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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: sherlynn on Monday 20 February 12 04:26 GMT (UK)
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Hello! I'm Sherri and I am from the US. I have been researching my family and have gotten to this person who is my great-great-great grandfather. All I know is he was born in 1790, maybe in Yorkshire. Can anyone point me to where I might find something about him? Is this an impossible task at hand?
Thank you,
Sherri
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Hi,,,And welcome to the forum ;)
Do you have any more info that could help ? who did he marry? what were the childrens names and when were they born? do you have his date of death? please tell us as much as you know,this will help us to help you ;D
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Thank you for the welcome! All I know is what year and where he may be from. He moved to the states probably around or before 1820. He married Rebecca Carter who was from South Carolina. He died 4 Jan 1830 and had two sons, Simon (my g-g-grandfather) and James. Spelling of Simon's name is sometimes found as Simeon. He is buried somewhere in central Indiana. I have a couple leads that I am going to check on..that is all I know.
I guess I would really like to find out his actual birthdate and maybe his parents but I am afraid I may be asking too much.
Thank you!
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There are 21 Thomas Harker's baptised in Yorkshire circa 1790 on the IGI, unless you know where in Yorkshire he came from? Simeon may be a clue, you could look through the 21 entries on the IGI putting in 1790 and 5 years search, see if any of them had a father called Simeon. Good luck from Linell.
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Thank you! I will check into that today. No one in my entire family has any clue where he was from. I was hoping that if I find his grave, maybe that will give me some clues. I can track his wife's family back another 2-3 generations. I would just love to know more about him.
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Hi Sherlynn
I have a Thomas Harker b 1796 in Northamptonshire ( a few miles away from Yorkshire !!) and family from him in Oundle in Northamptonshire, but probably no use to you
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Hi Sherlynn
I have a Thomas Harker b 1796 in Northamptonshire ( a few miles away from Yorkshire !!) and family from him in Oundle in Northamptonshire, but probably no use to you
Awesome! Did he ever move to the states?
I didn't realize how many Harkers there were. I knew in high school that my name was English but to now have proof is wonderful!
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Hello and a warm welcome from me too. Taken from the non-conformist registers arethe baptisms for the children of Simeon Harker ( occupation - miner) and his wife Betty at the Low Row Indpependent Chapel in Swaledale, Yorkshire (sorry no idea where Swaledale is, but hopefully someone else may!) which may be of use to you.
William Harker 5 October 1797
Mary Harker 7 July 1800
Sarah Harker 2 July 1804
Alice Harker 22 Jan 1807
Simeon Harker 12 August 1809
For the baptism of Simeon (jnr) & Elizabeth residence is given for parents as Heights Near Gunnerside, Swaledale
Elizabeth Harker 4 May 1811
James Harker 12 December 1812
Simon Harker 12 December 1812
James is 3 years old and Simon 3 Weeks when baptised and the parents abode is given as Brownsey, Swaledale, Yorks
Whilst I appreciate there is no reference to Thomas as a son of Simeon, I noticed that the name is spelt as you have said Thomas's son's name was spelt - Simeon, so maybe a place to start looking. Given the dates - maybe Simeon was an uncle ?
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Thank you so much for this information. I am seeing that given names are being used over and over so maybe I should start searching for James too.
I am also waiting to hear from Thomas's wife's family to see if they know anything.
I haven't given up hope yet :)
This is such a friendly place, again I want to thank each and every one of you!
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http://www.gunnerside.info/
Gunnerside Swaledale is in North Yorkshire.
The link above may help you to get the atmosphere.
Regards Brian
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You're very welcome :) That's an interesting link Calverley Lad, there are a lot of Harker's being baptised at and around that time and it appears that alot of the men were miners
Hopefully you may get a bit more information for Thomas that will help, but I do hope that atleast you may now have a starting point
Good luck with your research
Kind Regards
Angie
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Thank you, will check that out tonight. I keep running into a brick wall. The only thing I can figure at this point is that the birth year is wrong and that maybe his wife had his body sent back to England after he died. I have found his wife's grave but his is no where to be found. Was that a custom or does anyone know?
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Given that I provided a link to Gunnerside, I didn't have a look round the site.
Having looked around this morning, I found a picture of a MaryHarker (widow) with a brief history of her.
The mining in question is lead, very heavy work, more so than coal, leading to early death.
Could Thomas have died before Mary going to USA?
Brian
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I seen that also. Of what I have found so far, Thomas moved to the US and died in 1840 in Bartholomew County, Indiana. I just don't know where he was buried. He isn't buried with his wife Rebecca. Her tombstone is single. I am going to make a trip to the cemetary where she is buried this weekend to look around. Not sure if he was shipped back to England to be buried.
As for mining, I really don't know. I do know that all of the Harkers I have found so far were farmers.
I am still checking out all of the church archives. Taking me awhile ;)
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If you get anything more sherlynn let us know, there are a number of possibles for the baptism of Thomas Harker in Yorkshire. Can you get a death certificate for Thomas in the U.S.? I'm not sure how it works there but in the U.K. we are able to get certificates from 1837 onwards.
