Harshbarger line: Martin Laber, 1738-1823

It's been a while since I've written about an ancestor in the Harshbarger line.  I seem to have written about most or all of the "easy" ones, and since most of the family is of German or Swiss ancestry, and didn't arrive in American until the first half of the eighteenth century, I have a smaller pool of ancestors to research.  However, here is one that I seem to have overlooked. 

Martin Laber is thought to have been born in Pennsylvania August 20, 1738, although I've not found a record yet. He is the son of Wendell and Anna Margaretha Mueller Laber, and was one of at least ten children.  His father was a religious man who helped to found at least two churches, the second one being closer to his home than the first.  "Home" by at least 1747, was in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Martin stayed there his whole life.  This is in the northern part of the county, bordering on Berks and Dauphin counties now, but at the time, it was all wilderness.  Lancaster town itself was hardly a village, and the area would go through some very rough times during Martin's lifetime.

Martin married Anna Catherina Enck, the daughter of Johan Jacob and Anna Catharina Becker Enck, on October 13, 1761.  The pastor was Rev. John Waldschmidt, who was actually sent as a pastor for the Dutch Reformed Church.  (Without going into a good detail of theological detail, the Germans of the area were satisfied with their pastor, be he Dutch, German, or some combination there of.

By 1761, the worst of the onslaughts from the French and Indian war (meaning attacks by the native Americans in cahoots with the French) were mostly over, and Martin and Catherine were able to make a home for themselves.  Martin, like his father, was a farmer and called himself a yeoman in his will.  He and Catherine had at least 5 children, and stayed on the farm they owned their whole lives.  In 1782, he is shown on a tax list as having 140 acres of land, 2 horses and 4 cows, and his tax is one of the higher ones on that particular page.  But I'm getting ahead of the story.

After the French and Indian war, and after the few years of peace, life was interrupted by the Revolutionary War.  Martin seems not to have been greatly affected by the war itself.  He was in the militia but I've not found that he was ever called to duty.  He may well have been used for a few days as a guard for prisoners of war, or to transport food and supplies, but it doesn't appear, as far as I've learned so far, that he ever was in a battle.  This is not to say that his life was easy.  He lived perhaps 50 miles from Valley Forge and 65 miles from Philadelphia.  Lancaster County, then, as now, had a reputation as being a "bread basket" and surely Martin would have contributed, we hope voluntarily, to Valley Forge.  It's possible there were British foraging expeditions that far from Philly but if so, they would have been of short duration.  And surely, there was tension.  Where would the next battle be?  Would the country maintain the independence they had declared, or would they be defeated by the British, with the help of the hired Hessians?  Mothers have always had to calm the fears of their children, it seems. 

That is as much of the life of Martin as I currently know, except for records created when he died.  Martin wrote his will on February 26, 1812 when he signed with a mark.  It wasn't probated for another 11 years, though, on October 20, 1823.  His actual date of death is given on Find a Grave as September 2, 1823, so it seems that he either had a long illness or he had a serious illness and recovered.  He provided for his wife in his will, but she died September 23, 1813.  He left land or money or both to each of his three sons, one hundred pounds to each of his 7 Dulibon grandchildren, and one hundred dollars to "his congregation" to build a new church.  The graves, with standing headstones, are at what is now the Brickerville United Lutheran Church and Cemetery at Brickerville, Pa. 

Martin lived through interesting times.  He survived, supported his country, supported his church, raised a family, and paid his taxes.  We can be grateful for ancestors like Martin!  I'm also grateful to Anne Caston, who located some of the information I've used in this post, and who generously shares her knowledge and information.

The line of descent is:

Martin Laber-Catherine Enck
Catherine Laber-Henry Dulibon
Elizabeth Tullepan-Conrad Mentzer
Catherine Mentzer (Mancer)-Lewis Harshbarger
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Ellen Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks
Their descendants  

Personal note:  This is my 700th blog post.  We'll see how much longer I can keep finding stories to tell.  I know there are a few more waiting out there! 




 

Harshbarger line: Johann "Hans" Wendel Laber, 1701- , Immigrant

I've found another Harshbarger line ancestor to write about, and no surprise, this family is German.  It's also no surprise that there are differing birth locations, and different death dates, for him.  However, I'm going to write of what I've found so far in the hopes that someone will see this and straighten me out.  Wendel was born on or before March 10, 1701 (this is probably a christening date) in Steinsfurt Parish, Northern Kraichgau, Germany.  This area is in southwestern Germany and would track closely with the history of other Harshbarger ancestors.  . 

Wendel was the son of Johannes Balthasar Lauber and Anna Elisabeth Wanner, and was one of at least eight children born to this couple.  I've not found any information as to his father's occupation, but it was likely to have been farming.   

