John W. Vandyke

John married Jane ELSWICK 05 Jul 1858, Tazewell, Co. VA. Jane (daughter of William (Billy) ELSWICK and Unknown) was born 1834, Tazewell Co. VA; died 1863. [Group Sheet]

1. Mary Ann Vandyke was born 1858.
2. Mary Rutha Vandyke was born 24 Jan 1860, Tazewell, Co. VA; died 18 Sep 1949.

John married Elizabeth Jane Steele 28 Jan 1861, Tazewell, Co. VA. Elizabeth was born 1842, Tazewell, Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

1. Paris A. Vandyke was born Nov 1861, Tazewell, Co. VA.
2. Robert Israel Vandyke was born Apr 1864, Tazewell, Co. VA.
3. Anthony Vandyke was born 1866, Buchanan Co. VA.
4. Shadrick Vandyke was born 25 Aug 1868, Buchanan Co. VA; died 28 Nov 1945.
5. Margaret Vandyke was born 1870.
6. William Vandyke was born Jul 1871, Buchanan Co. VA.
7. Sarah Vandyke was born 1872.
8. George Lee Vandyke was born 1873, Buchanan Co. VA.
9. Araminda Vandyke was born 1874.

Notes:

CENSUS RECORDS

1850 Census
Name: Israel Vandike
Age: 49
Birth Year: abt 1801
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1850: Western District, Tazewell, Virginia, USA
Gender: Male
Family Number: 1138
Household Members:
Name Age
Israel Vandike 49
Robbin Vandike 18
Jno Vandike 15
Andw Vandike 11

Israel married Mary Rebecca BEAVERS 1822, Tazewell Co. VA. Mary (daughter of Robert (Robin) BEAVERS and Catherine (Katie) HARMAN) was born ca 1801, Tazewell Co. VA; died 1838. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: ED4887FE17C74E3D8DFA13ACC53A90D3CBE3

Notes:

1850 Census Tazewell Co. Western District Household 1074
Name: Robt Beavers Age 72, born in VA. Also in household is Catharine Beavers age 72, and Robt Hankin, age 13.

Robert married Catherine (Katie) HARMAN Abt 1798. Catherine (daughter of Mathias (Tice or Tias) HARMAN, Sr. and Lydia SKAGGS) was born 1778, Strasburg, VA; died 04 Apr 1855, Lanes Branch, Tazewell Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: F2847AFA1C1747AD91DECB1FECC830E230A3

Notes:

Nickname may have been Katie.

Died:
Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917
Name: Catherine Beavers
Birth Date: abt 1779
Death Date: 4 Apr 1855
Death Place: On Lanes Branch, Tazewell, Virginia
Death Age: 76
Marital Status: Married
Gender: Female
Father Name: Mathias Harman
Mother Name: Lydia Harman
Spouse Name: Robert Beavers
FHL Film Number: 34185

Other Events:

• _UID: 6BD70E82B559401CB697DBF91713D1247C9D

Notes:

WILL ABSTRACT

1774 Nov 9 Robert Bevers of Mansfield, Woodhouse Township, Sussex Co. NJ, yeoman, Will of. Wife Elizabeth Bevers £200. Son Alexander £40. To Abraham Bevers, oldest son of my oldest son, Alexander, £10. Daughter Sarah, wife of Abraham Axford, £80. Son William, £100. Daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Doctor Samuel Cannady,£80. Son Robert, £100, Son Moses £200. To George Bevers, oldest son of my brother, Joseph Bevers, £10. Lands to be sold and money divided among my children, Alexander, Sarah, William, Elizabeth, Robert, and Moses.

Executors: Wife, Elizabeth; and my sons, Robert and Moses; and my son-in-law, Doctor Samual Cannady.

Witnesses: John Marlatt, Nathan Marlatt, and Mary Bevers.

Proved Oct. 17, 1777. Inventory £1,342.10.3 made by Garrett Rapalje and Newbold Wootson.

Alexander married Nancy UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 2BC8C9755341475C8E28116D045460E539C8

Notes:

Most likely she was his first wife.

Other Events:

• _UID: 0157FFA68916496E877E9F77AD53587C422F

Notes:

"Annals of Tazewell Co, VA", Harman, Vol II, page 445.
The Harman Family. Son of Heinrich Adam Harman, Sr. Born in Straburg, VA.

Connelley, William Elsey. The founding of Harman's Station: with an account of the Indian captivity of Mrs. Jennie Wiley and the exploration and settlement of the Big Sandy Valley in the Virginias and Kentucky, to which is affixed a brief account of the Connelly family and some of its collateral and related families in America. (New York, New York: Torch Press, c1910).

