Get your own Free Home Page
Here is the information I have on John B Dehart and his family.
John Burkhart or Burkhardt Dehart b December 31 1836 or December
1835, Reading (information on a pair of charts compiled
in re to the settlement of the estate of John's grandson,
John B. Dehart, son of Philip, who died I guess intestate
in 1995 in New Jersey, with no direct heirs, leaving the
heirs of all collateral lines to inherit.)
Cousin found him b 12/24/1836, chr l/l/1837, w next
child chr at First Reformed, in Reading.
John m 1861 or 1862, in Dauphin Co, probably in a Lutheran
or Brethren church, Mary A. Wise, b September 29, 1843,
Highspire, PA, dau of Jacob Weiss or Wise and Johanna
Susanna.
John Burkhart d April 6, 1928, Plainfield, NJ
Mary Weiss Burkhart d Oct 20, 1930, Plainfield, Union Co, NJ. JOhn Burkhart's funeral was in Steelton, and they are
suppsed to be buried in Highspire area someplace.
I believe John was a laborer, though some of his children
were better off. My father's notes say he worked at a
distillery in Highspire - and say he was "from Reading".
His obit, I think, says he washed bottles at the Highspire
brewery. 1880 census says he was a fireman. 1875 map shows
him living in Highspire, on Second STreet, between Vine and RAce,
one lot from Vine St. He had a largish lot. J Kiip Hschool or
boys' school was two lots over.
My father thought that John Dehart's father must have
been a preacher, because he understood that his mother
was in a home for retired clergy and their wives in
Reading. I can't yet make sense of that.
The set of notes from my cousin say John lived in Reading
until he was 20, then to Harrisburg, then to Plainfield
NJ. These notes, which seem to come from older members of
that family, also say John was born in Philadelphia in
1769! That was from John Irving, one of John's sons.
I also have it that John went to Dauphin County (Highspire
or Steelton, then to Harrisburg, then...
When he was older, John Dehart and his wife returned to
Reading, according to a third cousin. She wrote: "I
remember visiting my great grandparents in Reading. They
lived in an old row home with a noarrow covered passage-
way to the LARGE back yard. At the far end of the back
yard was a large carriage house which was rented out as a
candy factory. Grandfather also had Fruit trees and a
large vegetable garden....They ended up living with my
grandmother (Aunt Irma's mother), ...when they were old".
- in Plainfield, NJ near Philadelphia.
My father's notes mention "Schuykill Ave in Reading" and
don't explain the significance of this place.
My father's notes mention a Dehart in a bank in Reading,
and include a note to check with the Chamber of Commerce
to learn about that individual. Implication, the Dehart
in the bank was known to be a relative.
John B Dehart turned out to come from a prosperous old
Pennylvania Dutch family. They had been of the sort who,
having settled on large parcels of land in the middle of
the 18th century, always had little industrial enterprises
going on their farms of one sort and another, and in their
spare time they moonlighted as full time factory laborers.
John's family had owned considerable real estate in REading,
and though John was a laborer in a beer factory in Highspire,
he always seems to have been quite well off. For instance,
a map from the 1870's of Highspire shows him and his family
occupying a single house on a quite large lot in the north-
western part of town.
A large amount of money must have stayed in the family; that
1995 estate must have been for half a million dollars. I do not
know, and did not ask, by what formula it was divided among the
descendants of the siblings of Phillip Dehart (son of John) and
of Phillip's wife, after John B Dehart, the only son of Phillip,
died unmarried and intestate. But a third cousin got around
$50,000. John B Dehart (the grandson who died intestate) is
said to have "worked for the phone company". Phillip was John
Dehart's oldest son.
The Weiss property, which was literally on the railroad tracks
which ran through it a block and a half from the railway
station in the southern part Highspire, is shown as taking up
five lots, and is shown in the 1850 census as worth $400 which
I am told was about the worth of two small farms.
I found some information on the Weiss family.
Go to Weiss page
Both Jacob Weiss/ Wise and his wife were immigrants, and their one
son born before 1850 was named Jason.
*****************************************************************
Children of John Dehart and Mary Weiss/Wise:
Philip b March 1877 m Ellen M Leonard d 1920 Middlesex Co
NJ
Irving b December 31 1882 m Alwilda Dehart (I don't know
if that is her maiden name), d 1961 Plainfield NJ
Harry L Dehart b January 1874 m Mary d 1956 Plainfield NJ
Eva W b 1866 m Elmer E Green 5/20/1882 in Middletown,
Cousin Dorothy wrote Evie's family bible shows they
were married by a Brethren minister. but lived in
Steelton, I think. The Greens were a well-off
family - I gather, from Cousin Dorothy, his mother,
"Bunny Greene" or someone like that, well off and
had a house the young of the family liked to visit,]
supposedly in STeelton. 1880 census shows Elmer a
steelworker, living with his mother, Mary Green, age 58.