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I looked up death certificates for the county he died in but I actually have to go to the courthouse personally to check. Might be able to do that next week.
Now, for my GOOD news!! My local library has a genealogy department and I found a link there for www.familysearch.org I entered Thomas Harker and went through about 9 pages and found this:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NJ9C-143
This may very well be him. Christening 06 April 1790 and lists Joseph Harker as his father but no mother.
I am still searching this site, been through almost 100 pages of this website and still going. Will let you know if I find anything else.
I really hope what I found is him but I guess I'll never be 100% sure.
Thanks everyone!
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Hi Sherlynn, :)
Best of luck from us hicks in Shropshire, I will keep my eyes open for your Surname in my visits to the archivies here in Shrewsbury just in case a few strayed,
Pete :)
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Hi Sherlynn, :)
Best of luck from us hicks in Shropshire, I will keep my eyes open for your Surname in my visits to the archivies here in Shrewsbury just in case a few strayed,
Pete :)
Hicks? I have to admit that I really don't know much about your country. I have always wanted to visit though ;) There are probably millions of Harkers but don't think they are all related to me ;)
If hicks means there what it means here, I doubt that, lol! You all sound so elegant when you talk and I sound like a stupid Yankee ;D
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Hello Sherlynn, if you open the link that you found for family search you will see the marriage for Joseph Harker and Elizabeth Broadberry 6 January 1788 Arkengarth-Dale, York . If that is indeed your Thomas, then there are his parents.
I'm sorry I have no idea where Arkengarth-Dale is in Yorkshire? I have found Arkendale which is near to York and my guess would be that this is one and the same place, hopefully someone with more localised Yorkshire knowledge will see this thread and put you on the right track with that. - good find by the way!
Add- The reason I was interested in the information for the death certificate is because it may give an age at death which would obviously then given a more accurate birth date
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http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64713
The above link is to the area known as Arkengarthdale in North Yorkshire.
Nothing to add really, name of local church given and dates given for births and burials.
Brian
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Hello Sherlynn, if you open the link that you found for family search you will see the marriage for Joseph Harker and Elizabeth Broadberry 6 January 1788 Arkengarth-Dale, York . If that is indeed your Thomas, then there are his parents.
I'm sorry I have no idea where Arkengarth-Dale is in Yorkshire? I have found Arkendale which is near to York and my guess would be that this is one and the same place, hopefully someone with more localised Yorkshire knowledge will see this thread and put you on the right track with that. - good find by the way!
Add- The reason I was interested in the information for the death certificate is because it may give an age at death which would obviously then given a more accurate birth date
I can't seem to find the marriage you are talking about. When I open the page, there is just Thomas' father. I would like to believe this is the same Thomas but without proof I guess I can't have hope that I did indeed find him.
I also have spent today searching for a death certificate and I can't find one. Since he died in 1830, I am thinking that he was just probably buried on the farm and the marker has since disappeared. I still want to go to the county courthouse maybe next week to see what I can find but for now, I think I hit a brick wall :(
Will let you know what I find out.
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http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64713
The above link is to the area known as Arkengarthdale in North Yorkshire.
Nothing to add really, name of local church given and dates given for births and burials.
Brian
Very interesting link, thank you! I just love history and if Joseph is Thomas's father, I now know where they were from :)
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Here you are https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NNXH-8YH
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Thank you! I am keeping this for my records only as I can not prove anything yet but might give me something to go on.
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Awesome! Did he ever move to the states?
Hi Sherlynn
I checked my file and my Thomas Harker was father of my GGGmother Catherine Harker, but probably not relevant to your research.
As far as I know none of my family went out over the Atlantic, although I am partial to some Florida sun in St Pete.
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Awesome! Did he ever move to the states?
Hi Sherlynn
I checked my file and my Thomas Harker was father of my GGGmother Catherine Harker, but probably not relevant to your research.
As far as I know none of my family went out over the Atlantic, although I am partial to some Florida sun in St Pete.
Thanks for checking :D Right now, I could use some of that Florida Sun, really cold and windy today :o
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Now, for my GOOD news!! My local library has a genealogy department and I found a link there for www.familysearch.org I entered Thomas Harker and went through about 9 pages and found this:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NJ9C-143
This may very well be him. Christening 06 April 1790 and lists Joseph Harker as his father but no mother.
Hi Sherlynn,
You've probably already discovered this. The Thomas Harker you found on FamilySearch was buried on May 21, 1790: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/find/id?id=L1NV-9L2
I've also been searching for information about Thomas Harker, who is my 3G grandfather. It's been maddening! So far I've yet to find a birth record, emigration/immigration records, a marriage record, or a burial record. On August 7, 1820, the federal census enumerator in Brookville, Indiana ticked the column indicating that he was 26-45 years old, which would mean Thomas was born between 1775 and 1794. I did locate two General Land Office records dated November, 1822 for two parcels of land he purchased in Bartholomew County when the county was opened for settlement.