John Hershberger (1754 - 1832)
John Hershberger (1754 – 1832) John Hershberger was born in 1754 in Eppstein, Frankenthal, in the Rhineland Palatinate of what is now Germany, the son of John Hershberger and Anna Barbara Schwartzfen. He entered the world during a century when many German-speaking families sought new opportunities across the Atlantic, drawn from the promise of religious freedom, and fertile farmland in the American colonies. At some point during his youth or early adulthood, John made the remarkable journey, leaving behind his birthplace to begin a new life in North America. On 8 June 1784, in Virginia, John married Catherine “Caty” Heisin. Their marriage came just months after the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, as the young United States was beginning to establish itself as an independent nation. F...