John Hartman
From Black Hawk Slept Here
John Hartman (b. 20 August 1811 in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania) was one of the Black Hawk war veterans who attended the 1882 meeting of the St. Joseph County (MI) Pioneer Society as a special invitee. However, he is not listed in the militia roster for Michigan.
The report of the 1882 meeting said he was from Cass County. However, there is more information about John Hartman in the St. Joseph County histories than in the Cass County histories.
- John Hartman along with his brother, Solomon, supplied the 16,000 feet of timber used to build the first bridge across the St. Joseph River at Mottville, in 1833. This bridge stood until 1845, when it was replaced by a piled bridge.
- John and Solomon Hartman came to St. Joseph County in 1829, with their father Solomon. Before coming to Michigan the Hartman family had lived for ten years in Wayne County, Ohio, and before that, four years in Crawford County, Ohio.
- The father of the two Hartman brothers died in 1830. John ended up the owner of the 80 acres on which father had settled, two miles east of Mottville, and added to his acreage there.
- In 1837 John Hartman married Mary Davidson, daughter of Armstrong Davidson of Cass County.
- In 1839 John and Mary Hartman moved to Cass County, where he farmed.
- The 1877 St. Joseph County history contains portraits of John Hartman and his wife, Mary, and their residence in Porter Township, Cass County.
- John and Solomon were credited as two of the sources of information for the Mottville section of the 1877 St. Joseph County history
References
- History of St. Joseph county, Michigan (1877), pages 88-89, 91
