Notes for George Barnhardt: George Barnhardt was a soldier of the Revolution having served as a private in the North Carolina State Militia. He applied for a pension at the age of seventy-three and was placed on the pension rolls on February 14, 1833.
George Barnhardt; Cabarrus County; Private; North Carolina Militia; $20.00 Annual Allowance; $38.33 Amount Received; February 14, 1833 Pension Started; Age 73; Died February 5, 1833. "Report from The Secretary of War In Relation to the Pension Establishment of The United States 1835"
George Barnahrdt and his family were among the earliest members of the Cold Water Reformed Church of Cabarrus County, NC. Their names appear on the membership list in 1766. This church later came to be know as New Gilead United Church of Christ.
James Love settled in Mecklenburg/Cabarus County NC in the last decade of the 1700’s. Acquiring land in the big bend of Rocky River, his neighbors included the families of Reed, Garmon, Little, Kiser, Tucker, and others. Deed and court records account for what must have been a typical early American settlement. But this all changed when in 1799 the young Conrad Reed discovered a large gold nugget while bow fishing along the banks of Little Meadow Creek. As per an affidavit filed in 1848 by George Barnhardt, Conrad’s father John Reed was at first ignorant of the precious metal. He used the rock as a door stop before selling it three years later to a jeweler in “Fayetteville.” And yet, in another account twenty years prior to that of Barnhardt, the Carolina Observer published in Fayetteville offered a subtly different view. This article agrees stating that John Reed did not know what he had. And as a first generation Hessian living among those he had enlisted to fight against, John Reed was fearful that the find of something valuable might somehow be used against him. So he hid the rock until he learned more about its worth. This article also states he later traveled to “Raleigh,” not Fayetteville, where he sold the gold for very little. At any rate, John Reed returned home and began mining in earnest in what became the first gold mine in America. In 1804 he invited Martin Phiffer, George Barnhardt, and neighbor Rev. James Love to join in as partners in this venture. Appearing August 1857 in HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, the illustration below accompanies an article built upon George Barnhardt's account.
(Was this George F. Barnhardt or was the affidavit taken before his death the death of the George Barnhardt who died February 5, 1833?)
More About George Barnhardt: Date born 2: 06 Feb 1760, Cabarrus County, North Carolina.
More About George Barnhardt and Mary Mitchell: Marriage: Dec 1790, St Johns Lutheran Church, Cabarrus, NC, USA.85
Children of George Barnhardt and Mary Mitchell are:
George Barnhardt (b. 06 Feb 1760, d. 05 Feb 1833)
Notes for George Barnhardt: