Henry Hartman, farmer, Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was born in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, 2 August 1821.
Henry Hartman, his grandfather, is supposed to have been born in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was reared a farmer, and was married in that county to Sarah Horner. He came with his family to Dauphin County and settled in Williams Valley between 1794 and 1800, when he built a grist mill, which he at once sold, having learned that its site was mortgaged to parties in England, after which he bought a small tract of land in the same valley. He prospected a great deal for mines. On the advice of his brother Michael Hartrman, a cattle buyer who frequently visited these valleys, he sold his place and located in Lykens Valley, on two hundred acres of land near the present site of Gratz, from which he cleared up a farm, built a house and barn, and to which he added more land. He participated in the Revolutionary War, and died in 1833, aged eighty-four years. His wife survived him twelve or fifteen years, and was twelve years his junior. They had thirteen children:
Six of the daughters went to Philadelphia and married there;
John Hartman, died in the Lykens Valley;
Michael Hartman, died in Philadelphia.
The father, Henry Hartman, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 19 January 1794, and was a mere boy when he came with his parents to Dauphin County. He learned the trade of mason, but was principally engaged in farming. He married in Lykens Valley and settled on a farm of one hundred and eighteen acres in Lykens Township. At one time he owned eight or nine farms, and died comparatively wealthy, leaving to each of his children a farm and a sum of money, His death occurred in Lykens Township, 11 September 1879, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He and his wife Magdalena [Schoffstall] Hartman lived together over sixty years. She was a daughter of Peter Schoffstall [Imschoffstall] and Catherine Hoffner, his wife, and was born in Washington Township, 27 October 1797. She died 16 April 1879. Their children were:
John Hartman;
Henry Hartman;
Simon Hartman;
Elizabeth Hartman;
Jacob Hartman;
Beneven Hartman;
Caroline Hartman;
Moses Hartman;
Michael Hartman;
Catherine Hartman; and
Mary Hartman.
Henry Hartman received a good common school education in German and attended the English schools also, but only for a short time. He was put to work when quite young cutting wood and threshing grain, both before and after school hours in the winter time. The threshing was done with a flail and by trampling with horses. He was married, in Washington Township, 1 November 1842, to Margaret Snyder, daughter of George Snyder and Barbara Snyder, born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, 12 November 1819, and died in Washington Township, 16 September 1873. Their children are:
Cornelius S. Hartman;
Emma J. Hartman, married Samuel Row, died from burns by clothing fire;
Child, died in infancy;
Rebecca Ellen Hartman, at home;
Henry J. Hartman;
Catherine Margaret Hartman, Mrs. Joseph Sultzbach.
After marriage, Henry Hartman located on a farm of his father’s in Washington Township, then Mifflin Township where he remained five years with his father, bought a mill in Washington Township, which he oeprated for five years and then sold it and bought his former place from his father, where he lived until coming to his present place in 1876, which he bought in 1875. He also owns four farms and wood land. In 1863 Mr. Hartman was appointed commissioner to serve the unexpired term of Henry Moyer, who died in office, and in 1864 he was elected to a full term of five years for the same office. He was formerly a Whig and came into the Republican party. He has filled the office of supervisor, assessor, school director, judge of elections, and almost all township offices.
He was married to his present wife 9 February 1884. She was Amanda Cooper, daughter of John Cooper and Mary [Miller] Cooper, and was born in Washington Township, 29 July 1841. To this marriage there is no issue.
Mr. Henry Hartman is a member of the Lutheran church and is now a trustee of the church, and for twenty years has been the superintendent of the Sunday-school.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
See also:
Findagrave Memorial #30301930. Henry Hartman died 17 May 1900 near Berrysburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He is buried at St. John (Hill) Church Cemetery, Mifflin Township [Berrysburg], Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.