Allen and Rebecca White Harter

It's been 3 years since I initially started this blog. I really hadn't planned on letting so much time slip by without posting again, but life got in the way. Now I have the time and I want to see if this method of sharing family history will work better than all my previous methods. While they all helped me gain insight into distant ancestors they lacked the interaction I'm looking for. So here goes~~~

I've been working on the family structure of my great great grandparents Allen and Rebecca White Harter of Roann, Wabash County, Indiana. They intrigue me for some reason. Rebecca was the daughter of John and Rebecca Fisher White. She was born in Virginia on 3 July 1821. At a very young age she came with her parents to Preble County, Ohio. It was there she met Allen Harter who was born on 14 May 1817 in Lanier township, Preble, Ohio. He was the son of Daniel and Susannah Landis Harter. He and Rebecca were married in Preble County on 6 February 1840. Allen purchased 160 acres of land in Wabash County, Indiana on 25 June 1841. With the help of his brother, Abel Harter they moved to an undeveloped area of the United States and began their family. 

My great great grandmother's account of those early days can be found at:              http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/wabash/misc/reminisc.txt

When I first read this account I experienced a lot of different emotions in a short span of seconds. I was thrilled to be reading something written by this woman who gave birth to my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Harter Cooley. My second emotion was one of being humbled. How did these people endure this kind of hardship, continue to survive and still have a positive outlook on life? In our modern world if the power goes out for a few hours or we don't have some modern convenience that we're used to we get uptight. My third emotion was one of wanting more. I'd just been handed a genealogy gem and I wanted more. It's finding this kind of evidence that motivates anyone who studies their family history. When we do it spurs us to search deeper. Allen and Rebecca were the parents of 8 children: Rebecca Ann, Eli, Daniel M., Catharine, Henry, Zeri, Sarah Elizabeth and George H. 

My great great grandparents passed away just a few short months apart in 1893. Allen left this earth in April and Rebecca followed in November. They are buried in Citizens Cemetery in Roann, Wabash, Indiana.  The photo I posted here of Allen and Rebecca is from the collection of my cousin, John Bradshaw. John's ancestor, Charlotte Ann Cooley Martindale and my ancestor, Guy Manford Cooley were siblings. They were two of the children of Jabez and Sarah Elizabeth Harter Cooley. I am deeply indebted to John for all of his help over these past few years. Without him I'd still be looking at some big genealogy brick walls.