History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 157

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 157

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Sept. 25, 1779, two affidavits of the circumstances of Col. Hannum's escape from the enemy were read, and or- dered to be forwarded to Gen. Washington.

Col. John Hannum to President Reed :

" BRADFORD, June 15, 1780.

"Sir, Pursuant to your orders, I have collected 28 cattle and 101 sheep, all that I could collect in so short a time; having not received your orders till the 11th instant.

"It gives me concern that the army is reduced to the extremity they are, being well assured that one person may be found that will engage to furnish the Pennsylvania troops with every necessary provisions, and to suffer death the day they are destitute thereof."

Nov. 7, 1781, Col. Hannum resigned his office of justice of the peace, in consequence of his election to the General Assembly ; and on the 9th of the same month he resigned . the office of commissioner of forfeited estates in the county of Chester. April 16, 1782, an order was drawn in favor of Col. John Hannum for his services as one of the audi- tors for settling the depreciation of the pay of the Penn- sylvania line. Col. Hannum was elected to the Assembly in the years 1781, '82, '83, and '85, and again in 1792. He was also a delegate from Chester County in the State con- vention for ratifying the Constitution of the United States. While in the Assembly he was instrumental in procuring the repeal of the Test Law, which was enacted during the struggle for independence, in order to keep the opponents of that measure out of the government of the State, and prevent their mischievous interference. When independ- ence was established the " Test" was considered a grievance, and its repeal was agreed to. Col. Hannum, in conjunction with his friend, John Patton, was probably the most active and influential man in the county in procuring the removal

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

of the seat of justice from Chester (the ancient Upland) to the vicinity of the Turk's Head, in Goshen township. Hannum and Patton were the real founders of West Chester, and the proper authorities have justly compli- mented the memory of those efficient men by giving to the old Strasburg and Boot roads, within the borough, the names, respectively, of Hannum and Patton Avenue.

In 1783, Col. Hannum was appointed Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds of Chester County, which offices were held by himself and his son Richard to the time of his death. He died Feb. 7, 1799, and was interred in the burial-ground at Bradford Meeting-house, Marshallton.

His wife, Alice, was the daughter of Jonathan and Deb- oralı Parke, of East Bradford, born 5, 12, 1744, died 3, 17, 1830. Their children were John, b. 6, 8, 1768, m. to Sarah Jackson ; Jane, b. 12, 27, 1769, m. to John Douglass ; Jonathan, married and went to Kentucky ; Mary, m. William Kinnard; Washington Lee, b. 10, 26, 1776, went to Kentucky; Richard M., m. to Charlotte Ruston, and went to Kentucky; James, Caleb, and Deb- orah, who married Emmor Bradley.

HAPPERSETT, REESE, D.D., the son of Melchi and Rebecca Happersett, was born in Brandywine Manor, July 31, 1810. He was educated at Washington College, Pa., and licensed to preach in 1839. He was agent and secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Presby- terian Church for seventeen years. He then removed to California, and took charge of a church there, and died Oct. 2, 1866. He never married. He was generous, frank, and amiable, and was held in high esteem.

HARLAN .- " George Harlan ye sone of James Harlan of Monkwearmouth was baptized at Monkwearmouth in Old England ye 11th day of 1 mo : 1650."

Children of George and Eliza. Harlan (four born in Ire- land and the others in Pennsylvania) :

1. Ezekiel, b. 7, 16, 1679 ; m. Mary Bezer and Ruth Buffington.

2. Hannah, b. 2, 4, 1681 ; m. Samuel Hollingsworth, 1701.

3. Moses, b. 12, 20, 1683-4; m. Margaret Ray, 1712.

4. Aaron, b. 10, 24, 1685 ; m. Sarah Heald, 1713-4.

5. Rebekah, b. 8, 17, 1688; d. 8, 17, 1775 ; m. William Webb, 1, 22, 1709-10.

6. Deborah, b. 8, 28, 1690; m. Joshua Calvert, 1710.

7. James, b. 8, 19, 1692 ; m. Elizabeth -, 1716.

8. Eliza., b. 8, 9, 1694 ; m. Joseph Robinson, 1713.

9. Joshua, b. 11, 15, 1696-7; m. Mary Heald, 1719.

George Harlan settled at first about where Centreville, New Castle Co., now is, but later in life removed farther up the Brandywine, and purchased 470 acres in Kennet, now Pennsbury, township. While living here he had for his neighbors over the creek, in a great bend, a settlement of Indians. After they had left he obtained, in 1701, a warrant for 200 acres in this bend of the creek, which was granted "in regard of the great trouble and charge he has bore in fencing and maintaining the same for the said Indians while living thereon." George Harlan died in 1714, and was buried by the side of his wife at Centre Meeting.

" MICHAEL HARLAN came from the North of Ireland with his brother George about the year 1687-And ye begin-

ning of the year 1690 he married Dinah ye Daughter of Henry Dixson and settled first Near ye Center meeting house in Christiana Hundred & County of New Castle on Delaware and afterwards removed into Kennett in Chester County where they Lived many years haveing the following Issue (viz.) :"

10. George, b. 10, 4, 1690 ; m. Mary (Baily) Stewart.

11. Abigail, b. 9, 23, 1692 ; m. Richard Flower, 12, 17, 1724-5.

12. Thomas, b. 4, 24, 1694; m. Mary Carter, 1720.

13. Stephen, b. 2, 1697 ; m. Hannah Carter, 7, 26, 1723.

14. Michael, b. 2, 7, 1699; m. Hannah Maris.

15. Solomon, b. 10, 7, 1701.

16. James, b. 1703; m. Susanna Oborn, 10, 19, 1733.

17. Dinah, b. 8, 23, 1707 ; m. Thomas Gregg, 2, 10, 1729.

Ezekiel Harlan appears to have been an enterprising citi- zen, and somewhat of a land speculator. His first wife was the daughter of William and Sarah Bezer, of Chichester, to whom he was married in 1700. In 1706 he married Ruth, daughter of Richard Buffington, Sr., of Bradford. His children were William, b. 9, 1, 1702 ; Ezekiel, b. 5, 19, 1707; Elizabeth, b. 6, 6, 1713, m. William White ; Mary, b. 4, 12, 1719, m. Daniel Webb; Joseph, b. 6, 4, 1721; Ruth, b. 1, 11, 1723, m. Daniel Leonard ; Benja- min, b. 8, 7, 1729.

There is a tradition that Ezekiel went to England to get some property which he or the family had inherited, and having converted it into cash was about to return, when he was taken with the smallpox and died. His will, dated Nov. 14, 1730, states that he was " about to take a voyage into Old England," and it was proved Dec. 14, 1731. The future will probably witness periodical attempts on the part of the descendants to get possession of a supposed -fortune in that country.

George Harlan (10) married, 12th mo., 1715-6, Mary, daughter of Joel and Ann Baily, and widow of Alexander Stewart, of Kennet. He purchased from Nathaniel Newlin 300 acres in Newlin township, near the present village of Embreeville. This upon his death, in 1732, he devised to his son John, subject to payments to the other children. His widow died in 1741. Their children were John, m. Sarah Wickersham ; Rebecca, m. to Stephen White ; Dinah, m. to Robert Davies ; Hannah, m. to Joseph Martin ; Joel, b. 11, 10, 1724, d. 9, 3, 1796; Michael ; George, m. Su- sanna Harlan.

When Mason and Dixon, in 1764, began their labors to establish the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, they first measured a line from the most southern part of Phila- delphia due west thirty-one miles to the land of John Harlan, where they planted a stone; and after making some astronomical observations, ran a line thence southward fif- teen miles, to ascertain the northern line of Maryland.

Joel Harlan, son of George and Mary, married, 10, 16, 1746, at Kennet Meeting, Hannah, daughter of Thomas and Abigail (Johnson) Wickersham. Of their children, the first two were born in East Marlborough, the next three in Londonderry, and the youngest in Newlin. They were as follows : Dinah, b. 7, 16, 1747, d. 3, 20, 1824, m. Joseph Richardson ; Ruth, b. 11, 31, 1750, m. Job Pyle; Mary, b. 3, 5, 1753, d. 11, 18, 1829, m. John Jackson ; Caleb,

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

b. 5, 9, 1755, d. 5, 6, 1834, m. Hannah Edwards; Joshua, b. 7, 7, 1757, d. 11, 29, 1839 ; Joel, b. 8, 16, 1764, d. 4, 29, 1842, m. Lydia Smedley.

Calcb's children were Mary, Levi, Martha, Lydia (mar- ried John Trimble), Caleb, Hannah (married Robert Ingram), and Joel, born 8, 26, 1800, who married Marga- retta, daughter of Dr. Abraham Baily, and resides on a part of the original Harlan tract in Newlin.

Joshua was the father of Gen. Josiah Harlan, who spent considerable time in the service of Dost Mahomed, Ameer of Cabul, and was the author of " A Memoir of India and Avghanistaun," 1842.

Joel Harlan, son of Joel, was the father of Mary, wife of John J. Monaghan, Esq.

