Eisenhart Family Groups

George Eisenhart/Isenhart

The third Eisenhart immigrant to come to the American Colonies in the 1750s was Johann Georg Eisenhart, born about 1736 in Württemberg. His presence in Pennsylvania was first documented in 1759, but unlike immigrants Andreas and Conrad we do not have information about exactly when or where he arrived. Because George joined Conrad Eisenhart in York County and remained close to Conrad and his family for many years, Willis Wolf Eisenhart speculated that George and Conrad were brothers or with the considerable age difference, half-brothers. However, the Dachtel Church records recorded a Johann Georg Eisenhardt born in 1736 who was the son of Hans Jakob Eisenhardt of Dachtel. On an early document in York Co. George reported that his father’s name was “Jacob” and since Hans Jakob Eisenhardt died in 1758 leaving his son Georg a small bequest in his will, there was reason to believe that George used this money to emigrate. There were some reservations about this scenario, however. Hans Jakob was the brother of Balthas Eisenhardt, the father of Immigrant Andreas. Why George would have sought out Immigrant Conrad in York County as opposed to his 1st cousin Andreas in Northampton/Lehigh County remained a concern. A trip to the Dachtel historical museum in 2008 raised further questions. The museum director showed evidence that Hans Jakob’s son Johann Georg married Margaretha Dreher in Dachtel in 1764 and the couple and their family emigrated to West Prussia (now Poland) in 1781. The debate continued until we received DNA results indicating that male descendants of Immigrant Conrad and Immigrant George had essentially identical marker patterns, and although they were all matches with descendants of Immigrant Andreas and thus “Dachtel” Eisenharts, there was enough variation to rule out the possibility that George and Andreas were 1st cousins. So we continue to seek the home village in Württemberg of brothers Conrad and George. Such wrong turns and unexpected developments are what make genealogy both challenging and fascinating.

George married Anna Elisabeth Ottinger in September 1767; however, they were apparently keeping company long before that since starting in 1759 they served together as “single person” sponsors at the baptisms of several of Conrad Eisenhart’s children. George first appeared on the tax lists in York Co. in 1762, and it is likely that he was accumulating the financial means necessary to marry and raise a family. George and Elizabeth Eisenhart eventually became the parents of five children: Anna Maria, Anna Elisabeth, Dorothea, (Johann) Jacob, and (Johann) George.

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On at least one document George was listed as a blacksmith, a trade he may have learned from Conrad during the years he spent as a member of Conrad’s household. He became a naturalized citizen of the Colony of Pennsylvania in September 1764. Willis Wolf Eisenhart noted that George apparently spent some time in Maryland after his marriage since when he purchased a tract of land in York Co PA in 1771 he was referred to as George Isenhart of Frederick Co. Maryland. He followed the Eisenhart tradition and gradually increased his land holdings until in 1781 he paid taxes on 120 acres of land. Also in 1781, George “Eissenhart” was called to serve in the York Co. Shrewsbury Twp Militia during the Revolutionary War. Sometime during his residence in York Co. he began to spell his surname Isenhart, presumably to differentiate himself and his interests from Conrad, and particularly Conrad’s son George Eisenhart.

After Conrad’s death at the end of 1781 and the end of the American Revolutionary War, George’s ties to York Co. began to loosen. After 1789 there were no further references to him in York Co. records. In the 1st U. S. Census in 1790, George and his family were enumerated in Bedford Co. Pennsylvania, one of the far western counties that had opened up after the British gave up control after the successful outcome of the war. He was enumerated in Washington Co. in 1800. His son George II lived in Washington Co. in 1810, by which time George I was deceased. His burial site is unknown, but it is presumably in one of the Washington Co. burial grounds. His wife Elizabeth also died before 1810.

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