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.