Obediah Barnhart
The Barnhart family have been prominently identified with
the early settlement of Western Pennsylvania, especially the county of Butler.
The Barnharts, as their name would indicate, are of German extraction. John
William Barnhart, the progenitor of the American branch of the family, came
from Germany in 1764 and settled in Westmoreland county. He died in January,
1822. Three of his sons, Philip, Rudolph and Daniel, emigrated to Butler
county in 1796, and were among the very earliest settlers in the region around
Millerstown, and did much to redeem the country from a wild, uncultivated
region to one fitted for the habitation of man.In January, 1836, Mr. Barnhart purchased the primitive gristmill which
erected by Abraham Lasher in 1805, and also a tract of 150 acres, which
includes the land on which Millerstown is now located. Mr. Barnhart soon tore
down the ancient log mill and erected a more modern building.Soon after coming into possession of the property in 1836, Mr. P. Barnhart
laid out Millerstown, which took its name from the location of the mill,
although the post office is known to this day as Barnhart’s Mills. Mr.
Barnhart thus became the founder of what was destined to become a prosperous
village. Philip Barnhart died in 1860, after a long and useful life, respected
by all. Mr. Barnhart raised quite a family of children, one of whom, also
named Phillip Barnhart, Jr., married Susanna Kemerer, and they became the
parents of four children — Henry (deceased), Margaret, Jeremiah (deceased),
and Obediah. After the death of his first wife in 1851, aged fifty-one years,
he married her sister Catharine, by whom he had three children — Susannah
(deceased), Mary, Catharine (deceased).Mr. Barnhart, who died October 7, 1861,aged forty-seven years, was for the
major portion of his life engaged in farming, although he for a time was
engaged in milling at the old mill site. Obediah Barnhart was born in
Millerstown, May 10, 1848, and in 1869 was married to Miss Rosanna Aldinger
(born June 19 1848), daughter of David Aldinger, of Millerstown. Their
children are Walter H., born November 9, 1870; Laura A., born November 2,
1872; Harmon D., born January 22, 1875. When, in 1875, Mr. Barnhart moved to
his present farm of 110 acres in East. Franklin township, it presented
anything but an inviting appearance, being encumbered with old buildings, but
a fine view of his residence, which appears on another page, will show it to
be now numbered among the best farms in the township. Mr. Barnhart still
retains the home farm in the vicinity of Millerstown. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart
are members of the Reformed Church of Kittanning.Source: Page(s) 612, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert
Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 2000 by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith
Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any
presentation, without prior written permission.Return to the Biographical Index
Return to the Smith Project
Â
About Author