"Matthias Harman was called "Tice" or "Tias" Harman by his companions. He was diminutive in size, in height being but little more than five feet, and his weight never exceeded one hundred and twenty pounds. He had an enormous nose and a thin sharp face. He had an abundance of hair of a yellow tinge, beard of a darker hue, blue eyes which anger made green and glittering, and a bearing bold and fearless. He possessed an iron constitution, and could endure more fatigue and privation than any of his associates. He was a dead shot with the long rifle of his day. The Indians believed him in league with the devil or some other malevolent power because of their numbers he killed, his miraculous escapes, and the bitterness and relentless daring of his warfare against them. He was one of the Long Hunters, as were others of the Harmans, and more than once did his journeys into the wilderness carry him to the Mississippi River. He and the other Harmans able to bear arms were in the Virginia service in the War of the Revolution. He is said to have formed the colony which made the first settlement in Ab's Valley. He formed the colony which made the first settlement in Eastern Kentucky and erected the blockhouse. He brought in the settlers who rebuilt the blockhouse, and for a number of years he lived in the Blockhouse bottom or its vicinity. In his extreme old age he returned to Virginia and died there. It is said he lived to be ninety-six, but I have not the date or place of his death."

-----------------

Historical marker #736 (Kentucky)
Harman's Station is Kentucky historical marker #736 located 5 mi. S. of Paintsville, US 23, 460.

Description: The first settlement in Eastern Kentucky. Matthias Harman's party of hunters from Virginia built stockade near river bank, 1787. Indians forced evacuation in 1788, and burned blockhouse. Harman and others returned, 1789, and rebuilt an enduring fort. These men at Blockhouse Bottom broke Indian hold on Big Sandy Valley, opened Eastern Kentucky for settlement.

-----------------

Historical marker X-25 (Dry Fork, Virginia)
Sign reads: Harman helped establish the first permanent English settlement in eastern Kentucky in 1755. In 1789 he founded Harman?s Station on the Levisa River near John?s Creek in present-day Johnson County. He and his wife, Lydia, settled in this area in 1803.

-----------------

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. (Online: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.).
English, West Virginia Mathias Harman and his wife Lydia were the first English settlers in the present county. They lived in a cabin along the Dry Fork River as early as 1802.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English,_West_Virginia

-----------------

Served in the American Revolution as a Captain in James Maxwell's Company.
http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_descendants/?action=list&MyPrimary_Seqn=866595&MyLineageCount=1&Control_Min_Seqn=866595

------------------

"Heritage of McDowell Co, WV...", John Estel Harman article, page 163. Henry Mitchell Harman, son of Mathias and Lydia Skaggs Harman, married Susan Christian. Mathias Harman lived and died 2 April 1832 on Dry Fork, Tazewell Co, VA.

"Alleghaney Co (VA) Heritage", Hildreth Smith article, page 192.

-----------------

Source: "Reed and Related Families of Tazewell County, Virginia and McDowell County, West Virginia", by Juanita S Halstead.

Mathias Harman, Sr was a son of Heinrich Adam Harman and Louisa Katrina. Mathias was well known in Southwest VA as an Indian fighter, a "Long Hunter", and a conqueror of the wilderness. He and others were the founders of Harman's Station in KY near what is now Paintsville, KY. It was back to this fort that Jenny Wiley made her way when she escaped from the Indians. Jenny was escorted back to her home in Virginia, but she and her husband returned to KY and made their permanent home near to where "Jenny Wiley Park" is now located. Mathias and Lydia (nee Skaggs) Harman returned to Tazewell County where they lived out their lives. The site of Mathias' home is on Dry Fork and I have been told that there is an old family cemetery on this land.

-------------

From the unpublished manuscript, Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell and Holston Rivers, by Emory L. Hamilton pages 164-172.

This family of Harmans were of German origin, Adam Heinrich Hermann emigrating to America in 1726, with a brief stop over the Isle of Man, where Henry Harman of this sketch was
born. Seven Harman brothers emigrated from Germany together, Jacob, Valentine, Mathias, George, Daniel, John, and Heinrich Adam. They first stopped off in Pennsylvania, then emigrated to the Shenandoah Valley and some on into North Carolina. At least three of these brothers settled in
Southwest Virginia, namely, Heinrich Adam, Valentin and Jacob. They were living in the New River German settlement, the first settlement ever made west of the Alleghenies on the "Western Waters", and were living there prior to 1745. In 1749 Moravian Missionaries conducted the first recorded religious services in Southwest Virginia in the home of Jacob Harman, and Dr. Thomas Walker mentions stopping at the home of Harman on his memorable exploration trip in 1750.

Valentine and Jacob were both killed by Indians on New River. Valentine was killed on Sinking Creek in what is now Giles Co., VA. In a land suit filed in the High Court of
Chancery in Augusta Co., on the 23rd of July, 1807, Taylor vs Harman, Mathias Harman, nephew of the slain Valentine, says: Valentine was killed by the Indians on New River and at the same time his (Mathias') brother, Daniel Harman and Andrew Moser were taken prisoner. Daniel made his escape, but Andrew was held prisoner.

On the 30th of June, 1808, Daniel Harman, deposes, in the same land suit, saying: In 1757, Valentine was killed in my presence less than a foot away from me, and I was taken prisoner. Valentine Harman, who was slain left a widow
Mary Harman, but no children.

