 10.  I have no idea whether this is our John or not, but the age and location make it a possible match.  There is a John who married Cynthia McAfee, daughter of John McAfee, on 10/16/1822, but again, I can't say for certain this is our John.  

William Allen is next.   Per the 1850 census he was 43 years old, and his wife was Ellen.  I found a William Allen who married Eleanor Robards on June 27, 1829.  Did she go by the name of Ellen?  J Robards is one of the witnesses to James's will, so there may or may not be a connection there.  At any rate, William's children in the 1850 census are James, Jesse, Sarah, and William.  As mentioned above, Isaac was also in the household at this time. There is a William Allen of the right age, single, in the 1870 census in Daviess County, Missouri.  That is where Archibald Allen was in 1870, so there is a good possibility that the two youngest sons of James and Tabitha ended up living near each other.

And finally, there is Archibald.  He was born about 1809, in Kentucky, and married Margaret J. Dunn, daughter of Lemuel and Sarah Campbell Dunn on March 12, 1834 in Mercer County.  Their known children are John, George, Robert, Harriet, Susan, and Sarah.  I will write more of this family in my next post.  

This post has a lot of suppositions, and may or may not be correct.  As mentioned earlier, my hope is that this will help some other Allen family members, and that someone will contact me at happygenealogydancingATgmailDOTcom with additional information.  

A side note: A James Allen from Mercer County fought with the Confederates in the Civil War.  William's son James would have been about 21 when the war began.  If the two James are the same, then Archibald's son George and William's son James, first cousins, would have been on opposite sides of the war.  We know George was at the battle of Perryville.  Was James? 

The family of James Allen 1735ish to 1801

 This is the line I care about most at the moment  Although I have many challenging ancestors still to locate, this one is still a mystery prior to his marriage to Sarah Cloudas/Crowdus/Crowder, daughter of George and possibly Susannah or possibly Mary Cloudas.  Actually, I've not even located marriage records for James and Sarah.  The first record I have is of the birth of their son, Richard, in 1755.  Most sites give James's birth as 1735 but I think it more likely that he was born earlier than that, in order to marry and have a child in 1755.  

This is also a difficult post to write because it is so incomplete.  I've managed to trace, I think, a few of the children and that is an ongoing project.  I hope that there will be someone who reads this post who knows more than I know and who will contact me so we can put our heads together on this.  Here is a listing of the children as far as I have been able to determine.

Richard was the first born, or the first born of whom we have record.  He married Elizabeth Richardson in 1781 in Fluvanna County, Virginia.  (Fluvanna was formed from Goochland County, which is where our earliest Allen records are found.)  Elizabeth may have been the daughter of Isham amd Mary Terrell Richardson, or she may have been the daughter of Green and Nancy Graves Richardson.  They were the parents of at least 10 children: James, Nancy, William, Richard, Martha (Patsy), George, Polly, Mahala, Joseph, and Mariah or Maria.  Based on naming patterns, I think it's more likely that Elizabeth's parents were Green and Nancy, but a will or deeds should be located to verify this.

Elizabeth Allen married Samuel John Woodard, son of John and Susannah Tilman Woodard. The spelling is also seen as Woodward, especially in that of their son David.  I've found two death dates for Elizabeth, one in 1789 and one in 1832.  If the later one is correct, Samuel's census shows a total of 8 children.  However, they could have been from a second wife.  More research to do!

I could find nothing about Susannah except that she was born in 1761 and died before 1818.  

Mary May was born in 1763.  She married Thomas Glass, whom I've been unable to trace.  The couple is known to have had one child, Catherine, but there may be others.

George was born in 1766 and married Nancy Clements.  All that I know about Nancy is that her mother's name was Sally and there was a Stephen Clements who was a witness at the wedding, along with William Allen.  Unfortunately, I've found no further records of him, and do not know whether he and Nancy had any children.

James was born in 1769.  He married Tabath or Tabitha Parrish, daughter of Moses and Mary Hill Parrish in 1795.  Their children are William, John, James, Eliza, Isaac, Moses, and Archibald.  I will write more of this family in my next post.

There are confusing claims about William.  Our William died in 1841 in Goochland County, so he is not the WIlliam who married Susannah E Echols and who died in Tennessee in 1833.  Our William married Lucy Graves, the daughter of John and possibly Lucinda Adams Graves.  Their children are Sarah, Martha, Elizabeth, Harriet, John, James, Richard, and Mathilda.  

Martha was born in 1775 and married Daneil Carrell or Cararoll.  He was the son of Booker Carroll.  Daniel has one daughter listed on the 1820 census, but I do not know whether this was Martha's daughter or not, nor do I know of any other children.

Sally was their last child, born April 4, 1777.  I have located nothing further of her, except that there was a Sally Allen who married Thomas Whitlock as his second wife, in Goochland County.  I haven't yet found anything to confirm or deny that this was our Sally.  

It troubles me that there are so many unknowns in this post.  I believe there are answers somewhere, whether in Goochland County or at the Library of Virginia, but until more information comes on line, or until I get better at researching, or until some unknown family member points me in the right direction, this is the best post I can write, as of February 14, 2023.

The family of Emmanuel Harshbarger

Emmanuel Harshbarger was the son of Lewis and Catherine Mentzer (Mancer or Manser in most records). His name was generally spelled with two "ems", as far as I can tell.  His gravestone shows only one, but that could have been either a mistake, or a decision by the family to save a bit of money.  He was born in Summit County, Ohio in 1854 but came to Whitley County, Indiana as a toddler and lived the rest of his life there, dying in 1928.  

