History of Henry M. Hartline
Henry M. Hartline was my Great-Great-Grandfather. He was born about April in the year 1850 in St. Claire County, Illinois. There has been some puzzling things to note when researching Grandfather Henry. The main stumbling block is that in some documents he is listed as having been born in Germany. For example, in the 1870 Census he lists place of Birth as Germany. In the 1880 Census he lists Holland. Moving on to the 1900 Census it states his place of Birth was Germany and even has an immigration date of 1842. According to my research him being born in Germany is just not possible. Why would he lie and state that he was born in Germany when he wasn't though? I can only let the evidence speak for itself as follows.
It took me quite a bit of time to track down his fathers birth and life. I have written about him on this blog also.
Below is a table that I made with information about Henry M. Hartline that is helpful in tracking his life thus far.
One piece of concrete evidence that helped me determine his correct place of birth was his Civil War Military Record. Back up to 1860 and at the time he was living with his first wife Patience in Kentucky. At the time they had no children. He was living in the household of a J. Davenport, who I believe was John Davenport. He then appears in Richview, Washington, Illinois where he enrolls in the Draft in the year 1862. In looking at the actual document it states he had signed up for a little over 2 years but then deserted. The following info was given in his Military file:
Enlisted in Company U, Illinois 18th Infantry Regiment on 21 Dec 1863. Occupation at time of Enlistment: Blacksmith, Stood 5ft 10, Sandy Hair, Blue Eyes, Dark Complexion. Deserted
Then on 3rd of July, 1865 he appears on the Illinois State Census for the year 1865.
1 White Male under 10,(George) 1 White Male 20-30 (Henry) 1 White Female under 10,(Alice) 1 White Female 20-30 (Patient)
In looking at the actual document you will find Henry was neighbors with a John Davenport. I believe this is the same one listed above. It looks like they likely left Kentucky together and traveled to Illinois. I have yet to find any relation between the two.
By the 16th of July, 1870, Henry and Patience and their children had moved to Pinckneyville in Perry County, Illinois. This years census record lists the following members of the household.
Henry Hartline age 30, Patient Hartline 30, Alice Hartline 10, George Hartline 8, Silas Hartline 5
On 3 June, 1880 the family was now living in St. Clair County, Illinois. Listed below are members of the household that year:
Henry G. Hartline 41, Patient Hartline 39, George Hartline 17, Silas J. Hartline 15, Mamie Dawson (Adopted Daughter) 21
Patient must have died shortly thereafter, because 2 Feb, 1882 he married my 2nd Great Grandmother, Eliza Gambill, daughter of William Gambill of Williamson County, Illinois.
Per Marriage Record to Eliza Gamble he was an Engineer and living in Perry County, Illinois at the time they were married.
After their marriage they relocated to Williamson County, Illinois where they spend the next few years living there. Both of Henry & Eliza`s children were born in Williamson County.
This is where it gets interesting. In July of 1890, Henry made application for his Military Pension. It lists the following:
Enlistment Date 2 Apr 1862
Discharge Date 24 Aug 1864
Regiment or vessel 18 Illinois Inf.
Company F
Length of Service 2 Yrs 4 Mos 22 Days
In looking at this record, compared with the 1863 Draft Registration Record from Washington County, Illinois, the information matches exactly. He was married at the time and lists his place of birth as Illinois. Thus it appears that the Henry Hartline who was living in Washington, Illinois and married to Patient Johnson was indeed the same Henry Hartline who later lived and died in Bernie, Stoddard, Missouri
Above is a screen capture of my Ancestry DNA results. As you can see I currently have matches to 4 Descendants of John Silas Hartline, a son of Henry & Patient Hartline. I have tested at all the major sites and have multiple matches to his descendants across all sites. I believe both Henry`s are the same man. I have never seen him with the name John Henry Hartline only Henry M. Hartline.
In closing, I do not feel that he was born in Germany. My DNA and those of our children's have multiple matches to the descendant of Nikolaus Herdlein and Barbara Hess, both born and died in Germany. One census record lists him as Henry G. Hartline. It is my current guess that Henry likely descends from Nikolaus Herdlein and Barbara Hess`s son Leonhard Herdlein. Not much information is available on Leonhard`s line. His son Michael, born in 1743 or thereabouts was living in Tioga County, New York for a period of time. That is where our Henry Hartline Sr was born, Tioga County. I will share much more on my Hartline ancestors in other posts.
I have much more to share about Henry M Hartline in later posts.