Janis' Genealogy Site
Newspaper Article on the Garner Family
from the newspaper clipping file of the Chester County Historical Society (CCHS)
GARNER FAMILY IN BUCKS AND MONTGOMERY
Descendants of Hans Garner, Who Arrived in America in 1731, and
George Garner, who came here in 1749
The name of Garner is not very common in Pennsylvania except in Bucks and Montgomery counties. In the two latter it has been most common in Gwynedd, Hatfield, New Britain, Warrington and Doylestown townships. Also in Hatboro. In the list of 39,000 foreigners who arrived in Philadelphia between 1727 and 1776, two bore the name of Garner. These were Hans (or John) Garner, who arrived on the 31st of September 1731 and Hans George Garner, who came with his son John Garner, a lad of twelve years in 1749.
In Germantown there lived a John Frederick Garner before 1759, in which year his death took place. He had children John, Margaret, Hannah, Henry, Susannah, John Jacob, George and Frederick. He was evidently a German. In the old documents this name is often erroneously spelled “Gardner.” The latter is an English name. These early immigrants came from the Palatinate, a part of Germany, bordering upon the Rhine, and were Mennonites.
The earliest trace of the family in New Britain was in 1769, when a young man, named John Garner bought forty acres from Christopher Wells. This was a small farm situated on the County Line, just southeast of the present crossing of the Doylestown railroad. A few years ago it was the property of Josiah Ruth. In 1775, he bought fifty acres additional from Joseph Griffith. This was adjoining, on the northwest side of the railroad, and the late Krout farm, watered by the Neshaminy. In 1776 he was enrolled among the Non-Associators, or those not in the military service, and in 1779 was assessed as the owner of ninety acres. He held the farm during the Revolution. On the 7th of June, 1788, he sold it to Col. Jacob Reed, of Hatfield, for nine hundred pounds. The latter had been a valiant officer in the American ranks during the struggle with Great Britain. He continued to own this farm until his death in 1820.
In 1790 John Garner removed to Gwynedd, buying a farm on the Wissahickon, of John Davis. This was about a half mile north of North Wales. Here he staid (sic) during the remainder of his life, ending September 1827. He was buried in Line Lexington Mennonite Cemetery, and was over ninety years of age. This farm now belongs to the heirs of Simon Knipe. His descendants, or the family of Charles Garner, remained living in the neighborhood till a recent period.
This John Garner was remembered as a short, thick-set man, quite muscular, and a kind and obliging neighbor. A Mennonite in religious faith, he possessed a vein of ready wit and drollery, a keen appreciation of humor, which have been transmitted to many of his descendants. The name of his wife is said to have been Mary Lewis, of a Welsh family. They had eight children, six of whom survived him. These were Samuel, George, Henry, Peter, Catherine and Ann. Of these, Samuel, born in 1760, removed to New Britain, near Warrington, where he died in 1828, quite suddenly in the summer. Peter, the youngest son, was born in 1776, and died in 1845. Among the descendants of Henry, another son, is Rev. Harrison Garner, a Baptist clergyman who married the youngest daughter of David Evans, of New Britain village. He has been pastor of various churches in Eastern Pennsylvania, serving several years at Cold Point, Montgomery county, and at this writing is stationed at Altoona.
George Garner, another son, of the first John Garner, bought the later Ellis farm on the Wissahickon, immediately south of Pennbrook station, midway between Lansdale and North Wales, in 1802. This he held till 1833, when he sold to Henry Kneedler. Samuel Garner, who removed to Warrington in 1793 bought 123 acres lying on the southern slope of Spruce Hill. It was composed of two tracts, sold from Fitzwater land in 1753 and 1754. Garner bought from Abraham Moyer.
This Samuel Garner, of Warrington, was the ancestor of a numerous posterity. The name of his wife was Mary Haldeman. His children were George, Jesse, John, Samuel, a daughter, Mary, wife of Abraham R. Kephart, Susanna, wife of Joseph Lapp, and Sarah, wife of Charles Hinkle.
In the next generation, the children of George Garner were thirteen in number: Samuel, Reuben, Caspar, Rosalinda, wife of Elias Sellers; Christiana, wife of Henry Hines, the former undertaker of near Chalfont; Susan, wife of Samuel Hines, the shoemaker of Lansdale; Mary, wife of Levi Gerhart; Anna; Cordelia, wife of Joseph Hines, the wheelwright of Lansdale; Catharine; Harriet, wife of Isaac Transue, of Doylestown, and Adaline, wife of Henry Fellman of New Britain. Of these, Samuel Hines was a veteran of the civil war and died in March 1909. His widowed daughter, Mrs. Boorel, had long kept the tollgate, near Montgomery Square. The mother of this family was Maria Hinkle, of Plumstead. Her husband died in Warrington in 1861.
The children of the third brother, Samuel Garner, Jr., were Samuel and James. This brother was a soldier in the Mexican war. He had other children: Charles, Lizzie Stulb; Rebecca, wife of Jacob Detweiler; Julia Ann Richobough and Thomas. Samuel Garner, of Hatfield, was the son of the third Samuel Garner. The father of this family died in 1878.
Jessie Garner, the fourth brother, had children: Samuel, Amos, Abraham, William, Jesse, Isaiah, Barbara, Sarah, wife of Jacob Angeny, and one other, Nancy, who became the wife of Frank Davidson, of Doylestown township. Miss Lydia Davidson, of Chalfont, was a daughter of the latter. The mother of this family was Margaret Godshalk, daughter of John Godshalk, of near New Galena.
There was a George Garner, who died in Fountainville, where he was a tavernkeeper. He lived on the Plumstead side. He died in June, 1844. He also had a farm in Doylestown township. He left a wife, Elizabeth, and children, Lewis, Henry, George, Silas, Abraham, Eli, John, Mary, Magdalene, and Elizabeth.
E.M.
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Page Last Modified: Sunday, 02-Dec-2007 17:48:15 MST