Harrison County
On this 19th day of November 1832 I personally appeared in open Court before the justices of the County Court of Harrison now sitting Samuel Harbert a resident of Harrison County and State of Virginia aged seventy-two years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.
That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers, and served as herein stated.
He states that he was borned in the State of New Jersey in the year 1760 – that he was moved by his father when he was 5 or 6 years old into the State of Va near to Winchester = was from thence by his father moved to Monongalila County, Va when about 11 years old – lived there about 3 years and then moved to Harrison County Va where he now lives and has lived ever since he left Monongalia County -
He states his father lived immediately on the frontier of this settlement in Harrison county = That in the year 1778 – The Indians came in and made an attack on his father’s house entered killing his father – a sister and several others which was in the house at the time. That he was in the house at the time and that they killed one Indian, - That from this time 1778 – he was employed as a spy under Capt. John Thomas, Capt. Ths. Reid, Capt. Benj. Robinson and Capt. William Lowther sometimes under command of one and sometimes another of his above officers until the end of the Revolutionary War – sometimes a spy and sometimes a common soldier; That he has lost the record of his age – He states he thinks he can prove his services by severals John Harber and Josiah Davisson.
He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present ones declairs his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state.
Sworn to and subscribed
the day and year aforesaid
Samuel Harbert [SEAL]
We John Harbert and Josiah Davisson residing in the aforesaid County of Harrison after first being sworn according to the law, depose and says that they each know of the foregoing service set forth in the above Declaration by the applicant Samuel Harbert, that they know he performed the service as stated in his declaration – that they served with him a part of the above time –
Sworn and subscribed this
Day aforesaid - - -
John Harbert [SEAL]
Josiah Davisson [SEAL]
[John Harbert's brother]
Samuel Harbert's Revolutionary War
Pension Application
- Thomas Harbert [Sr] moved the family from their home in New Jersey to the state of Virginia, near Winchester, about the year1765-1766.
- The family lived near Winchester, Virginia until Samuel was 11 (about 1771) when the family moved further westward to Monongalila County, Virginia.
- The family stayed in Monongalia County, Virginia about 3 years (about 1771-1774) when their father Thomas moved the family to Harrison County, VA.
John was about 2 years old when Thomas, Isabelle & family left the Winchester, Virginia area and moved to Monongalia County (near present-day Morgantown, WV), and was about 5 years old when the family moved to Harrison County, (West) Virginia.
John's father - Thomas Harbert [Sr] was killed at the attack on Harbert's Fort on Jones' Run, March 3rd, 1778 at 43 years of age, along with his young daughter Celia (about 2-3 years old), leaving his wife Isabelle (40 years old) with youngest son John at 8, Thomas Jr. 10, William 12, Edward 16, and oldest son Samuel about 17.
The hostilities with the Shawnee and the settlers continued. Thomas's sons Samuel, Edward and John were all involved in this ongoing struggle as evidenced by the fact that they all filed for Federal Pension as Indian Spies and Militiamen. On May 11, 1791 neighbors John & Sarah McIntire were murdered by a band of Shawnee. My 4th Great Grand-Uncle, Levi Shinn - whose mill became the center of the community that is now Shinnston - gives an account of the events in the community following their murder and of John Harbert's role as an Indian Fighter/Spy. By this time John was 21, had been married 2 years to wife Sarah, and had his first child Thomas.
John Harbert - Indian Fighter
Levi Shinn Recalls the Murders of John & Sarah McIntire…
From the Journal of Elder Levi Shinn…
“Preacher Samuel Breeze [spoken by some as Salvation Sam] preached the funerals of our neighbors, John McIntire and wife, Sarah, who were foully murdered by the Shawnee savages on my 12th birthday, Wednesday, May 11, 1791.
Tom Harbert [son of Thomas Harbert, Sr. who was dead by this time] and Clement Shinn, my cousin, and myself were planting corn in our Mudlick Run field, when Tom Stevens and his sister Bessie, Daniel’s children, came by riding double as fast as the horse would go and screaming for us to run home - that Indians were about and John McIntire was killed.
