In a message dated 3/12/2000 12:54:40 PM Mountain Standard Time, brillnd@pacifier.com writes: << The article was most interesting. However, the Harman/Harmon families of Pendleton County were German. The name appears as Hermann of various spellings in the early records. >> If there was an educated German clerk, or even just the person reading the letters in the area of German descent, he would--of course--spell it the way HE knew and was taught. I doubt if ANY clerk bother or even cared to ask what part of Europe or the British Isles the newcomers were from. But, I'll agree with the fact that Pendleton was in the middle of German expansion in the late 1700... all the way to west Pennsylvania. See old Bedford county records for more info on that... Diane