The family of John Harter 1830-1902

One of the reasons I write these blog posts is to see what connections there might be among some of the different families I profile.  Another reason is to double check the information I have gathered, hoping to find new information or reasons to change my mind about one person or another.  I've accomplished all three goals in this blog post.  

John Harter was born in 1830, almost certainly in Licking County, Ohio, the son of George and Elizabeth Geiger Harter.  His parents moved to Whitley County, Indiana when John was just a boy.  John married Mary Bennett in 1851 in Whitley County, and they had a least six children together.  All of the children stayed in the general area from South Whitley eastward to Allen County, Indiana.  

I found serious confusion on various family trees about Harvey, their first born son.  He has been confused with a Harvey who stayed in Ohio and married Janette Harvey.  That is not our Harvey.  Ours was twice married.  His first wife, whom he married in 1873, was Sarah Gordon, the daughter of James and Catherine Harter Gordon.  (Yes, Catherine was a distant cousin, descended from the same George Harter that Harvey was from, several generations back.)  Sarah died in 1875, apparently without children.  In 1877, he married Laura Harshbarger, the daughter of John and Julia Snyder Harshbarger.  (Yes, Laura is a relative, the niece of Lewis and Catherine Mentzer Harshbarger, so there are at least two Harter-Harshbarger marriages that we know of as of now.)  Harvey and Laura had three daughters, Mamie, Naoma or Naomi, and Klessa, known as Dessie.  Harvey died in 1939.

Next was Sarah, born in 1854.  She married Anderson Gordon, who was the son of James and Catherine Harter Gordon mentioned above.  Their known children are Sanford, Alice, Amanda, Perry, Sarah, Mary, Bessie and Edward.  Sarah died in 1934.

Elizabeth was next, born in 1856.  She married Richard Claxton, the son of Isaac and Sarah Crow Claxton.  Their children are Harvey, Ira, Oren, Ella and Frances.  Elizabeth died in 1902.

Clara was the next daughter.  She married Emmanuel Harshbarger, the son of Lewis and Catherine Mentzer Harshbarger.  Their known children are Lewis, Maude, Olive, Edward, Bertha, Grover, Luke, and Logan.  I've written about this family previously.

Laura was born next, in 1858.  She is not shown in the 1860 census, nor the 1870 census, so she possibly died young.

Some trees show a Mary E born in 1859.  I believe this is incorrect.  She belongs to another Harter family, possibly the one in Ohio that I mentioned earlier.  If someone has information that shows otherwise, please contact me, as I don't want to overlook a family member if I can help it.

Finally, there is Henry Harter, born in 1859.  He was the "rebel" in the family, moving to Wabash County for at least some of his life.  He married Edith Jackson, the daughter of Myron and Elizabeth Gilbert Jackson.  Their children are Bessie, May, Olive, and Alice.  

The Harter family started out in Germany, came through Rockingham County, Virginia, Licking County, Ohio, and mostly settled in or near Whitley County, Indiana.  It would be fascinating to actually hear their stories, instead of just knowing the facts.

 

The family of George Harter 1801-1854

 George Harter, also seen as George Harter Jr., left a few more bread crumbs for us to follow.  He was born in 1801 in Rockingham County, Virginia and died in 1854 in Whitley County, Indiana.  His wife was Elizabeth Ann or Anna Geiger, the daughter of Anthony and Mary Kirk Geiger.  The couple had met and married in 1825 in Licking County, Ohio.

George and Elizabeth had at least six children together.  There may be more, because the first known child was not born until 1830.

John was the first son we have knowledge of.  He married Mary Bennett, the daughter of Solomon and Margaret Farmer Bennett, in 1851 in Whitley County, Indiana.  Their children are Harvey, Sarah, Elizabeth, Clara, Laura, Mary, and Henry.  I will follow this family in my next blog post.

Mary was born in 1832.  She married Ozias Boggs, the son of William and Susanna Mohr Boggs.  Their children are a bit hard to decipher on the various census records.  They were Owen or Orin, George, John, Laura or Flava (or something else!), Lewis, Ida, an infant son who was born and died in 1867. and Nemmea, seen as Nimmie.  Mary died in 1932.

Henry was next, born in 1834.  He married Mahala (Mary) Hill, the daughter of Adam and Elizabeth Crow Hill.  Their children are Sarah, Marie or Maria, Naoma or Naomi, Amelia, George, Charles, and Ethel.  Henry died in 1900,  

Anthony was born in in 1836 and married Susannah Catherine Boggs, the daughter of William and Susanna Mohr Boggs, another case of siblings marrying siblings.  Their children are Amanda, Laura, Joseph, Perry, Howard, and George.  Anthony died in 1909.

Elizabeth was born in 1838 and married James Jackson, the son of Lemuel and Mercy White Jackson.  James is a bit interesting because he was born in Maine, which is a bit different from the Ohio-Virginia-Pennsylvania locations of the families so far mentioned in the Harter line.  Their children are Sarah, Isaak, Isaiah, Samuel, Eleazor, Joseph, and Eldora (seen as Dora).  Lemuel died in 1880 and Elizabeth married William Hoverstock in 1893.  There were no children born to that marriage, as Elizabeth was 55 at the time of her second marriage.  She died in 1924.

