GEARHART Index

Gearhart Coat of Arms from Mark GIERHART's website at http://gierhart.tripod.com

From a 1995 email from a Thomas GIERHART (quoted by Mark GIERHART [mgierhart@woh.rr.com] on the Gearhart rootsweb list):

The surname Gerhart or Gerhard or Gearhart or Gierhart means "Hard Spear". All Germans arriving in Philadelphia before 1776 at Penns Landing are true Pennsylvania Deutsch (German). My family via Zweibrucken, Germany (Rhineland) arrived on October 10, 1764 on the ship Richmond.
Primarily of the Lutheran or German Reformed faith, most came from Palatinate area of Germany (southwest) near Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern and Saarbrucken. There are 1,400 Gerhart families in the U.S. (with Gerhart spelling). The English changed names on arrival in Philadelphia. German Philadelphia arrivals in book from 1709-1803.
Washington County Maryland is home of many Germans who migrated down the road from Philadelphia to the Cumberland and Shenandoah Valley. Jonathan Hager founded Hagerstown Maryland the county seat of Washington County Maryland....

At this time, the earliest known ancestor of this branch is Samuel Gearhart. More information would, of course, be appreciated greatly.

Names

1 1930-2014 GEARHART, Rosena - SAWYER, James C
2 1903-1936 GEARHART, Eldon - BROKAW, 'Margie'
3 1876-1950 GEARHART, Dervin - DUNSMORE, Alice 1873-1947
4 1843-1903 GEARHART, John S - SMITH, Sarah Catherine
5 1810-1881 GEARHART, Samuel - SWAGART, Amanda J 1822-80

From findagrave.com:
5 1822-1880 SWAGART (SWIGART), Amanda J 1822-80 (grv pic) - GEARHART, Samuel F 1810-81 (grv pic)
6 1786-1859 SWIGART, John b. Mifflin Co, PA d. McVeytown, M, PA (bur. Spg Run Brethrn Cem, grv pic) - HOOD, Margaret 1802-69 (grv pic)
7 1757-1806 SWIGART, John b. Berks Co, PA d. Mifflin Co (bur. Swigart Cem) - BELAMAY (m1 MILLER), Catherine 1752-1821
8 1732-1792 SWEIGART, Jacob Adam - ?, Mary Eve

Descent Chart

Possible ancestors ...

Family line:
- Andreas G b1537 Germany
- Ludwig G b1577 Rhineland-Pfalz
- Paul G b1607 Brandenburg (Prussia)
- Paul G b1662 b. Brandenburg d. Sachsen
- Leonard G b1697 R-P d1770 PA, 1 dau shown

- Jacob G b1715 Strasbourg, Germany d1773 NJ (wiki)

Known ancestors:

5 Samuel (1810-1881) m. Amanda J SWAGART 1822-80
- 4 Ellen b. abt 1842 in PA
- 4 John S 1843-1903 m. Sarah Catherine SMITH 1847-1906
  - 3 Samuel Ezra b. 13 Nov 1867 in Lewistown, Mifflin, PA d. 30 May 1920 Pontiac, Oakland, MI, m. Rosa May BOOTH
  - 3 John H b. Jan 1870 in PA d. 1935 in MI m. Edith L SNYDER
  - 3 Amanda b. 1871 in PA m. ? ROBART
  - 3 Magdelena "Maggie" b. 1873 in MI m. Frank Hoyt WINCHELL
  - 3 Dervin E b. Jul 1876 in MI d. 1950 in MI m. Alice DUNSMORE
    - 2 Pearl Ethel "Peggy" (1899-1981) m. Mr. GARDNER
    - 2 Eldon D(ervin?) 1904-36 m. Marguerite Thelma BROKAW
      - 1 Rosena 1930-2014 m. JCS 1929-2015
      - 1 living
      - 1 Wanda 1935-2020 m. living
      - 1 Willard Eldon 1936-8
    - 2 Fern Isabelle 1906-23
  - 3 Henry C b. Nov 1878 in MI d. 1958 buried Woodlawn, Vermontville, Eaton, MI m. Lena M JOPPIE
  - 3 Anna b. 1880 in MI m. George HARVEY
  - 3 Barbara A GEARHART born Jul 1883 in MI m. Richard I BENNETT
  - 3 Sarah C E b. Jan 1886 in MI m. Wilbur S WEEKS
  - 3 Edith M b. Oct 1890 in MI m. Glenn COTTON
- 4 Samuel J b. abt 1846 in PA, m. Dec 1869 to Martha M ? He and his wife can be found in the 1870 census for Mifflin Co, PA
- 4 Eve b. abt 1847 PA
- 4 William b. abt 1853 PA
- 4 Susannah T 1856-7
- 4 Melinda C b. abt 1859 in PA, m. 6 May 1880 in Mifflin Co, PA
- 4 Anna M b. abt 1862 PA
From Glenn Clayton, former president of Ashland College: My GEARHARTs moved to OH from PA c. 1840. One of them was my maternal ggfather George GEARHART. He d1891 leaving his wife, Sarah ERISMAN and 12 children. Sarah then moved to live with her eldest daughter, Catherine "Kate" Elizabeth GEARHART, my grandmother. I have fond memories of both Kate and Sarah. After Sarah's death in 1917, Kate, being the eldest of the 12 Gearhart siblings, became the manager of the estate and I have reasonably accurate memories of the 11 siblings. My earliest GEARHART ancestor is John GEARHART, born c. 1785 in Germany. I have no evidence as to how or when he left Germany, but he appears as the father of William GEARHART in PA in 1815. That William seems to have moved to Montgomery Co., OH, where he became the father of my great grandfather, George William GEARHART. George, born in 1840, married Sarah ERISMAN and (their daughter and) my maternal grandmother Elizabeth was born in 1862 [not sure yet if this line is connected with above one; comments, anyone?].

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