Mathias (Tice or Tias) HARMAN, Sr.

Male 1736 - 1832  (96 years)


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  • Name Mathias (Tice or Tias) HARMAN 
    Suffix Sr. 
    Born 1736  Strasburg, VA, Orange Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID 0157FFA68916496E877E9F77AD53587C422F 
    Died 2 Apr 1832  Dry Fork, Tazewell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Mathias Harman Cemetery, Dry Fork, Tazewell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    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."

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      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.

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      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.

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      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

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      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

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      "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.

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      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.

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      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
    Person ID I3841  Master File
    Last Modified 7 Aug 2015 

    Father Heinrich Adam HARMAN, Sr.,   b. 1700, Mannheim, Wurtemberg, Germany Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1767, New River. Augusta Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 67 years) 
    Mother Louisa Katrine Mathias,   b. 1704, Rhine, Germany Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 18 Mar 1748/49, New River, Giles Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 45 years) 
    Married 8 Oct 1723  Mannheim, Germany Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F2823  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Lydia SKAGGS,   b. 1745, Strasburg, VA Orange Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Oct 1814, Dry Fork, D.G. Sayers Farm, VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 69 years) 
    Married 1760  Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • 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
    Children 
     1. Kate HARMAN,   b. 1772, Tazewell Co VA Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Mathias (Ticy) HARMAN, Jr.,   b. 15 Jan 1775, Tazewell Co VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 14 Feb 1850, Tazewell Co VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 75 years)
    +3. Louisa HARMAN,   b. 1776, Strasburg, Orange Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1829, Tazewell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 53 years)
    +4. Catherine (Katie) HARMAN,   b. 1778, Strasburg, VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 04 Apr 1855, Lanes Branch, Tazewell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 77 years)
     5. Rebecca HARMAN,   b. 1784, VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1836  (Age 52 years)
     6. Henry HARMAN,   b. Washington Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location
     7. Adam HARMAN,   b. Montgomery Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Oct 1854, Tazewell Co VA Find all individuals with events at this location
     8. Phebe HARMAN,   b. 1785, Tazewell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1862, Tazewell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 77 years)
    Last Modified 7 Nov 2012 
    Family ID F2820  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart