The published account of the life and family of Indiana pioneer David German does not identify his parents or his siblings (John L. German, "David German (1796-1867) and Family of Shelby County,Indiana," NGSQ 78[190]:279- 298). Direct evidence naming the members of David German's birth family has not been found. However, important clues exist. The purpose of this paper is to present a preponderance-of-the-evidence argument proposing a father and two brothers for David German.
David German, born about 1796 (NGSQ 78]1990]:279), first emerges in November 1820 when he purchased corn at an estate sale in Randolph County, North Carolina (Stephen Henly file, Randolph Co. estate papers, North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh, hereafter N.C. Arch.). The surname has several variant spellings including Gearman, Jermin, Garmon, and especially Jarman. The 1820 census of Randolph County is missing, and that county's tax lists between 1820 and 1827 are fragmentary, but the Randolph County road orders have survived. In 1822, David German and one Emery German were assigned to work the same section of a county road, while a William German was assigned to another section of the same road. In 1824 David, Emery, and William German were named as hands to cut a new road. Two years later, the three of them were again charged to work a single section of the old route (Randolph Co. road orders, February Term 1822; August Term 1824; May Term 1826, N.C. Arch.).
All of these assignments were in the southwestern part of the county in the vicinity of Betty McGee Creek. On 19 December 1824 David Jarman married Elizabeth A. Worth, and his bondsman was William Jarman.(Randolph Co. marriage bonds, N.C. Arch.) Two months later Levi Worth, Elizabeth's brother (NGSQ 78[1990]:280) was bondsman for Emery German's marriage to Letty Warren on 17 February 1825 (Randolph Co. marriage bonds). No Germans or Jarmans, etc. of the preceding generation lived in Randolph County, and no Randolph County deeds, road orders, tax lists, or court records reveal the parentage or prior residence of David, Emery and William German. A list of insolvent taxables reveals that David Gearman left Randolph County without paying his poll tax for 1826 (Randolph Co. misc. tax records, N.C. Arch.). By 1830 he was in Indiana (1830 federal census, Union Co., Indiana, p. 492) and never again appeared in any records with any Germans other than his own offspring. The goal of finding David German's father was not obtained by further investigation of David German's life.
The quest for David German's father was broadened to include a search for the father of Emery and William German. Tracing Emery German's path to Tennessee lead to an investigation of an older Emory Jarman. Study of this older Emory Jarman yielded important details on William German. Proving the identity of William German is therefore a critical part of the solution to this genealogical problem.
Emery Jerman, aged forty-nine, and Letitica, aged forty-five, are included in the 1850 census of Tippah County, Mississippi (p. 519, dwelling 397, family 397); their birth place was given as North Carolina, but the children living with them were born in Tennessee. Emery Jarman, aged thirty to forty, is in the 1830 census of Knox County, Tennessee (p. 350). Also in the 1830 census of Knox County is an Emory Jarman, aged sixty to seventy (p. 357).
Identification of the younger Emery Jarman in Knox County as the same who had resided in Randolph County, North Carolina is strengthened by an 1830 Knox County deed from him to Samuel York and John Alred - men with likely Randolph County connections (Knox Co. Deeds V1:456). A Samuel York, 10 April 1799 - 9 January 1873, is buried in the Tillery Cemetery, Knox County; "Born Randolph Co. N.C.," appears on his tombstone (Robert A. McGinnis, comp., Knox County, TN - Cemetery Records [card file], McClung Historical Collection, Knox Co. Public Library, Knoxville). The name John Alred or Allred appears three times in the published 1820 tax list of Randolph County (Barbara N. Grigg and Carolyn N. Hager, 1820 TAX LIST RANDOLPH COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA [Ashboro, N.C., 1979], 37, 38, 39).
The older Emory Jarman was born 1 February 1763 in Queen Anne's County, Maryland (Emory Jarman, Revolutionary Pension file R5555-North Carolina, National Archives). He was referred to as the "heir at law" of Robert Jarman in an Anson County, North Carolina, deed (Anson Co. Deeds B2:229). Another fact contained in this record is that Emory Jarman had been sued in 1785, and this deed was the result of the sale by the sheriff of 600 acres of land that had belonged to Robert Jarman (then deceased) to settle the judgement against Emory Jarman.
In his 1836 declaration for a Revolutionary War pension (rejected for "desertion"), Emory Jarman summarized his life's migrations. He moved with his father, whom he did not name, to Anson County when he was about three years old. After the Revolutionary War, he moved to Cumberland County, North Carolina, where he remained thirty years. His next move was to west Tennessee, and after eight years there he moved east to Knox County, Tennessee.
