Resources and Publications

Want to do your own research into the history of the Harnsbergers? There are a lot of materials online, of varying quality, that crop up with a search. Our Harnsberger History website has spent years evaluating physical and online evidence and has curated a reference list here, organized by our earliest ancestors and each of the six Harnsberger "Tribes" corresponding to a son of Stephen Hancebarger (1714 - 1776).

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Index for John Harrensparger (1688 - 1769) and Anna Barbara Purve (1691 - 1749), our oldest ancestors who immigrated to the New World in 1717. All Harnsbergers are descended from "John the Immigrant" and Anna Barbara, our Matriarch.

1. Beyond Germanna Vol 7 No 1 1995 - A Brief History of the founding family.

2. Who-were-the-german-settlers-in-the-robinson-river-valley?

3. Land patent of John Harrensparger and John Motz 1726 - The establishment of the first family farm in America.

4. Map of Second Germanna patents in Madison VA, with modern roads - How you can find your way to the first family farm, still undeveloped today!

5. 1770 Sale of John's Farm by his three daughters, from DEED ABSTRACTS, CULPEPER CO., VA 1769-1773.

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Index for Stephen Hancebarger (1714 - 1776), Agnes Huffman (1722 - 1750), and Ursula Sheitli (1722 - ?). Stephen was the only adult child of John and Anna Barbara, and was our "Patriarch from Over the Mountains" who settled the second generation of Harnsbergers in the area of modern Elkton, Virginia. All Harnsbergers are descended from Stephen and either Agnes or Ursula. The children of Agnes and those of Ursula became a fundamental division in the history of the family.

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1. Index for "John's People," or, the descendants of John Hansbarger (1742 - 1824), first child and son of Stephen Hancebarger (1714 - 1776) and Agnes Huffman (1722 - 1750), who settled in Clifton Forge, Virginia.

2. Index for "Adam's People," or, the descendants of Adam Hansbarger (1751 - 1815), first child and son of Stephen Hancebarger (1714 - 1776) and Ursula Sheitli (1722 - ?), who took over his parents' farm in Elkton, Virginia.

3. Index for "Henry's People," or, the descendants of Henry Hernsberger (1751 - 1834), the second child of Stephen and Ursula, who settled in Bridgewater, Virginia.

4. Index for "Stephen's People," or, the descendants of Stephen Harnesberger (1754 - 1820), the third child of Stephen and Ursula, who settled in Lincoln County, Georgia.

5. Index for "Conrad's People," or, the descendants of Conrad Harnsberger (1756 - 1814), the fourth child of Stephen and Ursula, who established himself in the Elkton, Virginia area, closer to Swift Run Gap.

6. Index for "Robert's People," or, the descendants of Robert Harnsberger (1760 - 1840), the last child of Stephen and Ursula, who established himself east of Staunton, Virginia.

 

Harnsberger History also intends on self-publishing a total of seven short volumes of family history over the next several years, which will be made available electronically on this page:

 

• Volume 1. The establishment of the family in Virginia, first in the area of today’s town of Madison and then our relocation across the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Shenandoah Valley, near modern Elkton. This book will detail the first three generations, headed by John the Immigrant and his only child Stephen. It will conclude with the dispersing of Stephen’s sons and daughters across Virginia and beyond – the beginning of the Harnsberger role in the settlement of America.

 

• Volume 2 will trace the descendants of Stephen’s oldest son, John “Hansbarger”, to the present day. John was Stephen’s only son from his first wife, Agnes, and was named for his grandfather. John was not destined to inherit from his father Stephen, and thus he became the first pioneer leaving the Elkton area. John’s People maintained the oldest spelling of established by John the Immigrant, and many remained in the western Virginia mountains that Father John settled, well into the 20th century.

 

• Volume 3 will be devoted to the descendants of Adam “Hancebarger”, Stephen’s oldest son from Ursula his second wife. Adam was the executor of his father’s will, and most of his children remained in the Elkton area, around Stephen’s original farm. Adam’s People best represent the memory of Stephen and Ursula and their legacy. Two Special Editions  of this volume will also trace Adam's People in more detail through Jeremiah Harnsberger (1794 - 1880) and through Charles Whitfield Harnsberger (1897 - 2001, Charles Edwin, Charles, Jeremiah, Adam, Stephen, John).

 

• Volume 4 will follow Stephen and Ursula’s second son, Henry “Hernsberger”, and his descendants. Henry first relocated 35 miles to the west, to Bridgewater, Virginia. Many of Henry’s People remained in Virginia, but his two oldest sons moved to the Midwest, subsequently settling Illinois and Wisconsin.

 

• Volume 5 explores the history of Stephen and Ursula’s third son, Stephen “Harnesberger”, who was the first Harnsberger to leave Virginia, moving to Wilkes County, Georgia on bounty land he received from service in the Revolutionary War. Stephen’s People remained in Georgia for the most part, with one grandson establishing a major branch of the family in Arkansas following the Civil War.

 

• Volume 6 is an account of the history of Stephen and Ursula’s fourth son, Conrad “Harnsberger”, and his descendants. Conrad was an important figure in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He settled north of his brother Adam, within the city limits of modern Elkton. The oldest portion of Elkton, the town cemetery and its first church, were established from Conrad’s family land. Conrad’s sons left Virginia to pioneer Ohio, and subsequently, Conrad’s People settled Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin by 1866.

 

• Volume 7 will be the last in the series, and concerns Stephen and Ursula’s final child, Robert “Harnsberger”. Like three of his brothers, he fought in the Revolutionary War, and he was present at Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. Like Henry and Conrad, Robert settled close to his parents’ farm. While Henry moved just west, and Conrad settled to the north, Robert moved south, near modern Staunton, Virginia. Robert’s People never left Virginia, and his sons remained in the area, with a prominent branch locating to the town of Port Republic.

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