We do know that Wendel married Anna Margaretha Mueller or Muller in Steinsfurt in 1726.She was the daughter of Andreas Mueller.  The young family stayed only in Steinsfurt only a few short years after their marriage.  They arrived on the ship "Dragon" in Philadelphia on September 30, 1732, along with their  two daughters.  I don't yet have birth dates for all of their children, so I am unable to say whether the family was already expecting another birth while en route to the New World, but there were 8 children born after the first two daughters. 

Again, it is hard to trace the first few years of their life in America.  The family probably first settled in Germantown, but by 1746 they had saved enough money to purchase 180 acres of land in Clay Township, Lancaster County, Pa. This is on the northern edge of the county, bordering on Berks County, and was probably excellent farm land. The Old Zion church was founded about 1747, and the Laber's apparently attended there.  His death date is actually unknown and is variously given as 1739 (wrong), 1749, 1757 and about 1762.  We know that his estate was probated December 27, 1762., although I have yet to find it on line.  He was buried in the Brickerville Lutheran and Reformed church cemetery, probably about 16 months after his wife had died, if we use the 1762 date as his date of death.

There is obviously much more I would like to know about this family.  Why did they come to America?  How long did it take them to finally obtain permission, and how much did it cost?  Had the family "always" been Lutheran?  How did they support themselves in Germany, and here in the New World?  Did they have to serve a period as indentured servants?  What was life like on their farm?  
While the general outline of his line may be known, sort of, I'd always like more details!

The line of descent is:

Wendel Laber-Anna Margaretha Muller
Martin Laber-Anna Catharina Enck
Henry Dulibon or Tulipan-Catherine Laber
Elizabeth Tullepen-Conrad Mentzer
Catherine Mentzer-Lewis Harshbarger
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Ellen Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants

Harshbarger line: Henry Duliban

This will be a short post, because so far I don't know a lot about Henry Duliban or Tulepan or any of at least a dozen other spellings.  I'm using the Duliban spelling because that is how he is listed in at least one military record, and because it is more or less in the middle of other spellings. 

He was born in Pennsylvania in about 1762.  His parents were Leonard Tulepan and Margareth.  The family was likely French, and possibly of Huguenot descent, meaning they would have lived "on the border" between France and Germany, and went to Germany at some point after the Huguenot persecutions began. (Huguenot is the word used to describe French Protestants in a French Catholic world. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Protestants were killed and the lucky escaped to what was, for most, a life of poverty in Germany, or England. It is not a pretty period in human history.) Leonard's father, Frantz Tulipan, had arrived in Pennsylvania in 1752, apparently with at least some of his children.   Leonard and Margareth began their life here probably about 1760, but so far I have not found marriage records.  My guess is that Leonard probably served a period as an indentured servant, to pay for his passage, and married when that time of service was up. 

Leonard and Margareth had at least 7 children.  The first child we know about was Henry, who was born in 1762.  The first evidence I have of his existence was that he was listed in a "return" of the first company, 6th Battalion of the Lancaster County Militias in 1783, when he would have been about 21.  As a member of the militia, he would probably have served at least 2 months active duty as that was a requirement at the time.  I don't know whether this would have counted as "Revolutionary War Service" or not. Henry is also shown in the 1793 Septennial census of Pennsylvania.

Shortly after Henry's youngest brother, Christian, was born in 1787,  Henry started a new generation when he married Catherine Laber, daughter of Martin Laber and Anna Catherina Enck, on April 8, 1788 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The 1790 census shows that there was a male in the family who was under 16 years of age.  By 1800, under the spelling of Dullibahn, he and Catherine had one male aged 10-15, one male under the age of 10, and four females under the age of 10.  Catherine must have been a very busy lady!  One more child, a boy, was born about 1804.  Elizabeth Duliban was born about 1800, and she is our link to this family.

So far as I can tell, no one has uncovered a will for Henry.  He died sometime after 1800. I haven't located a census for him after the 1800 census, but with all the spellings of his name, I could have missed him.  Some of his family was Lutheran, so it is possible that is the religion he practiced also. 
We don't know his occupation. Lancaster County is still a largely rural community, so he likely farmed. With such a large family, he may have had a "winter occupation" also, such as weaving or shoemaking. This is just speculation, but it is based on research into how other families lived at this time and near this location. 

I would love to find church records, a death date and burial location, an indication of his occupation, and other facts about this man.  If you can help, please let me know!

Our line of descent is:

Henry Duliban-Catherine Laber
Elizabeth Tullepan-Conrad Mentzer
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Children, grand children, and great grandchildren