7% /‘/779 /’ /1c. THE HARSHMAN FAMILY ALSO SPELLED I-IERSHMAN ANDHERSMAN 14 jflstory and geflea/ogy. .a BY THE REV. CHARLESW.HARsHMAN, S.T.B.,PH.D. 5349 TENTH AVENUE, Los ANGELES,’CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES SPANISH AMERICAN INSTITUTE PRESS I932 3'-NEALOGICAL RESEMCH LIBRARY 4780 Lincoln Avenufs Oakland 9. Califomla TN ~ 35% 79:1 .__.._._:- - I V. ,. .7 . w.V_,.....,-.-.._,,"~......« DO NOT REMOVE FROM THIS ROOM Oakland Genealogical Library 4766 LincolnAvenue Oakland, CA 94602 All items obtained with DONATIONS TO BE USED - NOT ABUSED! CHARLES W1L1.1AM HARSHMAN awm/gm/WW Copyright, 1932, by CHARLESWuunu HARSHMAN Printed in U. S. A. To The Memory qf My Wife AVANELLE Conv HARSHMAN ; 376 PREFACE This book is the history of four Harshman brothers who came to America in the year 1751. There are others of the name in this country but I have attempted nothing further than to tell the story of these four men; and even this is by no means complete.‘ During the eighteenth and the early part of the nine­ teenth century public records in the part of the country where these men settled were very meager and poorly kept. Frequently not even deeds to land were recorded. None of these states kept a record of the births and deaths, and some of them had no marriage records until near the close of the nineteenth century. Pennsylvania required no marriage license until 1885. Of such records as were made many were destroyed during the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. When the British Army burned Washington in 1814 the Virginia records of the Continental Army together with many other ones were destroyed. In a few cases early church lists of births, baptisms, marriages and deaths have been preserved, which have been helpful, and some old cemeteries have yielded valuable information. As a consequence of these mutilated and meager records it is very difl-icult to recover that part of the history which has been lost. Accordingly there are some gaps in the history, especially in the second and third generations, which I have made every eflbrt to fill, but as yet unsuccessfully. However there is always the possibility that new information may be discovered, and there is therefore hope that these gaps may finally be closed. I have spent thirty years gathering this material. Every county where any of the first three generations are known to have lived has been visited and all avail­ viii THE HARSHMAN FAMILY able records carefully studied. The discoveries have been many, some of them startling in importance, and the amount of history recovered is far beyond what I had hoped for in the beginning of the work. Nevertheless I am conscious that the story is still incomplete, and will be grateful for additional infor­ mation and correction of errors. If you are a member of this family and your name is not in this book be assured it is because I could not secure the data. Be kind enough to send them to me. If you know of others whose names should be here but are not, I would be thankful for knowledge of them. Two copies of this book will be placed in the Library of Congress, in Washington. I will keep a careful record of such additional data as may be obtained, and when a suflicient amount has been secured to make it worth­ while, such material will be typed and placed in the Library of Congress as a supplementary volume. Where They Live The Harshmans are widely scattered, some being found in practically all of the states except, possibly, the New England States and a few of the Southern states. They are most numerous in Maryland, Pennsyl­ vania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with diminishing numbers in the states farther west, California having more than the other far western states. Annual re­ unions of the family are held in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Trumbull County, Ohio, Los Angeles, California, and one sometimes in north western Ohio and sometimes in north eastern Indiana. For a time one was maintained in Preble County, Ohio. The Name When they came to this country the four brothers spelled their name “Hirschman,” but a few years later PREFACE \ ix they usually spelled it either “Hershman,” or “Harsh­ man”. The next generation practically all had changed it into the American form “Hershman”, “Harshman”, or “Hersman.” At the present time probably more than eighty per cent. spell it“Harshman”, and the rest are divided between “Hershman” and ‘_‘Hersman”. In this book I have endeavored to follow the spelling in each group as the members of the group themselves spell it. THE HERSHMAN FAMILY There is a family of Hershmans in thisvcountry that, so far as I have been able to discover, is not related to the four brothers whose history I have been tracing. According to Jacob Hershman of Brooke, Ind., this family is descended from one Jacob Hershman who came from Dresden, Germany, to Virginia in 1765. From Virginia the family moved to the vicinity of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and thence to Coshocton County, Ohio. There they located on Wills Creek, near the place where it empties into the Muskingum River. From that place some of them moved to Iowa, and some to Newton County, Indiana. Personally I still have an open mind on the subject, thinking it may yet be discovered that the families have a common origin. THE HARSHMANS or CANADA The following information was given me by Mr. H. H. Harshman, I82 Spadina Avenue, Toronto Canada. Two Harshman brothers came to Halifax, Nova Scotia, about 1749. They belonged to the British Navy, but e does not know what their national extraction was. So far as I know there is no connection between this family and the Harshmans in the United States, but they may very well be from the same stock in Germany. X THE HARSHMAN FAMILY zfrrangement qf the book and numbering of the names The main part of this book is divided into three Parts. Part I is given to Andrew and his descendants; Part II to Matthias Ulrich and his descendants; and Part III to Ulrich and his descendants. As no descendants of the other brother, John Adam, are know, no fourth part is needed. Each name has a number. Andrew, being the head of one branch of the family is given the number I. Matthias, the head of the second branch is number 2; Ulrich, being the head of the third branch is number 3. Andrew’s children are numbered one, two, three, and consecutively up to 9, thus: I Andrew Harshman. I I (one, one,) Andrew's first child. 19. (one, two,) Andrew’s second child. 13 (one, three,) Andrew’s third child, and so on up to nine, the number of his children. When there are more than nine children in a family the numbers above nine are placed in parentheses. Had there been ten child­ ren in Andrew's family the tenth one would appear thus: 1(Io) (one, ten,) The tenth child of Andrew. The next generation appears thus.­ I92 (one, nine, two,) The I stands for Andrew, the 9 for his ninth child, who was Matthias, and the 2 for the second child of Matthias who was Daniel. Or one can read it back­ ward, the second child of the ninth child of Andrew. To I llurtrate farther .­ 1956(I I)2 (one, nine, five, six, eleven, two, is the number before the name of Winifred Harsh­ PREFACE xi man. It is easily seen that Winifred is the second child of her father, Almon Harsh­ man; and he the eleventh child of his father, George W. Harshman. George W. is the sixth child of his father Jacob, Jacob the fifth child of Matthias, and Matthias the ninth child of Andrew. In like manner dropping off one figure at a time and in each case turning back one generation and finding the number that remains, the line can easily be traced back to the beginning. The dividing line between generation is marked by a row of stars. Whenever in this book it is observed that the first figure in a number is I it is clear that the person for whom the number stands is a descendant of Andrew. If the first figure is 2 the person is of course a descendant of Matthias, and if it is 3 he is a descendant of Ulrich. Every name has a number, and no two names have the same number. The dates of birth and death when known are placed in parentheses immediately after the name. (176!­ 1837), date of birth and death. (I832-) date of death unknown. (-1798), date of birth unknown. In a few cases the place of birth is included in the parentheses before the birth date, or the place of death after the death date. “m.” stands for married, and “unm." for unmarried. NOTE: Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made of helpful information furnished me by interested persons. That coming from THE REVEREND O. F. HARSHMAN, W. S. HARSHMAN and COLONEL A. HARSHMAN, is es­ pecially valuahle as it was secured hy them many years agofrom persons now no longer living. But for their work done so long ago much of that comingfrom them would not now he available. CHARLES W. HARSHMAN. TABLE OF CONTENTS I-I2 Introductory Chapter . PART ONE, ANDREW HARSHMAN CHAPTER ONE, Christian Harshman . .1 . I-68 SECTION ONE, John Harshman . 25-9-6 SECTIONTwo, Esther Harshman Holler . 26 SECTION THREE, Philip Harshman . 7-7'35 SECTIONFOUR, Christian Harshman II .