John and Sarah McIntire were returning home from visiting John Ashcraft and family, ‘up the Bingamon.’ It was late milking time and they stopped at the Uriah Ashcraft’s place to ask if Uriah, who they knew was alone at the house, had seen their cow or heard her bell. Uriah, who was standing in the doorway of his house, said that he hadn’t and asked how the folks were getting along up the creek. A short conversation then ensued.
A few minutes after the McIntires had passed on and Uriah had entered the house and closed the door, one of his dogs began acting strangely, growling and sniffing at the crack beneath the door. Uriah opened the door to see what the matter was, and there was an Indian warrior standing in the front yard with a gun in his hands. Uriah closed and bolted the door, then taking his rifle from the door corner, went up the stairs and looked out the window there.
Now there were four Indians in the yard, all warriors painted for war, and armed with rifles. Uriah attempted to kill the Indian nearest the house, who seemed to be the leader, but his gun misfired. He then began screaming for help.
Soon, his screams brought an answer from the nearest settlement… John Ashcraft began yelling to the McIntire brothers, saying that Uriah was in trouble. The Indians hearing these yells, hastened from the yard and disappeared in the woods. John Ashcraft, John Harbert, the three McIntire brothers, and two or three others, made up the rescue party. They found the body of John McIntire about a mile from the house and started to follow the Indians, [thinking Mrs. McIntire had been captured] but lost the Indians’ trail. They then went to Elder Levi’s father’s house where John Harbert volunteered to carry the news of the Indian attack to Nutters Fort and, mounted on the murdered John McIntire’s horse, undertook and accomplished this most dangerous mission. It was a brave deed, and our prayers went with young John Harbert.”
___________________________________________________________________
George A. Dunnington documents the events surrounding the death of John and Sarah McIntire in his book "History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia" published in 1880. Chapter 11, entitled: "Murder of The McIntires - End of Indian Depredations" gives a detailed account which includes John Harbert's part in pursuing the Indians who murdered John & Sarah McIntire, up to Middle Island creek in present day Doddridge County.
Chapter XI: MURDER OF THE McINTIRES-END OF INDIAN DEPREDATIONS
A short distance above Worthington, near the mouth of Bingamon creek, occurred the last of the depredations committed by the savages in this immediate neighborhood.
In May, 1791, as John McIntire and his wife were returning from a visit, they passed through the yard of Uriah Ashcraft. A few minutes afterwards, Mr. Ashcraft was startled by the growling of one of his dogs, and stepped to the door to see what had aroused him. He had scarcely reached the entrance when he espied an Indian on the outside. Closing the door he ascended the stairs and attempted three times to fire from a window at the redskin, but his gun snapped. He then observed that there were other Indians close at hand, and he raised a loud shout for help, hoping that friends in the vicinity might hear and come to his relief. The Indians presently retreated, and shortly afterwards three brothers of McIntire came up. Ashcraft explained the situation, and the four set out to follow the trail of the savages. About a mile off they found the body of John McIntire, whom the Indians had overtaken, tomahawked, scalped and stripped; and concluding that Mrs. McIntire, whom they knew to have been with her husband, was taken prisoner, they sent to Clarksburg for assistance to follow the murderers and recover the captive.
A company of eleven men, led by Col. John Raymond and Col. George Jackson, started shortly afterwards in pursuit of the Indians, and followed the trail to Middle Island Creek, where it appeared fresh. Col. Jackson proposed that six men should be chosen, who would strip as light as they could, and go ahead of the horses. William Haymond, of Palatine, who was one of the number, in a letter to Luther Haymond, fifty years afterwards, thus gives an account of what followed…
“George Jackson, Benjamin Robinson, N. Carpenter, John Haymond, John Harbert and myself (the sixth) were those chosen. We stripped ourselves as light as we could, tied handkerchiefs around our heads, and proceeded as fast as we could. The Indians appeared to travel very carelessly, and as it was in May, and the weeds were young and tender, we could follow a man very easily. Arriving on a high bank, Jackson turned around and said: ‘Where do you think they have gone?’ With that, he jumped down the bank, and we proceeded down on the beach a short distance, when suddenly we were fired upon by one of the Indians. We started in a run and had gone ten or fifteen yards when the other three fired. John Harbert and brother John caught sight of them first running up the hill and fired at them. Robinson and myself ran and jumped upon the bank where the Indians left their knapsacks, and I fired the third shot, the savages then being about fifty yards distant.