HARLAN, ABRAM DOUGLAS, son of Ezekiel and Hannah M. Harlan, was born in West Marlborough town- ship, Chester Co., Pa., Sept. 3, 1833. When eleven years of age he removed with his parents to Coatesville, which has since been his home. He was educated in the public and private schools of his native county. At the early age of thir- teen years he began business-life in a country store at Mor- tonville. About a year afterwards he found a situation in. Philadelphia as the errand-boy of a trunk manufactory, and received for his services two dollars per month and his shoes. By patient, persevering effort, industry, and econ- omy he ascended step by step until he became a merchant on his own account, and was able to open a general store in Coatesville. He was an enterprising and very successful merchant. In October, 1862, pressed by the call of duty to his country, he left his business, at considerable financial loss, and voluntarily entered the army. He served as a private soldier in an independent company of cavalry, and was first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the 157th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers.

In politics Mr. Harlan has always been an ardent Re- publican. As such he has filled the following positions : He was transcribing clerk of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives during the sessions of 1864, and message clerk of the same body during the sessions of 1865, 1866, and 1867. He was a representative delegate from Chester County in the Republican State Convention of 1872, and one of the assistant clerks of the Constitutional Conven- tion of Pennsylvania during its entire session (1872 and 1873). He edited and published a small volume entitled "Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania, 1872 and 1873, its Members and Officers." He served under the Hon. A. P. Tutton, supervisor of internal revenue, as a special clerk for nearly two years, and when that gentle- man was appointed collector of customs of the port of Phil- adelphia, he appointed Mr. Harlan, on account of his emi- nent fitness, to the responsible position of assistant cashier. Under Gen. Hartranft he holds the same position.

As a citizen at home, Mr. Harlan has been identified with all the educational and progressive interests of Coates- ville. For fourteen years he has been a member of the school-board, and has done much for the advancement of the schools. For five years he was secretary of the board, and during the last nine years he has been its president. He was the first to suggest the introduction of gas-works into the borough, and as early as 1868 secured a charter for the

same. He originated and organized the Coatesville Build- ing Association, and during its existence was one of its chief managers. He conceived the idea of the Fairview Cemetery, and was instrumental in obtaining the charter and in the formation of the company. After the close of the war he became a dealer in real estate, and through his agency much of the farm-land within the borough limits has been laid out in building lots, houses have been erected, and streets have been opened, graded, and paved.

At eighteen he became a member of the Coatesville Presbyterian Church, and has ever taken an active inter- est in its welfare. In the twenty-first year of his age he was elected superintendent of the Sabbath-school of his church, and, excepting three years during the war, he has since held that office. Under his management the school has enjoyed a continuous season of prosperity, and is to-day one of the most flourishing in the county. For a number of years he was one of the trustees of the church ; for ten years its treasurer ; and in November, 1871, was elected a ruling elder, which position he still holds. He was sent by the Presbytery of Chester as a commissioner to the Gen- eral Assembly of 1880.

Mr. Harlan was married, Jan. 1, 1857, to Miss Lizzie P., daughter of Samuel W. and Jane B. Scott. To them have been born three children, viz. : Walter L., died in infancy ; Justin E., graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, now practicing dentistry in Philadelphia; and W. Scott, a mem- ber of the class of 1882, Lafayette College, classical course.

Mr. Harlan may well be regarded as one of the marked and self-made men of Chester County,-successful in busi- ness ; influential in the politics of the community and of the State; honored, useful, and influential in the church.

HARPER, JOHN, was one of those Chester County patriots who in the beginning of the year 1776 stepped for- ward to join the Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion, raised by authority of the Continental Congress, and placed under the command of Col. Anthony Wayne. Mr. Harper was appointed ensign of the company commanded by Capt.

Persifor Frazer, and was also made quartermaster of the company, which marched with the battalion to the Ca- nadian frontier, and passed the campaign in the region around Ticonderoga. He was afterwards ensign of Capt. James Taylor's company. At the close of the campaign, Wayne rose to the rank of a brigadier, and a fifth battalion, or regiment, was organized, under command of Col. Francis Johnston and Lieut .- Col. Persifor Frazer.

