Contents
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Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Louise Bell Martin Harsh
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationLouise Bell Martin Harsh
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 13 November 1866
- Died
- 13 February 1935
- Parents
- Joseph Daniel Martin & Nannie Chenault
- Married
- Nathan James Harsh
- Sources
- 12
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED — added 24 September 2026 from a record that names the parents; entered in the family tree the same day.
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1866
Born
13 November 1866, Tennessee; the Louisa, 3, of the 1870 census and Luisa B., 13, of 1880
S202S207Death1935
Died
13 February 1935 at 250 College Drive, Abilene, Texas, and buried at Gallatin; her death certificate names both parents
S191Burial1934
🆕 Nathan died on
10 September 1934 at Gaston Hospital, Lebanon, and was buried at Gallatin. His death certificate names his parents as
George Harsh and Talitha Newby S503; in 1870 he was 10, in their household in Davidson County, where George was a dry goods merchant born in Pennsylvania
S504. added 25 September 2026.
Census1880
🆕 In 1880 Nathan, 19, was at home in the 1st Civil District of Sumner County with his father
George Harsh, 53, a farmer born in
Pennsylvania to a father from “Offenheim”, Germany; George's wife then was Elizabeth, 30, and a stepson, James Polk, 6, was in the house
S588. added 25 September 2026.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1860
Married
Nathan James Harsh (born 2 December 1860, died 1934)
S204Marriage1888
🆕 Married
17 October 1888 at Gallatin, as Louisa B. Martin to N. J. Harsh, by
R. W. Harsh, minister
S401. She and Nathan farmed in the 1st Civil District of Sumner County for forty years: in 1900 with four children, Kenneth, Joe D., Nannie M. and Nathan
S402; in 1910 she had borne 8 children, 5 living, now including Louise B. and Richard K.
S403; in 1920 on Harsh Road as
Louise M. S404; and in 1930, aged 63, with her son Kenneth's family
S405. The 1900 census gives her birth as May 1867, against 13 November 1866 on her death certificate; not settled. added 24 September 2026.
In the record
Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings
- S191Texas death certificate no. 10375 — Mrs. Bell Harsh, Abilene, Taylor County, 13 February 1935. Ancestry record 773424312. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Mrs. Bell Harsh, born 13 November 1866, Tennessee, of Gallatin, Tenn., died 13 February 1935 at 250 College Dr., Abilene; buried Gallatin; parents Joseph D. Martin and Nannie Chenault; informant Walter H. Adams. 🔑 A daughter of Joseph D. Martin and Nannie Chenault — identified by the Rutherford family book as Louise Martin, wife of Nathan James Harsh [S204]. ⚠ The given name before "Bell" is not legible on this certificate.
- S2021870 U.S. Federal Census — Joseph D. Martin household, District 12, Sumner County, Tennessee (P.O. Gallatin). Ancestry record 14376304. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Joseph D. Martin, 37, farmer; Nannie, 26; Louisa, 3; Mary, 1. 🔑 Louisa is Louise Bell (Martin) Harsh [S191] [S204]; Mary (c.1869) is new. ⚠ His age of 37 agrees with the 1832 headstone; the card's dates are under review.
- S204Gen. Griffith Rutherford and Allied Families (Harsh), page 175. Ancestry record 4440717068. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Nathan James Harsh (2 December 1860 – 10 October 1934) "married Miss Louise Martin … She died February 1935. Was dtr. of Joseph Martin and Nancy Chenault Martin." 🔑 Mrs. Bell Harsh of the 1935 certificate [S191] is Louise (Louisa) Bell Martin, the Louisa of 1870 [S202]. ⚠ The book is a derivative; its "originally of North Carolina" loses to the censuses, and page 176 was not fetched.