The Indian I shot bled considerable, and we trailed him for about a quarter of a mile, where he had cut a stick, which we supposed was to stop the blood. We followed him for about a mile, but the men thought it dangerous to go farther, thinking he had his gun with him, and would hide and kill one of us, and we returned. The other Indians we did not follow, but on arriving at the place of attack found all their knapsacks, a shot pouch, four hatchets and all their plunder, including the woman’s scalp.
I have since heard that one of the Cunninghams, who was a prisoner with the Indians at that time, on his return said that an Indians came home and said he had been with three others on Muddy River (West Fork,) and killed a man and a woman; that they were followed; that they fired on the white men; an that the white men fired on them and wounded three, one of whom died after crossing the second ridge at a run). We were on the second ridge and near the second run). If this account be true, and the Indians we followed the same, we must have shot well.”
After the murder of the McIntires, there were no more massacres by the Indians in this vicinity though it was not until the year 1795 that Indian hostilities ceased altogether in Northwestern Virginia—when the rapid increase of the white population, and the determined measures adopted by the government, soon put an end to the Indian wars, and drove the tribes further west.
It was thus ascertained that Mrs. McIntire had been murdered with her husband, and on the return of the party her body was found near where that of her husband had been.
John Harbert - Slave Owner
Studying genealogy you sometimes come across interesting history you'd rather not know about. This is one such item! Growing up in Ohio and learning about the the Civil War and slavery in general, I just somehow assumed that my family, from the "North" was no doubt exempt from this practice. Although I later read in my grandfather's family history that his grandfather Noah J. Harbert owned "a slave named Jerry" at the close of the Civil War [see "History of the Descendants of Noah J. Harbert" under STORIES link] I assumed it went no further than that. I have since discovered that Noah J. Harbert's father - John Harbert - also owned not only one, but several slaves.. listed in the 1850 US Slave Schedule of the U S Census:
Slave Owner - JOHN HARBERT
Slaves: (1) 46 Female-Black, (1) 29 Male-Mulatto, (1) 26 Male-Mulatto, (1) 23 Male-Black, (1) 21 Male-Mulatto, (1) 19 Female-Mulatto, (1) 16 Male-Mulatto
1850 Slave Schedule of U.S. Census - Harrison County, Virginia
John Harbert - The Miller
Excerpt from page 131, “The Old Grist Mills of Harrison County” by Dorothy Davis…
John Harbert petitioned the county court, March 3, 1823, for permission to erect a mill on his land on the lefthand fork of Tenmile Creek. The permit was granted and he erected a dam and built a water saw and grist mill. A millrace was dug out which ran from the dam to the mill, as this was the usual way on smaller streams of water. At first, this mill was a simple, crude affair but there is an old tradition that, at the time it was erected, patrons came from far and near, and, looking on in amazement, wondered at this marvelous exhibition of mans inventive genius, the like of which they had never seen. Compared with their mortars and hand graters, the water mill must have been a marvel to them, and they went home completely satisfied with the work done by the mill.
This mill was a great convenience to many people, and soon made for itself a good reputation. This was shown by the effort made to get the country court to establish roads to “John Harbert’s Mill.” One of these efforts was made March 22, 1828, by Adam Hickman, who then owned and lived on the farm where ex-sheriff, Fitzhugh Reynolds, now resides in the fine old brick house, once the home of his grandfather, the late Benjamin S. Reynolds, near to John Harbert’s mill, a distance of about three miles. There was some opposition to establishing this road, perhaps because it was a long one, or perhaps because it would take trade from some other mill. Hickman finally won and got his road so he could get to Harbert’s mill with his grist.