Harper ultimately attained to the rank of brigade major, and was stationed, with that corps and others, under Gen. Wayne, near Chads' Ford on the Brandywine, Sept. 11, 1777. A few days after that unlucky battle Col. Frazer and Maj. Harper, while on a reconnoitring excursion, were made prisoners by a party of British under Gen. Grant, and taken to Philadelphia, to experience the tender mercies of the infamous Cunningham. Col. Frazer effected his escape some time afterwards, but Maj. Harper was kept a prisoner until Nov. 4, 1780. When the Revolutionary struggle was over, Maj. Harper became a public-house keeper in the borough of Chester, and in 1784 he was elected to the office of coroner for the county. Soon after- wards the good people of the bailiwick were greatly excited by

Joshua Hartshorne

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

the effort to remove the seat of justice from ancient Upland (Chester) to the "Turk's Head," in Goshen (now the borough of West Chester), and when the Uplanders set out for the threatened purpose of dissolving the " Cestrian" Union, and demolishing the new buildings at the "Turk's Head," the command of the field-piece was vested in Maj. Harper. Happily, no mischief was done. Peace was re- stored, and the worthy major lived, afterwards, to be " mine host" of the Turk's Head, and also to keep the public- house in the ancient village of Dilworthstown, where he died in the beginning of the present century, and was in- terred in the cemetery at Cheyney's Shops. His respectable descendants, of the third and fourth generation, are still to be found in West Chester.

HART, JOHN, of Chester County, the second son of Col. Joseph Hart, of Bucks County, was born at Warminster, Nov. 29, 1743. He married, Sept. 13, 1767, Rebecca Rees, of the Crooked Billet, and soon after removed to Chester County, where he purchased a mill and land near " Old Church." From Chester County he was a delegate to the conference of the provincial deputies, held July 15, 1774, a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776, and appointed justice of the peace July 25, 1777. Owing to his warm espousal of the cause of the colonies, he was so persecuted by the Tories in 1778 that he was obliged to leave his mill and return to Bucks County, where he spent the remainder of his life. In the spring of 1779 he succeeded Henry Wynkoop as treasurer of Bucks County, and was one of the victims of the Doane robberies, in Oc- tober, 1781. He died at Newtown, June 5, 1786, at the age of forty-three years.

HARTMAN, GEORGE .- The founder of the Hartman family in Chester County was John Hartman, a native of Schwerin, Hesse-Cassel (now Prussia). In 1753 he, with his wife, whose maiden name was Moses, emigrated to America with a family of five sons-John, Joseph, George, Peter, and Christopher-and several daughters, and landed in Philadelphia. Of these, Christopher, born May 6, 1750, married, in August, 1776, Mary Hutchinson, of Mercer Co., N. J. In 1795 they moved to Lexington, Ky., and in 1801 to Clermont Co., Ohio, where he died March 16, 1833. One of the daughters, Mary, married a Rice, an officer in the Revolutionary war. John, the emigrant, was twice married, and Abigail, a daughter by his second wife, married Zachariah Rice, and was the mother of twenty-two children, seventeen of whom walked in procession to their mother's grave. Zachariah Rice did much work for the government during the Revolutionary war, and assisted in building the hospital at Yellow Springs. One of Mr. Rice's daughters married Daniel Kable, of Morgantown, Pa. She was the grandmother of Mrs. Dr. Hartman, of West Chester.

John Hartman the elder, with his family, settled west of the Yellow Springs, where he purchased a tract of several hundred acres. The vicinity of the Yellow Springs was at that period settled almost entirely by Germans, some of whose descendants still occupy the farms owned by their grandparents. The farms of East and West Pikeland were at that period much larger than at present, many containing from 300 to 500 acres of land. That of Christian Hench, on which Joseph Tustin now resides, contained 300 acres.

Peter Hartman, the son of John Hartman, was placed in Philadelphia, with a wealthy German acquaintance of his father, to learn the sugar-refining business, which, however, he soon abandoned to join the Continental army, in which he served as an officer. He took an active part in public affairs, and from the commencement of the war he was an ardent and active patriot. Peter Hartman married a widow named Stein, by whom she had one son, George. Mrs. Stein had been previously twice married,-to a Mr. Orner, by whom she had one son (Valentine), and afterwards to Mr. Stein, by whom she had five children. Her maiden name was Smith, and she had emigrated from Germany when young.

George Hartman, son of Peter Hartman, when sixteen years of age, was, at the instance of his father, taught to beat the drum, and in a short time his proficiency was such that he received the appointment of drum-major, and was taken by his father through his military campaigns. He was at different periods during the war stationed at Fort Bergen, Billingsport, and other places.

