This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: TARR-DÜRR Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/FCC.2ACE/2077 Message Board Post: TARR-DÜRR GENEALOGICAL INFO: The following is genealogical material shared by John Tarr who is inviting his cousins to the family reunion posted at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvbrooke/reunionb.htm Peter TARR, who built TARR's furnace, is a distant relative. My TARR ancestors came from Germany in the 1700's and changed their name from DÜRR. They lived in Maryland and then Westmoreland County PA. The reunion is at the Hunker Fire Hall and picnic grove in Hunker, PA, in Westmoreland County. Hunker is a mile or two south of New Stanton, just west of where the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-70 intersect. The Fire Hall is on Walnut St., just off of Bridge St. in the small town of Hunker. We set up a potluck dinner from noon to 1 PM, with the meal beginning promptly at 1. Coffee and cold drinks are provided. After the meal we have a short business meeting, some catching up and lots of good fellowship. Below is some information that I wrote about the TARRs who came from Germany to Maryland to Pennsylvania. It would be a pleasure to see some new TARR cousins at the reunion on June 25, 2006 at Noon. Sincerely, John Tarr Our first TARR ancestor in America was probably Gasper DÜRR. He came from the Palatinate area of Germany and settled in Maryland in the 1700’s. Not much is known about him. One of Gasper’s children was Johannes Balthaser DÜRR, who was born in Germany in approximately 1735. He followed his father to America and immigrated in 1749 on the ship Dragon, which landed in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the National Archives no longer has immigration records from that time period, but there are some records from churches and he became naturalized in Maryland in 1768. It is not known why he changed his name to TARR, but the letter "D" in German is supposed to sound like "T" in English, and Johannes Balthaser DÜRR was now known as John Baltzer TARR. His wife was named Maria Catherina and her maiden name is not known. They had eleven children--Peter, Gasper, Henrich, Christian, Daniel, Johann Friederich, Maria, Sarah, Catherina, Elizabetha and a child who died in infancy. John TARR went from Maryland to Pennsylvania and he and his descendants founded the town TARRs Station in Westmoreland County, which is now known as TARRs. In the 1700’s, southwestern Pennsylvania was still very wild country that was inhabited by Indians and the settlers took what is called "tomahawk possession." Daniel TARR was captured by the Indians and held prisoner for three years. John TARR received a "land patent", which is the same as a homestead on his land. He was a Lutheran, worked as a potter and died in 1792. It is not known where he and his wife are buried. Christian TARR was a US Congressman for two terms. One woman we met in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in TARRS said that the TARR family was originally from Switzerland, but had to leave because of religious persecution. She said that they were Mennonites, but there has been no other documentation to confirm this. During World War I and with anti-German sentiment high in the United States, some of the TARRs at a family reunion now said that they were originally from Holland.