He appears as Emery Germany in the 1790 census of Cumberland County (p. 39), where he served as a road hand on Northington's Road between the Upper and Lower forks of Little River from 1800 to 1809 (Cumberland Co. court minutes, October Term 1800, October Term 1801, October Term 1802, July Term 1804, March Term 1808, March Term 1809, N.C. Arch.). Tax lists for Cumberland County have not been preserved for the years prior to 1815, and he does not appear thereafter. He recorded no deeds in Cumberland County. The last record found for him in North Carolina is as Emory German in the 1810 census of Cumberland County (p. 253); the statistics recorded for his household were: three males aged less than ten, one male aged ten to sixteen, one male aged sixteen to twenty-six, one male aged over forty-five, two females aged less than ten, one female aged ten to sixteen, one female aged twenty-six to forty-five and no slaves.
Emory Jarman is listed in the 1820 census of Hickman County, Tennessee (p. 171); his household comprised two males aged under ten, two males aged ten to sixteen, one male aged over forty-five, one female aged under ten and no slaves. The absence of an older female in this record suggests the death of his wife. Of greater importance for our argument below is the absence of three of the boys found in the 1810 census of Emory Jarman's household. No additional record of Emory Jarman has been found in Hickman County. Many of the early records of that county are lost.
The next record found for Emory Jarman is a marriage bond for his marriage to Peggy Brown dated 15 August 1828 in Knox County, Tennessee (Knox Co. marriage bonds, Knox Co. Archives, Knoxville; Emery's signature matches that on his pension application). They appear on the 1830 census of Knox County (p. 357) as one male and one female both aged sixty to seventy with no slaves. By 1832 Emory was apparently a widower again and had fallen on hard times. At it's January session, the Knox County court ordered $2.00 to be paid out of the county poor tax to Joseph Brown for keeping Emory Jarman the next three months. The court minutes show that Emory Jarman's support came from the county poor tax for the next eight years. The January 1840 session of the Knox County court contains one last entry ordering payment of "seven dollars and fifty cents to defray the burial expenses of Emory Jarman" (Knox Co. court minutes, January and July Sessions 1832, October Session 1833, October Session 1834, October Session 1835, October Session 1836, January, February and October Sessions 1838, October Session 1839, and January Session 1840, Knox Co. Archives). No will or estate has been found for Emory Jarman and the existence of such for a pauper is not expected.
On 27 November 1792, Emmory [sic] German paid for land entry #458 in his own name ("An account of lands entered by the entry taker of Cumberland County, February 14, 1792 till January 1, 1793," Records of the Secretary of State, N.C. Arch.). However, on 25 March 1795 the land for entry #458 was surveyed for William Young Garman in Cumberland County "on the upper side of upper Little River." Chain carriers for the survey were Emory Garman and Sol Walker. The 100 acre tract surveyed for William Garman was granted to him on 4 September 1799; Francis Walker paid the purchase money (North Carolina Land Grant Office Warrants and Surveys, envelope 3641 [examined in Sec. of State's office; now prob. at N.C. Arch.]). William Young Garman could not have inherited this land from Emory Jarman who was obviously very much alive, and no record of transfer appears in the county deeds or in the land records of the North Carolina Secretary of State. Whether this transfer reflected that this land was a gift to William Garman by Francis Walker or that Emory Jarman was protecting assets from possible future suits can only be speculated. In 1806 the owner of an adjacent tract described his property as joining Emory German's land (Cumberland Co. Deeds 31:205). The relationship between Emory and William Garman is not stated; however, North Carolina's land grant law required the grantee to provide two chain carriers for the survey ("Laws of North Carolina-1777," in THE STATE RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA, XXIV, ed. Walter Clark, [Goldsboro: Nash Brothers, 1906], hereafter N.C. STATE RECS. XXIV, 46). It will be shown that William Young Garman was an infant; the responsibility for providing chain carriers presumably fell upon his father. On the same day that William Garman's land was surveyed, a survey was made for Francis Walker with Emory Garman and Sol Walker again carrying the chains which suggests that Emory Jarman had secured the help of Sol Walker by exchanging his own labor as chain carrier for that family's labor (North Carolina Land Grant Office Warrants and Surveys, envelope 3640).
