Harmon Schrudder

       
It is estimated that Harmon Schrudder and his family emigrated from the Netherlands in about 1856.  At this time we don’t know how he spelled his last name or which province in Holland that he came from.  The children that are known to have traveled with Harmon are: Samuel Harmon, Anna, and Isaac (known as Mike).  It is assumed that his wife, Katherine Vandiver, traveled with the family also.

Unfortunately, it is not known through which port the family entered North America. They may have come through a port in the northeast because a male child was born in New Jersey, in about 1857.  The first public record that we find Harmon - is when he and his family were enumerated in the 1860 United States Census for Augusta, Georgia.  City directories and tax records seem to indicate that the family only stayed in Augusta for about one year.

There are no records to tell us what the family did during the Civil War years. After the war, land records place the growing family in Whitfield County, Georgia in December 1867.

Harmon is next found farming in Sequatchie County, Tennessee in 1873.  He moved his family to Walden’s Ridge, Hamilton County, Tennessee in about 1882.  He was a simple farmer.

Harmon Schrudder died on Good Friday, 15 April 1892, and was buried in Fairmount Cemetery, Walden’s Ridge, Tennessee.  His wife Katherine Vandiver Schrudder died 31 October 1912 and according to her obituary, was also buried in Fairmount Cemetery (no headstone can be found).

His family included:
Samuel Harmon Schrudder and Mary Station Hume
Anna (or Enna) Schrudder
Mike (Isaac) Scrudder and Susan Isabelle Gadd
(Unknown ) Schrudder
Rena Schrudder McDonald and Jeremiah McDonald
Esther (Archie) Schrudder Pickett and John Lewis Pickett
Caroline Scrudder Jones and Carin John Jones
Henry A. Scrudder and Annie Louise Pope
John C. Scrudder and Josephine Vandergriff
Joseph Scrudder and 1. Lucy Mullins (2. Gussie Mullins)

Submitted by Mary Scrudder
mscrudder@austin.rr.com