My third cousin, their granddaughter, went to
the top private girls' boarding school on the east
coast, married an attorney, and has never wanted for
anything.
Lillian b 2/21/1868 Highspire, m John Kohler *(1860-1933),
son of German immigrants John Kohler and Louise
Houseman who m in U.S. , d Steelton,
6/4/1947. Buried Baldwin Cemetery, Steelton PA
They were working class, and Lillian's daughter
was widowed, and worked as a cleaning woman (like me).
She had children;
Lillie Catherine Kohler b 2/17/1893
christened at St. John's Lutheran church
d June 27, 1986 Steelton
m Russell STiles Huggins, to BEtty Stroud
and Robert (Ella) Huggins
Eva M. Kohler b Dec 7, 1897 Steelton
d August 6 1992 Lower Paxton, Dauphin Co
m James Patrick Good August 7, 1923
No issue.
Bessie P b1879 died young. d 24 Dec 18____, an infant in
the 1880 census.
Carrie DeHart b 1862 m by June 1880, parents living in
Highspire (1880 census shows her "visiting" her
parents)
Charles Moore, about whom nothing
is known, but he had a sister Libby. They moved
from Dauphin Co to a suburb of Philadelphia, either
Drexil Hill or Upper Darby. Charles Moore was apparently
working class. He is listed on his death cert as a
"self-employed roller trimmer" and at the time had
lived in Philadelphia for atleast 12 years! Clearly, he
was a steelworker in the mills near Highspire.
1910 census lists him as roll turner, not out of
work in past year, they owned their house at 5222
Webster whre they lived from atleast 1908 until
after 1920, as my father says he visited grandmother
as a child, free and clear. No mortgage.
Charles Moore's death cert says he was b Aug 3 1859
in Pennsylania, and died January 1920 of complications
of surgery. Both are buried at Arlington, DE County
Dunsafe's in same lot. Same marker, as a matter of
fact - and nothing engraved on Dunsafe parts!
Also, the minister tipped only $2 for one of those
Dunsafe funerals. Charles Moore's grave
intriguingly has a flag engraved on it - he may
have a military record.
Cousin Dorothy wrote that when she was living with
her beloved "Gamma Greene" in Highspire, Aunt Irma
several times visited her aunt Carrie in Wilmington.
No clue if Irma had husband and children with her
at Gamma Green's. But if Gamma Greene was 58 in
1880 census, she definitely did not live past 1922.
Irma was born in 1885, appears to have travelled by
herself to visit Aunt Carrie in Wilmington, and
had her first child in 1910, by which time the
Moore's appear to have been permanently settled
in 5222 Webster Ave. Carrie did not leave that address
until 1920 to anyone's knowledge and still lived
there when my father, who was b May 1919, visited
her as a child.
Nellie b 1/26/1886 possibly Reading accdng to funeral home, d 7/ 7/8/1965, Drexel Park, Drexel Hill, Delaware Co, PA
m m George Dunsafe (incorrectly spelled Dansafe in
one family obit). THey lived in
Drexel Hill. No issue.
When Bessie Mae listed Nellie's
address on her marriage application in 1911 as her
place of residence, Philadelphia City Directory
says Nellie Moore was a dressmaker.
Nellie Moore was dressmaker in 1910 census, at home
George S. Dunsafe, d 2/12/1958, was an accountant
at a plumbing supply company in Philadelphia, born
in Cedar Park, NJ, where family ived and still live
had sister "Mrs. Louis/ Lewis Diamente" and nephew
Ellis Diamente. They had a fairly nice two-story
house in Drexel Park from 1928. Willard and Ellis
handled the funeral, Willard (my father's brother)
paid the bills.
Bessie Mae b 5/14/1885 Dauphin Co m 4/5/1911
in Philadelphia where the Moores lived
William Henry Smith Jr, (a clerk in 1911),
*** MY a bank executive in Philadelphia
then Carlisle, Pa, b 9/23/1879
ANCESTRY -- White Clay Creek, Newark, Delaware.
Willard Smith
Russell Smith (my father)
John B Dehart and Mary Weiss also appear to have had a couple
of other children, one of whom was named Gilbert, as my father
remembered. They are buried, like Bessie P., who died as a
child, next to Jacob and Joanna Weiss and someone apparently
of their family, in Highspire Cemetery. Annie F. b 7 Sep 1892
d 23 Mar 1900 7/8/16, Gilbert d 29 Oct 1884 4 months.
Tehre is also atleast
one young Dehart (Charlie, d 23 1871 18 years.buried there who must have been a nephew or
cousin as he was of an age and date of death such thta he could
not have been the child of John Dehart and Mary Weiss. There
are known to have been other members of the general family in
Harrisburg. This is on my Weiss page.
Back to my main ahnentafel for my father's family Back to Deharts page
Email me at tiggernut@mailcity.com
This page hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page