The Harmans of this sketch are the descendants of Heinrich Adam Hermann who emigrated from Germany, who married Louisa
Katrina, October 8, 1723. Louisa Katrina died March 18, 1749. The children of this marriage were:

[1] Adam Harman, the eldest, born in Germany in 1724;

[2] Henry Harman born on the Isle of Man in 1726;

[3] George Harman, 1727 - 1749;

[4] Daniel Harman, born Pennsylvania, 1729;

[5] Mathias Harman, born near Strausburg, VA, in 1736;

[6] Christina Harman, who married Jeremiah Pate, and lived on Little River in Montgomery Co., VA;

[7] Catherine Harman who married Ulrich Richards in Rowan Co., NC;

[8] Phillipina Harman, who died in 1751;

[9] Valentine Harman who settled on the upper Clinch River in 1771, and moved to Lincoln Co., KY, about 1775, and was a member of the Henderson Legislature at Boonesboro in May, 1775;

[10] A daughter, name unknown, married a Mr. Looney;

[11] Jacob Harman, perhaps the Jacob who settled in Tazewell
Co., VA in 1771.

The sons of old Heinrich Adam Hermann, the German emigrant, became great hunters and Indian fighters. While most of them were great hunters, one in particular became one of the noted Long Hunters. It is hard to determine just which
son this was, but evidence points to the youngest who was Jacob.

Sources:

Calender Virginia State Papers, Vol. IV, page 564.
Harman Genealogy by John Newton Harman
Augusta Court Causes Ended, Taylor vs Harman.
Augusta Court Causes Ended, Wynn vs Inglish heirs.



CENSUS RECORDS

1830 United States Federal Census \
Name: Mathias Harman
Home in 1830 (City, County, State): Tazewell, Virginia
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 90 thru 99: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39: 1
Slaves - Males - 24 thru 35: 1
Slaves - Females - 10 thru 23: 1
Free White Persons - Under 20: 3
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 3
Total Free White Persons: 7
Total Slaves: 2
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored): 9

Buried:
Grave site located on findagrave.com

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Harman&GSfn=Mathias&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=1832&GSdyrel=in&GSst=48&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=17120003&

Mathias married Lydia SKAGGS 1760, Virginia. Lydia (daughter of James SKAGGS and Rachel) was born 1745, Strasburg, VA Orange Co. VA; died 2 Oct 1814, Dry Fork, D.G. Sayers Farm, VA; was buried , Mathias Harman Cemetery, Dry Fork, Tazewell Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: A6B332468C154E56B673575EE91FDAEAC004

Notes:

Source: "Reed and Related Families of Tazewell County, Virginia and McDowell County, West Virginia", by Juanita S Halstead.

Lydia Skaggs was a sister to the famous "Long Hunter" Henry Skaggs. They had other brothers who were noted "Long Hunters", also. Again, we don't know who the parents were of these hardy, adventurous men and women. This writer leans toward the idea that James and Rachel Skaggs of Montgomery County, VA may well have been the parents.

Deposition of WILLIAM RATLIFF (27 April 1836 at the home of WILLIAM SKAGGS, Aleck Fork of Pitman Creek). I was acquainted with MOSES SKAGGS of Green County, KY. He had 4 sisters, to wit: SUSANNAH, wife of RICHARD WHIT; LYDIA, wife of MATTHIAS HARMON, ELIZABETH "Betsy," wife of JOHN HANKINS; and NANCY, wife of WILLIAM MERIDY. I was quite intimate with them in Virginia. I knew them before they married. MOSES had a brother named JOHN SKAGGS. . . I knew the brothers of MOSES SKAGGS. They were HENRY, JAMES, CHARLES, JOHN, RICHARD and JACOB SKAGGS. I knew them in Kentucky and they all raised large families.

Deposition of FRANCES SAMPLES (27 April 1836). I was familiar with MOSES SKAGGS who died in Green County about 40 years ago. He had 4 sisters, to wit: SUSANNAH, wife of RICHARD WHIT; LYDIA, wife of MATTHIAS HARMAN; ELIZABETH, wife of JOHN HANKINS, and NANCY, wife of WILLIAM MERIDY. They lived in Virginia. When I knew them, MOSES had 6 brothers: HENRY, JOHN, JAMES, CHARLES, RICHARD and JACOB.
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ky/green/estates/skaggs1.txt
http://www.getnet.com/~cingram/f614.htm

John Newton Harman, Sr., Harman Genealogy (Southern Branch) with Biographical Sketches, 1700-1924 (Richmond, VA: W. C. Hill Printing Co., 1925), 268, 269, __; page images available at Ancestry.com



Buried:
Grave site located on findagrave.com

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Harman&GSfn=Lydia&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSst=48&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=17120011&

Notes:

Married:
U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
Name: Lydia Skaggs
Gender: Female
Birth Year: 1736
Spouse Name: Mathias Harman
Spouse Birth Place: VA
Spouse Birth Year: 1736
Marriage Year: 1760