Harnsberger Family Genealogy
(Under Construction)

Welcome to what we hope will become the online home for all things related to the history of the Harnsberger family. In 2021, a group of amateur genealogists interested in our family history began to pool our resources and efforts to compile an official history of the family, to be shared in book form and online, here.

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Who are the Harnsbergers? The name “Harnsberger” did not exist until after Hans the Immigrant arrived in Virginia in 1717, on the ship Scott with his wife, Anna Barbara Purve, his son Stephen, and 80+ other passengers constituting the Second Colony of Germanna, established in the colony of Virginia. Harnsberger is not a German name, or an English name that was adopted to better fit in to a new homeland. Hans’ last name was recorded as Herrensperger in the baptismal records of his home church in the canton of Thurgau in German-speaking Eastern Switzerland. Harnsberger, instead, was an attempt to render a Swiss German name in a way that English-speaking locals could pronounce and write. There are perhaps 200 - 300 Harnsbergers alive today. It is one of the rarest names in the U.S. Census – there are 12,000 “Smiths” for every “Harnsberger” to take one example. In America, it became alternately spelled as Herren Burgood, Hansborgow, Harnsburger, Hancebarger, Hansbarger, Hernsberger, Hearnsberger, and Harrensparger, among many other variants.

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Everyone with these surnames are all descended from this one Swiss couple, who settled first at Fort Germanna in 1717/1718, and then in Madison, Virginia in 1726 on their own farm. As they had only one son, Stephen (1716 - 1776), we are all descended from him and either his first wife, Agnes Hofmann (1722 - 1750) or his second wife, Ursulla Schaitli (1722 - ?). After the death of his first wife, Stephen moved his new wife and his family from Madison, Virginia over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Elkton, Virginia.

 

Between his two marriages, Stephen Hancebarger (as he spelled it) had six sons:

1. John Hansbarger (1742 - 1824), who upon the death of his father, moved to Clifton Forge, Virginia. Most of his descendants remained in that area, although his oldest son (John Jr.) established a branch of the family in the Dayton, Ohio area.

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2. Adam Hansbarger (1751 - 1815). Adam remained on his father's farm in Elkton, Virginia and fought in the French and Indian War and in the Revolutionary War.

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3. Henry Hernsberger (1752 - 1834) left Elkton and established his family nearby, in Bridgewater, Virginia. Two of his sons remained in the area, while two others settled in Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

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4. Stephen Harnesberger (1754- 1820) fought in the Revolutionary War, and received land in Lincoln County, Georgia as compensation, and moved there with his family in 1793. A subsequent branch of his family settled in Calhoun County, Arkansas ("the Hearnsbergers").

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5. Conrad Harnsberger (1756 - 1814) also fought in the Revolutionary War and possibly the War of 1812. He established a farm and a woolen mill north of his father's land, but still in the vicinity of Elkton, Virginia. His sons immigrated to Ohio in the early 1800s, but several daughters and their descendants remained in Elkton. Conrad's descendants moved on from Ohio to settle the Midwest.

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6. Robert Harnsberger (1760 - 1840) also served in the Revolutionary War. He relocated east of Staunton, Virginia, and his descendants remained in Augusta County, Virginia or moved to Port Republic, Virginia.

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If you are a Harnsberger, you can trace your lineage to one (or more) of these six Harnsberger "tribes" each led by a single son of Stephen Hancebarger!

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