HARTMAN JOURNALS
Volume Two    Issue 3              August 1998
  Christina Shadel
Wife of John G. Hartman

By Jim Hartman

Since the last issue of the Hartman Journal I sent for and received the death certificate of Christina Hartman. I also sent for the death certificate of John G. Hartman, but the PA Department of Vital Statistics sent the certificate for the wrong John Hartman. I had hoped to gather more information on her by obtaining her death certificate and I did.

Here is the information on Christina Shadel Hartman from her death certificate.

She died on November 30, 1925 at 5:15 a.m. in South Side Hospital of "chronic myocarditis" (heart failure). Her date of birth was April 4, 1856 in Pennsylvania. Her father's name was Casper Shadel and he was born in Germany. Her mother's name was Margaret Kirschner and she was born in Germany. The undertaker was John F. Senmebrock 1720 Carson St. South Side. She was buried at Pa. Zimmermaus Cemetary on December 3, 1925.

The information I received from this certificate opens new avenues for research. I now have the names of Christina's parents. I can now look up marriage certificates for them and possibly obtain information on when they were married and where. From these marriage certificates I may also get more information on their parents, i.e. where specifically they were born, occupations and possibly birthdates of parents.

I am hoping that the Department of Vital Statistics can provide me with the correct death certificate for our John G. Hartman. From this I will be able to also get information on John's parents. This will help in the search of where they came from in Germany. What is known now is that John Hartman was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1851. The county would be Vanderburg and possibly in Pidgeon Township (this is the largest inhabited area at the time of his birth).
Evansville, Indiana?
That was the big question on my mind about John G. Hartman. When I saw William E. Hartman's marriage certificate and it stated that his father was born in Evansville, IN - I thought to myself why did John come back to Pittsburgh? By my research he really did not come back to Pittsburgh. John's father had made it to Evansville, Indiana by 1851 - I know you're thinking he came from the east coast, possibly New York, but I think he did not. Many Germans entered the U.S. at that time through New Orleans, Louisiana and traveled up the Mississippi River to get to German settlements that were forming in Minnesota at that time. As many of those emigrants paid for their passage on the ships that brought them here. There were many who became "indentured servants" when they arrived. When they arrived someone had to pay for their "steerage" on the ship and most "sold" themselves to pay this sum. Usually this was about seven years of labor for each person, John's father may have been in this situation when he arrived in this country. I feel that John's father sold himself and ended up in Indiana in the Evansville area. After his time was served he migrated to the Pittsburgh area. Records show that John's brother Harry A. was renting from him in the 1900 census. I am hoping to find John's parent's living in the area by checking census information in the 1880-1870-1860 years.

John was 30 years old when Charles G., eldest son, was born in 1881. This gives us a 30 year span from Indiana to Pennsylvania. I feel that John's parents were living in the area because Harry A. Hartman (John's brother) was born in born in Pennsylvania in 1854. I think that this would confirm that John's parents migrated to the area by 1854.

Uncle George Hartman tells me of a story of John Hartman's father owing the payment of his steerage to this country. This person was very rich and John's father had to serve his tour of duty in the Civil War for him in payment. No research has been made into this as yet. I feel that John's father pre-dated the Civil War by a good 20 years, I feel that he arrived in this country in the 1840's from Germany and paid for his steerage by being indentured to someone to work on his farm in the Indiana area. After his indenture was served he migrated to the Pittsburgh area. This will be researched as soon as I receive a death certificate for John G. Hartman. Knowing John's parent's names will be very helpful. In the meantime I will be researching Christina Hartman's family - the Kirshners. I guess it's back to searching the microfilm rolls again, a very tedious job. This is the only way something can be found about our ancestors.

Your Information

Once again I am asking everyone in the family to send me their information on their families. This information about your family will be greatly appreciated by your unknown descendants. Searching is a very tedious job but if we all get together and write down our family information now it will let the generations years from now just who you were. It will let them know why and how their families got where they are.

As I progress everyone in the family will get updated copies of the Family Tree - which you can hand down to future generations. Speaking for them I know that they will be grateful to you for taking the time to write down this information. It only takes one good evening to write down all the current births, deaths, weddings, christenings, graduations, etc. to be saved for your descendants.