Emmanuel was married to Clara Ellen Harter, the daughter of John and Mary Bennett Harter, on July 9, 1878.  Eight children were born to the marriage, but sadly, only four lived to adulthood.  As we will note, those children ended the tradition of having many children per couple.

Lewis, sometimes seen as Louis, was the first born, in 1879.  I know nothing more of him except that he died in 1892.  

Maude was born in 1881.  She married Simon Gardner, the son of David and Amanda Fisher Gardner.  They had one child together, Belle.  Simon also had a daughter outside of marriage.  Maude died in 1954.

Olive May was born and died in 1883.  

The couple then suffered the loss of another infant, Edward, who was born and died in 1885.  

Bertha was the next child, born in 1886.  She married Charles E Shepherd, the son of Alfred and Martha Knight Shepherd.  Their children were Helen, Arthur, and Kenneth.  Bertha died in 1934.

Grover Cleveland was born October 19, 1890.  He married Goldie Withers Hawn, the daughter of William and Della Kemery Withers on October 2, 1924.  Goldie had been married previously and had a son, Paul Hawn.  Grover and Goldie had one son, Cleveland.  I've written about Grover in a previous post. 

Then there were twins.  Lula Bell and Logan were born June 8, 1895.  Lula Bell died in 1899, but Logan lived until 1979.  He married Chestia Kemery, the daughter of Solomon and Catherine Shook Kemery, and they had two children, Robert and Edward.  I've written of the World War II service of each of those men in earlier posts.  

I did not realize until I started researching for this post that Chestia and Della Kemery were related.  Their mutual grandparents were Daniel and Susannah Essig Kemery.  Finding these family connections is fascinating to me, reminding me that there is always more to understand about the lives of our ancestors, and that they had bonds that aren't immediately apparent when researching just the ancestral line.  

Even though Emmanuel and Clara had just 7 grandchildren, this Harshbarger line continues for at least five more generations, at this point. 

The family of Lewis Harshbarger 1828-1875

Researching slightly more recent ancestors is interesting, because one would expect that there would be more records and documentation for these folks.  It ain't necessarily so!  Lewis Harshbarger is a case in point.  We know his parents, but finding his children, and grandchildren, has been more of a challenge.  I do not know if the list I've compiled is complete as to grandchildren, but I hope the list of children is complete.  

Lewis Harshbarger is the son of George and Mary Kepler Harshbarger.  He was born in Summit County, Ohio in either Pennsylvania or Summit County, Ohio, and he married Catherine Mancer (the rest of the family spelled it Mentzer, but Mancer is used in all the records I've found) on February 26, 1852 in Summit County, Ohio.  (Note: Many trees give his birthdate as 1838 but clearly a fourteen year old boy would not be marrying, so the 1828 date, per consistent census records, is what I'm using).  

The first of Lewis's children seem to have been born in Summit County, but Lewis and Catherine were in Union Township, Whitley County, Indiana by 1857.  Lewis may have come first to purchase land, in 1856. Some of the dates of the children's births are pretty nebulous, supported by dates on grave stones or from sources I can't determine, so the dates may be off by a year or more.

The first child born, in 1852, was Milo.  He married Nancy Virginia ("Ginny" or "Jennie") Bailey, the daughter of Johnson and Mary Ann Smith Riley.  Their known children are Catherine, Oscar, Josephine, and Blanche.  Milo died in 1919.

Next was son Emmanuel, born July 23, 1854.  He married Clara Ellen Harter, daughter of John and Mary Bennett Harter.  Their children are Bertha, Maude, Louis, Olive May, Edward, Grover, Lulu Bell, and Logan.  I will write more of this family in my next post.  

Lavina (sometimes seen as Vina, and even Laveda) was born about 1856.  She first married Hiram Gradeless, a marriage that ended in divorce.  I have found no children by that marriage.  She then married Christopher Judd, the son of Mahlon and Susan Bair Judd in 1882.  Their children are Lotta, Mary, Ruha Zona, Charles, and Elmer. Lavina died in 1917.

Matilda was born about 1857 or 1858.  She married Dr. John Salmon, the son of Benjamin and Betsy Havens Salmon, and they had one known child, Frank.  She died in 1888.

There is a gap here of about 7 years in children's birth dates.  We know there were two children, David and Samuel, who were born to the couple and who each died young, and their births and short lives would fit here, but I have no evidence.

 Henry was born October 13.1865.  He married Lula Belle Brubaker, daughter of William and Sarah Richey Brubaker. Their children are Goldie, Lewis, Franklin, Bessie, Dorothy, Dora, Mary, Gail, Forrest, and possibly one more.  

Cassie, probably short for Catherine but she was always known as Cassie, was born in 1869.  She married George F Bente.  Their children were Glenn, May Gladys, Glenn (again) and George F.  The first Glenn and George F. died as infants.  Cassie died in 1956.

Next was Merritt, who was born in 1868 and died in 1901.  He married Almetta Freels, the daughter of John and Lucinda Smith Freels.  Their children were Nina, Garret, Lavera, and Bernice.  

And finally, there was Mary, who was torn in 1872 and died in 1940.  She married Samuel Smith, the son of John and Wilholmina Slertsly Smith.  Samuel had five children by an earlier marriage, but I have found just one child for Mary, who was named Myrtle.  

Lewis and Catherine had at least 35 grandchildren, with Lewis dying too early to know any of them.  They must have been a joy to Catherine in her old age, however, as she lived until August of 1914.