After Harbert had operated the mill for many years, he conveyed to his (grand)son, Benjamin F. Harbert, a tract of 131 acres of land, including the mill, by deed of February 1, 1851. The consideration named in the deed was one dollar, but Benjamin was to “suffer” his (grand)father and (grand)mother to remain on the land and use a part of it during their lives.
After Benjamin had operated the mill for sixteen years, he conveyed sixty-eight acres of land, including the mill to his son, Francis M. Harbert. May 11, 1867. About that time the mill was abandoned. Upon the death of Francis M. Harbert the site of the old mill became the opposite side of the road from where the mill stood, and only a short distance above the town of Sardis.
John Harbert was born on Jones’ Run, August 20, 1791, the son of Thomas Harbert, one of the very first settlers in this county. Because of the many Indian depredations, a “Block House” was built on Jones’ Run, and it was long known as “Harbert’s Block House.” John Harbert became a rich man for that day, and was known to always have money “a bag of gold money.” He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and later appeared in the county court and made oath to his declaration for a pension. The Harbert family, descendants of Thomas and other Harbert’s of the early pioneer days, is now one of the largest in the county. Arlos J. Harbert, now serving his second term as Judge of the Criminal Court of this county, is a lineal descendant of John Harbert, the miller.
John Harbert died on October 5, 1857 in Harrison County, (West) Virginia at 87 years of age. He recorded his Last Will and Testament on December 4, 1855. It is transcribed below.
John Harbert’s Will
In the name of God: Amen.
I John Harbert, of the County of Harrison in the State of Virignia: being old and weak in body: but sound: and strong in disposing mind and memory: and knowing that it is appointed unto all men, once to die, do make this my last will, and testament especially and above all.
I recommend my soul to God who gave it: and my body to be buried in Christian burial at the expense of my executors, and charged to my estate, and touching the goods of this world wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me, I will and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife Sarah Harbert, all the following property to wit: I give her my black woman Jane for her own use and profits during the term of her natural life, and at her death to pass to my estate, to be equally divided, among seven sons and my daughters Malinda Gifford and Patty Griffin and… one bed and bedding sufficient therewith – and one hundred dollars annually, to be paid her from my estate by my executors until her death.
Secondly, I desire that the land I purchased from John Kile, that I have …. to be sold by my executors and and equally divided between my sons Noah and Absolem and my daughters Malinda and Patty.
Thirdly – I will that my executors, pay my daughter Louisa twenty five dollars out of my estate together with former advancements – and in case the said Louisa Hagerty should hereafter have an heir, or heirs of her own body, then I desire that my executors pay the child or children the sum of five hundred dollars when the child arrives at the age of twenty one years or the proportional part thereof if there be children when each one may arrive at the age of twenty one years.
Fourthly – I will and desire, that all my property real and personal, herein not bequeathed shall be sold at public auction, and the proceeds thereof be equally divided between my seven sons to wit: Thomas, Jesse, John, David, Noah, Absolem & William and my two daughters Malinda and Patty.
Fifthly – I will and desire that the lands which I have conveyed to my children heretofore shall not be accounted by them to my estate.
Sixthly – I will and desire that John Gifford and David Harbert be my executors, with this my last will and testament, hereby revoking, disallowing and making null all former wills and bequeaths by me at any time heretofore made, and declaring this my last will and testament –
Given under my hand and seal this fourth day of December in the year 1855.
John Harbert [SEAL]
Signed and sealed in the presents of us,
Who subscribe our names in his presents
Wm K Bennett
Truman Elliott
Virginia
Harrison County Court – October 12th 1857
The last will and testament of John Harbert, deceased, was this day produced in Court and proven by the oaths of William R. Bennett and Truman Elliott subscribing witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded. Teste
Wm P. Cooper clk
Gravesites of John & Sarah Harbert
John & Sarah Harbert are buried in Sardis Cemetery, Sardis, Harrison County, West Virginia - not far from the location of his grist mill
(Latitude: 39.33305556 N Longitude: -80.42111111 W)