Let’s Meet the Harley Family

I’ll give each person a generation number starting with the immigrant, Rudolph. He is generation 1, his son 2 and so forth. Rudolph is in your family tree twice as you will see. So pay attention to those generation numbers.

Rudolph Harley is your immigrant Harley ancestor. He appears to have come to America from Germany in 1719 and seems to have been part of a group of Dunkards (or Brethren) led by Peter Becker. They settled initially in or near Germantown, a little closer to Philadelphia than where the family would soon move. Among Rudolph’s children was a son also named Rudolph.

Rudolph Harley, son of the immigrant, was born in 1719 -- some say before his father left Germany and others say he was born at sea. Which is the case is a problem for another day.

This Rudolph married Mary Becker, daughter of Peter Becker, whom we’ll meet below and they had thirteen children, including two who are your direct ancestors: Henry born in 1754 and Abraham born in 1765. And one other son is important to this story, too -- Samuel born in 1758.

You may wonder how you can be descended directly from two brothers. This became the case when a female descendant of Abraham’s eventually married a male descendent of Henry’s.
Henry (or Heinrich as he was most certainly called for much of his life) was given a farm by his parents on the Indian Creek in 1784. The Harley family, whom I believe may first have settled in Germantown in Philadelphia County, over time migrated into Montgomery County -- specifically Lower Salford and Franconia Townships. There were quite a number of farms owned by the various early Harley settlers in this area and they were not infrequent buyers and sellers of land.

All the Internet Family Trees on this family -- probably most copied from a single, hopefully reliable source -- say Henry married Elizabeth Keele. But a book written in the 1800’s on the History of Harleysville and Lower Salford Township says he married Elizabeth Groff. I do not know which is correct. Neither credits him with two different marriages, so it is probably the case that one or the other is simply wrong.

Abraham Harley married Christiana Giese and their daughter Mary Harley born 8 Oct 1792 is your g-g-g-g-grandmother as a result of her marriage to Jacob Price. Their granddaughter Amanda Schultz Price married Henry M Harley. Henry and Amanda were 2nd cousins once removed. They probably were aware of that, but it wasn’t considered a big deal back then.
Samuel Harley is in this narrative because he is the man for whom Harleysville was actually named. In 1795, he bought a hotel and tavern there and it probably is the case that while his ancestors lived near what became that town, they did not live there. So it is Samuel rather than Rudolph who seems to be the namesake of the town. Samuel married Catharine Sower (or Sauer) daughter of Christopher. The Sowers were early and important members of the Dunker church in Germantown.

Jacob C Harley was the son of Heinrich and Elizabeth. He was born in about 1801. His wife was Hannah Markley. I have not found any information on Hannah’s ancestry but Jacob’s father at some point bought a small parcel of land from George Markley and his wife and my thought would be they were neighbors, and as often happened back then, their children married. In any event Markley is a name that crops up repeatedly when reading about the history of this area.

In addition to Mary Harley, daughter of Abraham, who is your ancestor mentioned above, there is another generation four Mary Harley worthy of note. She was the daughter of Samuel. She married Yellis Cassel. Their son was Abraham Harley Cassel and you will see his name many times in the pages I have clipped into this manuscript from other sources. He achieved some fame because he built a rather substantial library for a person of his time.

Henry M Harley, son of Jacob C and Hannah Harley, was born 20 Mar 1850. His wife was named Amanda Schultz Price. Her ancestry may be the most interesting of all the people I have discussed to this point. Her ancestors include the Price families, the Schultz families, the Reiff families -- and of course the Harley family as mentioned before by virtue of the fact that her grandmother was Mary Harley. More on all these other families below.

Alvin Price Harley was born 2 Apr 1876. He was the son of Henry M and Amanda Harley. He married Elizabeth Grater Jones on 4 Jul 1905. I have sent you a copy of his World War I Draft Registration Card which I found quite interesting. He wrote his name as Alvin Price Harley and his wife’s name as Elizabeth Grater Jones Harley. One of the problems a genealogist has is sometimes learning maiden names of female ancestors. A clue is often a person’s middle name, a maiden name from one or two generations back -- but often people’s middle names are not given in many records. Here were three maiden family names all on this one card: Price, Jones, Grater. He lived in Royersford at the time and thereafter.

Elizabeth’s parents were Robert Jones from Ireland and Susan L Grater, daughter of Henry H Grater and Elizabeth Landes. The Landes name is yet another old, important surname of Montgomery County.

James Jones Harley, your grandfather, was born to Alvin Price and Elizabeth Harley on 27 Sep 1910. He married Grace Rephorn and a sketch of her ancestry is given above.

Their son James Jones Harley Jr. was born 15 Jul 1936 in Bryn Mawr, PA. He married Helen Hollis Rose. Katie told me that her mother was Priscilla Webster from Massachusetts and when I went looking for Priscilla Webster, I thought it may be too common a name to be certain if I would find the right one. When a found a girl named Priscilla Webster whose father was named Hollis Webster and whose mother was named Helen, I was certain I had found her. Her ancestry too, I think is interesting -- the Webster, Noyes and Fordham lines mentioned above.

You. You are the ninth generation of your Harley line in America.