There's a story posted on ancestry.com concerning John Harbaugh. It originated with a Cyrus Harbaugh who recorded it in 1930. It goes something like this:
Somewhere between the years 1780-1785*, a family of Harbaughs, traveling west through Bedford County by wagon, stopped at Thomas Griffith for a rest probably on account of sickness. They left two of their children (John and Sophie) there, saying they would come back after them. They never returned. It is speculated that they were killed by Indians or met death in some other way. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith raised these children at his home near Fishertown. Sophie married Amos Penrose. John was a miller by trade lived at the Blackburn Mill. He married Rachel Hammond.
It was determined that the father of the family passing through Bedford County was Peter Harbach of Berks County, PA. In 1946 this information was passed on to Cyrus who indicated that he was related to that Harbach family and, as a young man, would travel to Berks County to visit his cousins.
*John was born in 1781 and his sister, Sophia, was born in 1782, so if this story is true it would have had to have happened after 1782.
This could or could not be true as there are several ways to look at it. The Griffiths were active members of the Quaker community in Bedford County. If two very young children were left in the Griffith family's care and were ultimately abandoned by their parents, the Griffiths family couldn't very well leave them home unattended while they went off to their monthly church meeting. The Harbaugh children could very well have been raised Quaker and had become fully converted to the Quaker faith. They were certainly immersed in the culture. Afterall, the Blackburn family, one of whom owned the mill where John was employed and lived, were long-time Quakers. The Hammonds, the family from which John would find his future wife, were prominent members of the Quaker community as well. The problem comes, though, when we learn that John was not a member of the Society of Friends at the time of his marriage. We know this from the minutes of the Quaker records indicating that Rachel Hammond had married outside the faith.
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| Dunning's Creek Monthly Meeting 16 July 1806
"Complaint being brought from the women's Meeting against Rachel Harbaugh, late Hammond, for
accomplishing Marriage with a Man not a member of out Society before a Person holding the
Commission of a Justice, and they requesting the Company of some Men[allen] Friends in a Visit
to her: John Thomas and Jonathan Bowen are appointed to that Service and to report to next Meeting."
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| "At Dunning's Creek Monthly Meeting held the 13th of the 8th Month 1806 the Representatives being present. "The Friends appointed to unite with Men[allen] Friends in a Visit to Rachel Harbaugh report they had a opportunity with her and she appeared very desirous to condemn her misconduct and retain her right among Friends, for which purpose she produced a Paper of Acknowledgment to this Meeting condemning her outgoing which was read and accepted." |
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| "To Dunning's Creek Monthly Meeting to be held the 13th day of the 8th Month 1806. "I the Subscriber having had my Birthright amongst the People called Quakers, but for want of a strict adherence to the Dictates of Truth have given was to a libertine Spirit so far as to be joined in Marriage with a Man not a Member of our Society, - for which I am sorry and wish Friends to continue my under their Care hoping in future to live a more circumspect Life. "Rachel Harbaugh" |
Of course, it's even more complicated than that. We also know from Quaker church records that his sister, Sophia, married Amos Penrose within the Society of Friends. She was a member of the church in good standing and Amos was very prominently mentioned in the church records multiple times.There's no indexed church record showing John's disfellowshipment. He may or may not have been a member in good standing previous to his marriage. We just don't know for sure.
The most credible resource to verify the validity of this story was to figure out the relationship between Cyrus and John. Among John and Rachel's 9 children was a set of twins, John and Jonah, born in 1817. Jonah was my 3rd great-grandfather. Cyrus (actually named John Cyrus) was the 2nd youngest son of John Jr., which would make John Sr. his grandfather. Cyrus was born in 1860 and John Sr. didn't die until 1870, so Cyrus very well could have heard the story first-hand from his grandfather himself.
The history books indicate that the Blackburn grist mill (where John was employed) was a log building with a frame addition added in 1839. It was located in Springhope, a small borough near the southern edge of East St. Clair Township. It was erected by Joseph Blackburn and subsequently operated by Thomas W. Blackburn and George W. Blackburn. Contrary to the history books, an obituary for Anna Border Cuppett published in the Bedford Gazette on 15 March 1901 states that it was her great-grandfather, Thomas Blackburn (my 6th great-grandfather), who erected the grist mill in Springhope in 1770.
We didn't make it down to Springhope, nor is there any record indicating the burial places of John and Rachel. Apparently he didn't even leave a will, making John and Rachel's story quite incomplete.
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