Harshbarger line: Tobias Miller 1731-1805

Tobias Miller.  I could pretty much end this post right there, because that is almost as much as I know about him.  There seem to have been several Tobias Miller's in this time period, one who stayed in Pennsylvania, one who went to North Carolina, and ours, who went to what became Franklin County, Va. There are probably others, too, but these are the three who are most frequently mixed up in the records or trees found on line.

It seems to be pretty well agreed that Tobias was born in 1731, either in Pennsylvania or in wherever his parents came from, which was probably somewhere in Germany.  I base that "probably" only on the suspected (several) names of his parents, which all seem to have a German background.  One set of possible parents would be Jacob and Magdalena (maiden name unknown).  Another would be Johann Michael and Susannah Agnes Berchtol.  If we go strictly from a majority standpoint, Johann Michael and Susannah Agnes would win.  However, I've seen no proof and I'm not willing to stick my neck out on this one.

So, Tobias was either born here or born there.  The first time I can really say "Yes, this is likely our guy" is on a 1770 tax list of Coventry Township, Chester County, Pa.  At the time, he had 2 cattle and 2 horses, no sheep and no slaves.  He owned 100 acres of land.  This was not a lot to have in raising a family but it was something.  It's unclear whether he was married at this time.  Usually if men were single they were called "inmates" but perhaps he was not included there because he owned land.  At any rate, in 1773 he married Barbara Brower in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and our family is descended from this marriage. (Tobias would have been 42 years old when he married Barbara, which is old for a first marriage, and another reason I bring up the possibility of an earlier marriage.)

Tobias and Barbara had moved to either Bedford or Henry County, Virginia, by 1786 because when the county of Franklin formed from those two counties in 1785, one of the first acts of the courts was to appoint Tobias to be the surveyor of a road from Little Creek to Maggotty Creek there.  This indicates that he had been there long enough to know the "lay of the land", so to speak, and also shows that he was in good health at the time.  I tried from maps to figure out where he would have lived and so far haven't narrowed it down any more than somewhere around Boone's Mill, north of Rocky Mount and south east of Roanoke.

I'm not sure how many children they may have had.  Mary and Hannah are pretty much agreed on; I've also seen John, Jacob, Tobias and Catherine listed, with no birth or death dates.  Presumably these children were born between 1773 and maybe 20 years later, so some were likely born in Chester County, Pa. and some in Virginia.

Tobias died in 1805, most likely in Franklin County, Va.  Some of his children moved on to Montgomery County, Ohio, very early in Ohio's history, and some say that Tobias died there.  It appears that Barbara died the same year, although none of this is documented.

I've found several items on internet trees that I don't think are correct.  This Tobias was not in Lancaster County, Pa in the 1790 and 1800 census reports.  This Tobias was not the one buried in Philadelphia.  This Tobias was probably not the one with an estate sale in 1822 in Hagerstown, Md., mentioning personal property items.  First, the distance in time and miles is great, and second, why would his personal property have been saved that long?

I would love to hear from other members in this family who have researched Tobias, to see what is actually documented, who actually belongs in this family, and what Tobias's story is.  Was he a participant in the Revolutionary War?  When did the family go to Virginia?  What church did the family attend?  Where is he buried?  Who were his parents?

Names without stories bother me!  So do people without parents. 

The line of descent is:

Tobias Miller-Barbara Brower
Mary Miller-Johan George Harter
George Harter-Elizabeth Geiger
John Harter-Mary Bennett
Clara Harter-Emmanuel Harshbarger
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants

Update:  I located information showing that Mary Miller and George Harter were married by Jacob Miller.  In researching him, I find that Rev. Jacob was a Brethren or Dunkard Minister, and was a brother to our Tobias.  There is a legend that five Miller brothers went to Franklin County, Va., all pastors.  Tobias may not have been a pastor, though, because he didn't perform his daughter's wedding ceremony.  No one seems sure who the parents were of Jacob Miller, but he seems to have left a very large posterity.  No doubt they would also like to know the parentage of Jacob and Tobias! 

Update 2: July 31, 2021.  Please disregard this post.  The line of descent is not correct.  George Harter who married Elizabeth Geiger is not the son of Mary Miller and Johan George Harter.  

Harshbarger line: Christian Brower abt 1714 to 1771

Christian Brower and his parents, Hubert Brower and Catherine Eve Brenneman, came to the New World in 1726.  The family is very fortunate that the original "pass" for the Brower family, which was similar to a passport and was issued by local (German) authorities, is still in existence and is one of the treasures of the Brethren Historical Library and Archives.  It was issued on May 1, 1726. We know that the pass states that the family was from the town of Fuss Gonheim, on the Rhine River just across from Mannheim  but we don't know how long the family had lived there.  It may have been only a matter of months, or it could have been years.

The Browers were a Mennonite family, which indicates that their origin was probably Switzerland. However, several websites name Hubert's father as Adam, and give him a Dutch wife and nationality.  More research needs to be done on this family, to prove that Adam is Hubert's father,  and to find out if the Dutch connection is correct. It is possible that Adam or his parents had settled briefly in the Netherlands, during the Thirty Years War which caused so much disruption to the various states that eventually became Germany.

At any rate, Christian was about 8 years old when he and his family crossed the ocean on what was apparently a lengthy voyage. We don't know exactly when they arrived because the oath of allegiance was not required until 1727, so apparently it would have been late in 1726.  The first record I find of Christian is that he took the naturalization oath in 1743, when he would have been about 29.  He was a young married man at this time, and the oath was required before he could own land, so this may have been the motivation for the timing of the oath. Since his brothers bought land in 1743, it may be that Hubert had died shortly before that time.

We don't know the name of Christian's wife.  He had apparently married Eve Brenneman Bowman at some point after their separate families were complete.  However, he had at least 8 children with hi unknown wife. They had 8 children together, and settled on the banks of the Schuylkill River in what is now East Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  Christian had obtained his 200 acres of land through a grant from the Proprietors, meaning this was wilderness that had not been owned before.  At least two of his brothers, Henry and John, settled near him.

We are fortunate to find tax records for him in Coventry, Chester, Pennsylvania in 1753, and later we can even find note of what he was taxed on.  In 1766, he was taxed for 200 acres, 3 horses and cattle, 8 sheep, and one servant.  This may have been an indentured servant about to serve his term, because the servant is not shown on later tax lists.  The last record, in 1771, shows him with 200 acres, 3 horses, and 5 cattle.  He died in 1771 and apparently there is a will in existence, but I haven't yet located it.  I've not found any indication of an occupation other than farming, but it is always possible that he had a trade also.

I'd like to find the will, and also I'd like to know whether or how Christian participated in the French and Indian war, or other skirmishes. As a Mennonite, my inclination is to think that he would not have been active in the military, but I could be wrong and I'd like to know for sure.  Of course, I'd also like to find documentation of his father's parents and their story.  And the brick wall is: who was the mother of his children?  I'd love to know!

The line of descent is:

Christian Brower-Catherine Eve Brenneman
Barbara Brower -Tobias Miller
Mary Miller-Johan George Harter
George Harter-Elizabeth Geiger
John Harter-Mary Bennett
Clara Ellen Harter-Emanuel Harshbarger
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendents

Fun fact:  The trip from Germany to the New World was apparently a lengthy one, even for the times.  Can you imagine spending as long as six months on ship, watching your food stores dwindle, probably being sea sick (or at least, having children who were sea sick) much of the time?  I shudder just to think about it, but these people lived it.  

Update 7/31/2021  Please disregard this post.  The George Harter who married Elizabeth Geiger is not the son of Johan George Harter and Mary Miller.