It was stated above that William Young Garman was an infant at the time his land was surveyed. Several pieces of evidence indicate that he was born about 1792. The name of William Jarman (Garman, German, etc.) does not appear in Cumberland County's records until 1810 when he was assigned to work on Northington's Road (Cumberland Co. court minutes, March Term 1810). This service was required of white males after they turned 18 (N.C. STATE RECS. XXIV, 810). He does not appear as the head of a household in the 1800 or 1810 censuses, but Emory German's household did include a male aged sixteen to twenty-six in the 1810 census (p. 253). William Germany was assigned to work on Northington's road again in 1812 (Cumberland Co. court minutes, March Term 1812; the practice of recording road orders in the court minutes was discontinued in Cumberland Co. after 1812). On 15 October 1812, William Y. Jarman married Celia Wren in Cumberland County (Cumberland Co. marriage bonds, N.C. Arch.). William and Celia Jarman appear in the 1850 census of the Northern Division of Cumberland County (p. 143, dwelling 636, family 636); his age was reported as fifty-seven.
William Jarman's father was probably Emory Jarman. William Jarman's middle name "Young" might be a clue to his maternal ancestry, but the wills and estate records of Cumberland County provide no leads. Regrettably, the marriage bonds for Anson and Cumberland Counties before 1800 have been lost, and North Carolina's state wide index to marriage bonds (at N.C. Arch.) shows no marriage for Emory Jarman in other counties.
The earliest record of William German in Randolph County is the 1822 road order. However, it is established that William German was there as early as 1821 because in 1827, the Randolph county sheriff sold William's 250 acres on Betty McGee Creek to settle $1.14 in unpaid taxes from 1821 (Randolph Co. misc. tax records, N.C. Arch.). The deeds of Randolph County do not show how William German acquired this land.
William German continued to reside in Randolph County after David and the younger Emery had left North Carolina. The 1830 census record for William German in Randolph County (p. 2) shows the adult male's age was thirty to forty and the adult female's age was forty to fifty. Debt became a problem for William Jarman: In 1831, 1833, and 1834, he executed deeds of trust to sell much of his personal and real property to settle his debts (Randolph Co. Deeds 18:455-56, 19:299, 454-55). William Garman sold the last of his land on 1 June 1835 (Randolph Co. Deeds 20:184-85) and vanishes from Randolph County. He soon reappears in Cumberland County.
On 7 January 1836 William Garman of Cumberland County purchased from Faitha Walker seventy-five acres (half of a tract that had been willed to her and her sister Dicy Walker by their father Francis Walker) (Cumberland Co. Deeds 42:356). In 1839, $11 for expenses was paid to William Jarman out of the estate of Dicy Walker (Dicy Walker file, Cumberland Co. estate papers). In 1849, he became coadministrator with John Morrison of the estate of David Walker, the bachelor son of Francis Walker (David Walker file, Cumberland Co. estate papers; Francis Walker will, 29 January 1818, Cumberland Co. wills [original], N.C. Arch.). William Jarman and the Walker family lived in that portion of Cumberland County that was cut off to form Harnett County in 1855. David Walker was the administrator of Dicy Walker and he had not disposed of her land before his own death; his estate was not settled before the formation of Harnett County. Nearly all of Harnett County's records were destroyed by fires in 1892 and 1894.
William Jarman's close ties to the Walker family arouse suspicion that Francis Walker may have been William Jarman's maternal grandfather. The 1834 tax list of Randolph County includes, in addition to William German, a Francis German who was subject only to poll tax (Randolph Co. tax lists, Capt. Dean's Dist, 1834). A careful examination of Walker wills and estates failed to confirm or refute a family connection.
In the 1840 census of Cumberland County (p. 254) the adult male age in Will Jarman's family is forty to fifty and the adult female age is fifty to sixty, reaffirming that William's wife was older than he. Celia's age in the 1850 census (p. 143) is given as forty-seven, or ten years younger than William's age, but the youngest of the four "children" included in this household is twenty-two, suggesting that William's wife was probably in her sixties.
The chronology of William Jarman's residences, the older wife, and the resumption of commerce with the Walker family are not the only evidences confirming the identity of William Jarman in Cumberland and Randolph Counties. The signature of William Jarman appears on his marriage bond, on David German's marriage bond, on David Walker's estate administration, and on a Randolph County road jury report dated 15 February 1827 (Randolph Co. misc. records, N.C. Arch.). While comparison of his signature on his 1812 marriage bond to later samples is neither positively or negatively conclusive, comparisons between the later samples show them to be by the same hand.
Previously observed was the absence of three boys from the elder Emory Jarman's household in 1820. The ages of those boys in 1810 agree with the approximated birth dates of the three young men found later in Randolph County: aged sixteen to twenty-six: William born about 1792; aged to to sixteen: David born about 1796; and aged under ten - Emery born about 1801.
Anyone who believes they are descended from Emory Jarman (however the
last name is spelled) is asked to contact John L. German: Please send
email to german@jarman.net or snail
mail to: 2631 Kittley Road, Wanamaker, IN 46239