- S2071880 U.S. Federal Census — Martin household, 10th Civil District, Sumner County, Tennessee. Ancestry record 16828687; ED 214, page 32. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Martin [given name left blank], 47, farming; Nannie, 36, parents both born Kentucky; children Luisa B. 13, Mary 11, Emma 10, Kate 7, Mattie 5, Joe 3 and Nannie 1. 🔑 Two children not otherwise on this record: Kate (c.1873) and a son Joe (c.1877). Mattie is Martha Martin McConnell [S203]; Nannie, 1, is Nancy Louise (Martin) Timberman.
- S401Sumner County, Tennessee, County Marriage Record, p. 134, entry 6 — N. J. Harsh and Louisa B. Martin, 17 October 1888. Ancestry record 5605204. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Licence issued at Gallatin, 17 October 1888, to N. J. Harsh to marry Louisa B. Martin (Harris Brown, clerk); return: married the same day by R. W. Harsh, M.G.
- S4021900 U.S. Federal Census — N. J. Harsh household, 1st Civil District, Sumner Co., Tennessee (ED 109, sheet 4B, lines 51–59). Ancestry record 61297028. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed N. J. Harsh, 38, farmer owning his farm free, married 12 years; wife Louise, born May 1867, 33, mother of 4 children, 4 living; children Kenneth, Joe D., Nannie M. and Nathan; three servants; enumerated 7 June 1900. May 1867 differs from the 13 November 1866 of her death certificate (S191); both are second-hand, and neither is settled.
- S4031910 U.S. Federal Census — N. J. Harsh household, Civil District No. 1, Sumner Co., Tennessee (ED 131, sheet 3B, lines 67–73). Ancestry record 129782370. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed N. J. Harsh, 49, farmer and employer, owning his farm free, married 21 years; wife Louise, 43, mother of 8 children, 5 living; children Kenneth, Joseph, Nannie M., Louise B. and Richard K.; enumerated 19 April 1910.
- S4041920 U.S. Federal Census — Nathan J. Harsh household, Harsh Road, First District, Sumner Co., Tennessee (ED 117, sheet 7A, lines 37–42). Ancestry record 36254186. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Nathan J. Harsh, 59, farmer, owning his farm free; wife Louise M., 53; sons Kenneth and Joe D., daughter Louise B. and son Richard; enumerated 16–17 January 1920.
- S4051930 U.S. Federal Census — Nathan J. Harsh household, Greenfield Road, 1st Civil District, Sumner Co., Tennessee (ED 83-1, sheet 7A, lines 19–25). Ancestry record 66186570. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Nathan J. Harsh, 69, farmer, owning his farm, with a radio; wife Louise, 63, first married at 22; their son Kenneth, 40, his wife Hattie and three grandchildren; enumerated April 1930.
- S503Tennessee, U.S., Death Records — certificate 21866: Nathan James Harsh, 1934. Ancestry record 200652. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Nathan James Harsh, husband of Louise, born 2 December 1860, died 10 September 1934 at Gaston Hospital, Lebanon; father George Harsh, mother Talitha Newby; informant J. D. Harsh, Gallatin; buried Gallatin. The certificate gives George's birthplace as Tennessee; the 1870 census (S504) says Pennsylvania, and is the better witness.
- S5041870 U.S. Federal Census — George Harsh household, Davidson County, Tennessee. Ancestry record 4468172. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed George Harsh, 43, dry goods merchant, born Pennsylvania; Talitha, 36; Philip W.; Mary; Nathan, 10; Caroline; and a younger child whose name is hard to read.
- S5881880 U.S. census — 1st Civil District, Sumner County, Tennessee, ED 208, p. 25. Ancestry record 10076325. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed George Harsh, 53, farmer, born in Pennsylvania, his father born at “Offenheim”, Germany; Elizabeth, 30, wife; Mary 20; Nathan, 19, son; Callie, Cheatman, George, Herbert, William and Walker; James Polk, 6, stepson. The Ancestry index gives Tennessee for George and both his parents; the page says Pennsylvania and Germany.