During the summer of 2014, a course I took in professional genealogy presented me with a challenge. One of the lessons focused on lineage societies. I knew I had at least one ancestor with a Revolutionary War record, for I had been to his grave and had seen a marker placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Hmm. I wondered if I could prove my lineage to satisfy the requirements of this particular lineage society. Why not try? So I did. That ancestor was Henry Harmon, Ancestor #A050817.
In many families, the spelling of the name can create controversy. This family consists of the O Harmons and the A Harmans. The first person to prove lineage for DAR to Henry Harmon used an O. But during my research, all records I found spelled it with an A. Somewhere down the years, the spelling changed. I prefer the old spelling even though DAR uses the more recent one.
As the story goes, Henry or Heinrich was born on the Isle of Mann in 1726 to Heinrich Adam and Louisa Katrina Herrmann (the old German spelling) as they made their way to America from the Palatinate region of present day Germany.
Adam Harman kept meticulous records of the births of his children in his Bible, all in German, of course. This ancient tome is housed at the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.
Adam settled his family in Pennsylvania and left records in the form of quitrents, but soon they were headed southwestward through Virginia on the Great Wagon Road. Their youngest son Mathias was born at Strasburg, Virginia in 1736. By 1745, Adam had established a settlement on the New River.
By 1755, the Indian allies of the French were attacking settlements in southwestern Virginia, and life became precarious for the settlers. Several Harman family members were killed, not to mention friends and neighbors. Many of the families in these outposts fled toward Salem, North Carolina where a more thickly populated area including Moravians offered safety. Harman family members are mentioned in numerous Moravian daily diaries. Here’s one among many: “1762, October 3. Our neighbor, Henry Hermann, and his brother-in-law, Ulrich Richards, brought their children to us for baptism, and we could not refuse their request, so at noon Brother Ettwein baptized little Daniel Hermann, and Brother Groff baptized little Anna Richards” (qtd. in John Newton Harman, Harman Genealogy, (Southern Branch) with Biographical Sketches and Historical Notes, 1700-1924, p. 319). The Harman families stayed in North Carolina about 20 years.
In Rowan County, Henry Harmon’s name can be found in a list of original members of the Committee of Safety formed in 1774. The Continental Congress had urged the colonies to form these Committees of Safety, which served to promote independence from Britain. By 1775, the Rowan Committee of Safety “regulated the economy, politics, morality, and militia of their individual communities. After December 1776 they came under the control of a more powerful central authority, the North Carolina Council of Safety” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_County_Committee_of_Safety). Henry’s service with the Committee of Safety validates him as a patriot ancestor.
For more info on Henry Harman, read my earlier blogpost: https://rattlingoldbones.blogspot.com/search?q=henry+harman
Note: For years I have been curious as to why Henry Harman's grave marker says he served in Virginia, yet his service record with DAR is in North Carolina. Recently on Ancestry, I found a request for military tombstone for Henry Harman. The request shows that it was first made for North Carolina, which was crossed out and Virginia written above it. Googling Captain A[lexander] Osborne, I found that he served on the Committee of Safety in Rowan County, as well. So that's a mistake on the grave marker. Should be North Carolina, not Virginia.
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