A few days before the battle of Brandywine he was taken sick with the camp fever at Chads' Ford, and was carried by four men on a litter after night to his father's house near the Yellow Springs, sixteen miles distant, where he could be under the care of his father's family physician, Dr. Roger Davis. The Tories were harassing the Whigs of the neighborhood by domiciliary visits about this time, and as Maj. Hartman wore the Continental uniform, he was in constant danger of being captured, to avoid which he was carried from one neighbor's house to another in the night, and often concealed in the cellars through the day, his medical attendant being notified in advance whenever a change of location was deemed necessary. About this time the old powder-magazine on French Creek (portions of which were standing some years ago) was blown up, and other damage inflicted on the inhabitants of the neighbor- hood by the Tories. These depredations, however, were soon ended by the American army going into winter quar- ters at Valley Forge. During the winter of 1777, while the army was encamped at Valley Forge, George Hartman and his father were occupied with their four-horse wagon going around the neighborhood collecting meat, flour, pota- toes, cabbage, and all other edibles they could obtain by contribution from the farmers, together with clothing and straw for the soldiers' tents. The Whig ladies knit hose and mittens for the soldiers, and contributed delicacies of all kinds for the sick. Whenever a load was collected they hauled it to camp, and on their return would bring a load of sick soldiers to the hospital at the Yellow Springs. They often received the thanks of Gen. Washington for their efforts to sustain the army.

George Hartman married Mary Elizabeth Hench, a daughter of Christian Hench. Mr. Hench had seven sons and two daughters. The sons were men of remarkable physique, all being over six feet in height, and all perished in the Revolutionary war. The last one, named Peter, when his period of enlistment had expired, re-enlisted be- fore returning home, knowing that his mother would not consent to his return to the army. When he returned home his mother recognized him while a long way off, clad

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

in a new uniform, and told the family she knew he had re- enlisted. In a few days he rejoined the army never more to return.

George Hartman was at one time sheriff of Chester

-@-

Leo Hartman,

County. Of three children born to him, the third and only surviving one was Gen. George Hartman, the subject of this sketch, who was born in East Pikeland township, May 5, 1793. When a young man he designed entering the mercantile marine, and with this view he studied as- tronomy, navigation, and surveying, under the direction of a private tutor. Before attaining his majority war was de- clared by the United States against Great Britain, and he applied himself at once to the study of military taetics, in which he became quite proficient. He was the first drill- officer of the " American Grays," a company formed at West Chester about that period. In the summer of 1814 he enlisted in Capt. John G. Wersler's company of volun- teers, the Great Valley Light Infantry, and was appointed

orderly sergeant. Owing to having received an injury about the time this company was mustered into service, he was dropped from the roll. On his recovery, however, his proficiency in military taetics recommended him to favor- able notice, and, notwithstanding his youth, he was elected captain of the second company of the Sixty-fifth Pennsyl- vanis Militia Regiment, commanded by Col. John L. Pearson. His company consisted of one hundred and fourteen men, drafted from the neighborhood of the Yellow Springs and Kimberton. His commission from Governor Snyder bore date Sept. 17, 1814. After his term of ser- vice expired he was appointed deputy sheriff of Chester County, under his father. Aug. 31, 1821, he was com- missioned by Governor Heister as colonel of the Fifty- seventh Regiment Militia, and May 10, 1833, by Governor Shulze, as captain of a volunteer company, called the " Ches-

ter County Feneibles." Aug. 3, 1835, he was elected brig- adier-general of the First Brigade, Third Division, of the militia. After the death of Maj .- Gen. Isaac D. Barnard, he was elected and commissioned major-general of the Third Division. In February, 1839, he was appointed recorder of deeds for Chester County by Governor Porter, and (owing to an amendment to the State constitution making the office an elective one) the following November elected to the office for three years. He was an expert penman and mathematician, and for many years was the principal surveyor and conveyancer in the northern part of the county. In all his business relations he was regarded as a gentleman of unswerving integrity. For many years he was a member and officer of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, East Pikeland township. He died Nov. 5, 1878, aged eighty-five years and four months.

His children were Dr. William D., Granville S., Mary T. (now the widow of Isaac Sloanaker), Joshua W., G. Washington, Elizabeth Raby, and Albert S., and two who died young. His son Dr. William D. Hartman, a physician of West Chester, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1839. His tastes are scientific, and he has devoted especial attention to conchology, entomol- ogy, geology, and mineralogy. His collection of shells is the largest and most valuable in the State, outside of Philadelphia.

HARTSHORNE, JOSHUA, is descended from a family of that name who came from England and settled in what is now Ceeil Co., Md., about the year 1700, where they engaged in agricultural pursuits, taking an active part in the affairs of the colony and during the war of the Revo- lution. His unele, John Hartshorne, entered the service in the Third Regiment of the Maryland line, served during the war, and was discharged colonel of the regiment at its close, November, 1783.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 157

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162