I’ll call this man Johannes II. We know Johannes I had a son named Johannes, he named him in his will. “The Hartman Family” refers to his baptism at Ziegel Church. I have found the record of that baptism and it is true that Johannes Hartman and wife did baptize a son on 26 Oct 1760 who had been born 3 Oct 1760 -- but no name was given for the infant. A sponsor was John Herriter and sometimes the sponsor is the namesake of the child -- but how does anyone know that? Perhaps there is some other source for John’s birthdate that matches that record, but I don’t know where it is.

1810. John Hartman age 45+ lives in Lowhill Twp, Northampton Co. His wife is 45+ and they have 7 children still lving with them. A neighbor is son John.

The DAR lists him as “John Hartman Jr.: b.3 Oct 1760 PA d. p 1810 PA m (1) Barbara X Pvt PA”

He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He lived in Lowhill Township all his life. And that is the key to knowing that I have not scrambled facts from the life of someone else with our Johannes. He was, other than his father and son, I believe, the only John in Lowhill.

John Hartman (II) is one of several ancestors we have who have been officially declared a “Patriot” by the DAR meaning if a woman can prove her descent from such a person, she is eligible for membership in that organization. In 1928, a woman from Connecticut proved her descent and made the case he had served in the Revolutionary War (establishing his Patriot credentials). She referred in her application to a family bible -- which I believe may have some information I would really like to have. She said at the time the bible was in the hands of someone who lived, of all places, in Sunbury, PA. I have tried everything I can think of to track down that bible or at least a transcription of it -- with no luck to date.

“The Hartman Family” has quite a lengthy discussion about the children of John Hartman and his wife Barbara. The author conjectures that the record may be confused because there may have been another man named John or Johannes Hartman with a wife also named Barbara having children in Eastern Pennsylvania in the late 1700’s. In my opinion, that was definitely the case, as there are too many children, with redundant names, baptized in different churches to John and Barbara Hartman. In some instances, it was a Lutheran Church and in other instances Reformed -- so I do not think all pertain to our ancestors John and Barbara.

Clearly, the three children that Johannes and Barbara baptized at Lowhill Church, pertain. They were: Anna Margaretha born 20 Oct 1791, Solomon born 15 Jan 1788 and our ancestor John born 16 Oct 1779. John did not leave a will, that might have helped. From the documents pertaining to the settlement of his estate, it appears that eight children survived their father. Three were minors at the time of his death: Lydia, Susanna and Jonathan.

In any event, the only child I absolutely need to verify as their son for my purposes was John III.

I don’t know Barbara’s birth year but her husband was born in 1760 and his oldest son in 1779, so I assume she was neither much older nor much younger than her husband. I do not know who her parents were.

1820. Barbary (sic) Hartman lives in West Buffalo Twp, Union County. Her household includes 3 females: one age 10-15, one 16-24 and one 45+.

Is her name Hoffman, per IGI?

Johann Nicholas Kleckner, twice a widower, married Barbara Schneider (single) 8 Jun 1790. Is there any way e died soon thereafter and she married second Johannes Hartman? This would explain why she was so close to the Kleckners.

I first encountered Barbara Hartman’s name at the Union County Court House when I was reading the will of John Kleckner. He mentioned that he was holding $2000 in cash for the heirs of Barbara Hartman. Her name “leapt” off the page at me because I had long known that some sources said the name of George Kleckner’s wife was Elizabeth Hartman, though I had never found any proof. Did Barbara have some connection to Elizabeth?

This caused me to take seriously that Elizabeth may well have been Hartman and I poked around the Court House for other Hartman mentions. And I found something else that was quite interesting. There was a deed written 27 April 1811 by which Barbara Hartman, widow of John of Lowhill Township, Northampton County, bought three tracts of land totaling some 440 acres from Solomon Kleckner, the land to be held in trust for the heirs of John Hartman.

This followed an 1810 agreement whereby John Hartman of Lowhill Township had agreed to make this purchase but he had died in the meantime, so Barbara was fulfilling that commitment. From Census and the fact of her will being filed in Union County, we know that Barbara in fact moved to Union County after buying that land.

The Barbara Hartman Mysteries. Several aspects of Barbara’s life beg for clarification, though, so far, I’ve not been able to figure things out as fully as I would like.

Was she related to the Kleckners of Northampton County? A related question is did the Hartmans know the Kleckners from when the Kleckners lived in Northampton County? Was it just a random event that John Hartman decided to move to Union County and decided to buy Solomon Kleckner’s land or did he know Solomon? We know that John Hartman and Solomon Kleckner signed an unusual agreement (for that time) whereby John agreed to return next year and complete the purchase of the land. They obviously trusted each other both to fulfill their end of that agreement.

Was it just that they were neighbors that John Kleckner became the trustee for money held apparently for Barbara’s daughters Lydia and Susanna? Was he their guardian -- taking over from their original Northampton County guardian? Why John Kleckner?

I have considered that perhaps Barbara was a sister to John Kleckner, born in 1750, and Solomon Kleckner, born in 1765. She would fit in right in the middle and that would about explain everything. The problem with this theory is that Anthony Kleckner named all his children in his will and Barbara was not among them.

Another mystery relates to Barbara’s estate. She died in 1839 and by her will left all her personal property to her son-in-law Samuel Orwig, husband of her daughter Lydia. She named no other children. But her heirs were entitled to two other assets: the property she had bought from Solomon Kleckner and the cash held by John Kleckner -- both assets held in trust for John Hartman’s heirs. Barbara did not need to mention those things in her will, I suppose, as their ultimate ownership had long since been specified (by the Northampton County Orphan’s Court, perhaps?). But I have not been able to track down anything relating to the ultimate disposition. John Hartman had eight heirs when he died and they should have been party to some deed disposing of the 440 acre tracts and I would think they also would have signed a release to the Executors of John Kleckner’s estate that those monies were properly distributed.

Why did Barbara only mention Samuel Orwig in her will and apparently leave him “everything”? A Samuel Orwig lived in West Buffalo Township in 1830 apparently age 20-30 with a 60-70 year old female present in the household. Since I can’t find Barbara in 1830, I’m guessing she was the older female. I found evidence of a Samuel Orwig who died in Bellevue, OH and whose wife was named Lydia Hartman born about 1805. This fits with the records of the Northampton Orphan’s Court which says John died in 1811 with eight children total including Susanna and Lydia both under 14.

In any event, I suspect that the bulk of the inheritance of John and Barbara’s children did not need to be itemized in Barbara’s will and that, because she had been living with Samuel and Lydia, left them what little personal property she then had.