Sarah was a surprise to me.  She is not noted in my previous blog post, because I did not know about her.  She was born in 1841 and married William Miller, the son of Daniel and Margaret Wolf Miller. Their children are George, Noah, Ella, Sarah, and Lewis (also seen as Louis).  Sarah died in 1909.

These children all lived in a tight geographic area of Noble, Whitley, and Allen Counties in Indiana.  Their children would have known a lot of cousins!  If my count is correct and complete, George and Elizabeth had 39 grandchildren.  They surely had an impact on their neighborhood! 

The family of George Harter 1772ish-1835

 I wish I knew more about this family.  George was likely born in Rockingham County, Virginia, the son of George Harter and possibly Eva Bracker.  (I'm not certain of this connection, but it's a possibility.) His wife is shown as Anna Elizabeth Geiger, but this may be confusion with a later George who married Elizabeth Geiger. Her name may better be recorded, for the time being, as Elizabeth unknown. George died in Burlington Township,Licking County, Ohio in 1835.  

George and Elizabeth had 10 children, and there is very limited information about them, with confusion about birth dates as is often the case for this time period.

Catherine was born about 1800.  She married Richard Holtsberry, the son of Nicholas and Catharine Corbus (?) Holtsberry.  Their known children are Martha, John Nicholas, Gabriel, Harvey, and Mary.   

George was born September 21, 1801.  He married Anna Elizabeth Geiger, daughter of Anthony and Mary Kirk Geiger.  Their children are John, Mary, Henry, Anthony, Elizabeth, and Sarah Ann.  He died in Whitley County, Indiana in 1854, and I will follow this family in a future post.

John Harter was born May 25, 1803.  He married Mary Bower, who remains unidentified.  Their children are Benjamin, William, Harvey, Margaret, Henry, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Catherine.  He died in 1871 in Smith Township, Whitley County, Indiana.

Susannah was born about 1807 and married John Geiger, the son of Anthony and Mary Kirk Geiger.  Sadly, they were married about two years when she died.  I've found no record of children born to them.

Frances Harter is also thought to have been born about 1807.  She married James Holtsberry, the son of Nicholas and Catharine Corbus (?) Holtsberry.  Their children are Catherine, John, Martha, Isaac, Solomon, William, Christenia and Mary Ann.  She died in Licking County, date not known.

Isaac Harter, birth date not known, married Sally Holtsberry.  This was the third Harter-Holtsberry marriage, as Sally was also the daughter of Nicholas and Catharine Corbus (?) Holtsberry.  I have not been able to trace Isaac and would love to know details of his life.

Charlotte was another daughter.  She married Presley Trumbo and probably died before 1850.  They had at least one child, Matthias.

Gabriel Harter is said to have married Edy Boners.  I have no further information about him.

Finally, there is Christian, who is believed to have married a Catherine.  

I don't know why there is so little information about some of these last Harters.  I am not locating any in of them in the 1850 census, anywhere in the country.  There was a terrible cholera epidemic in 1833-1834.  Did they die then, or later?  More research needs to be done, to complete the story of this family.

 

A very short post about Eli Martin, 1841-??

 Who, you might ask, is Eli Martin?  I'm asking the same question.  Usual on line sources are not giving me very many answers.  So, if he's not a direct ancestor, and I don't know much about him, why am I writing this blog post?  The answer is simple, to my mind.  He served in the Civil War.  He was in the same unit as his brother in law, David Wise, and David's brother, Philip Wise.  All three men are from Lagro, a very small town in Wabash County, Indiana.  Eli served with the other two men in the 123rd Indiana Infantry, company I.  He was drafted in 1864 and discharged in Louisville, Kentucky in 1865, having served about 9 months.  This was long enough that he filed for disability benefits in 1890.  I would love to have the genealogy dollars to order his pension file, because that might shed some light on some of the many unanswered questions I have. 

I briefly mentioned Eli in the recent blog post about the family of Andrew Wise, because Eli, the son of Timothy and Hannah Tilberry Martin, married Elizabeth Wise, the daughter of Andrew and Mary Serfass Wise. They had three children together.  Normally I write at least a paragraph about each child, giving the spouse's name and the names of their children.  However, I am at a standstill.  Census records show that their children are John, Timothy, and John again, which leads me to believe that the first John, born in 1867, didn't live long.  But what happened to Timothy and the second John?  

I have no information about Timothy at all, and the John Martins that I've found don't seem to match what little we know about him.  This family was one that was in the lower economic strata.  They were farm laborers, so may have moved into another county.  However, I've found no marriage records nor death records for either man, and that seems strange.  Did they both die without marrying and without children? 

Eli deserves more recognition than he has received so far.  I apologize for not being able to answer the questions I have about him.  Can anyone help?