Research Notes:
The land warrant in 1735 cannot be for Peter, born 1734. There must be incorrect assumptions made by the authors of the notes below.
1734 Peter Bortner was born about 1734. [1]
1735 Peter Bortner received a warrant for 200 acres in Heidelberg Twp on Mill Creek, a branch of Tulpehocken Creek, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [2] [3] A survey dated June 30, 1837 was made for 174 acres in Heidelberg Twp on Mill Creek a branch of Tulpehocken Creek. [4] The tract of 174 acres was granted to Martin Hackatarn in 1743 by land patent. [5]
Peter, who was born about 1734, came from Bucks county to Dauphin, and had five sons and several daughters, one of whom was married to a Hoofnagle, in Ohio. Sons named: Peter, John, Michael, Phillip, and Jacob. [6]
A biosketch reports [7]:
According to the genealogy of his brother, George of York County and his descendants, Peter was born in 1734 in the Tulpehocken Settlement of Lancaster County. He would have been only about 13 years old when his father died. Doubtless be remained in the family, under the protection of his oldest brother, Jacob, until the early 1750's, about the time that Jacob married. It appears that Peter was thrown on his own resources quite early in life, and that he was probably married before he was 21 (that is, by 1755).
The Pennsylvania Land Records show that Peter Bortner (also spelled "Bordner") received a Warrant from the Proprietors for 176 acres of land in Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County, under a 1735 Land Survey. Exactly when the Warrant was issued, and upon whose application, we do not know. Possibly his father obtained it, because it appears that it was obtained when Peter was very young. The records show that the Warrant was Outstanding until a Patent (Deed) was issued for the property to somebody else on July 11, 1760, when Peter would have been about 26 years of ago. While there is no proof that Peter actually lived on the property, under the usual rental terms while he was attempting to make the required payments, it is believed probable that he did and that he was the one who ultimately lost the property for failure to make the required payments (just as his older brother, Jacob, apparently lost the property in Earle Township for which he had a Warrant in 1743).
Heidelberg Township was divided in half with Berks County when that county was established in 1752. It is not known whether the land covered by Peter's Warrant was in Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County, or Heidelberg Township, Berks County, after 1752; it might have been in either one. In 1785, Heidelberg Township, remaining in Lancaster County, became a part of the newly created Dauphin County; still later that area became a part of Lebanon County when it was created in 1813. Today that area is located in Eastern Lebanon County, just West of Heidelberg Township, Berks County.
There is no known record of Peter after 1760. It is suspected that he died while still very young. There is no known record of the name of Peter's wife, but it is believed that he must have married, because apparently he had one son, and possibly two - - Jacob, and possibly John.
Jacob Bortner was a young farmer in Warwick Township, Lancaster County, for the period 1773 through 1782, according to the Tax Lists of the County for that period. By a process of deduction, he is believed to have been Peter's son, although there is no direct evidence of that fact. This deduction is made on the following basis:
(1) Jacob must have been a descendant of Balser, because be was the only Bortner registered as an immigrant from the Old World. Jacob's location in the 1770's was compatible with such a relationship.
(2) If Jacob was descended from Balser, he must have been a grandson. He was born too late to have been a son. Besides Balser would not have had two sons, each named Jacob.
(3) We know that Jacob was not a son of Balser's sons, Jacob, George, or Philip, because we have authentic records of their sons and have traced them.
(4) The only remaining possibilities were that Jacob was either a son of Balser's son, Peter, or some other son of Balser of whom there is no record.
(5) Jacob's location in the 1770's and his apparent age were compatible with Peter's age and probably location in 1760, assuming that Jacob was Peter's son.There were two John Bortners listed in the First U. S. Census of Dauphin County ("outside Harrisburgh" … - townships not shown). One was misspelled Bartner; the other "Portner". Such misspellings were common. We know that one was actually John Bordner, son of Jacob Bordner of Bethel Township, Berks County. Possibly the other listing represented a duplication, but perhaps not. The other listing might have been for a son of Peter Bortner. However, there is no other known record, including subsequent U. S. Censuses, of a second such John Bortner (Bordner or Burtner) of Dauphin County, nor of other Bortners, Bordners, or Burtners who might have been his Sons or daughters.
Returning to Peter's apparent son, Jacob, we find from the Pennsylvania Archives that he was in the Pennsylvania militia of Lancaster County for the period of 1779 to 1782 (the later years of the Revolutionary War). We find also from the records of' the Jerusalem (White Oaks) Reformed Church in Warwick Township, the baptism of two sons of Jacob Bortner: Jacob, born in April 1774, and Simeon, born October 4, 1782. Subsequent records show that the latter was actually named "Samuel"; either the baptism record was erroneous, or his name was changed after baptism.
There is no known record of Jacob and his family after 1782 until the 1800 Census showed that he and his family were then located in East Pennsborough Township, Cumberland County, which is not far from Harrisburg, West of the Susquehanna River. They were not listed in the First U. S. Census of 1790. Possibly in 1790 they were in the process of moving from their first home in Lancaster County to their new home in Cumberland County; that would explain why they were not listed in the Census of that year.
The Will of this Jacob Bortner on file in Carlisle, the County Seat of Cumberland County, shows that he died near the end of the year 1815 in East Pennsborough Township, and his survivors were his wife, Eve (Eva); his three sons, George, Jacob, and Samuel; and his two daughters, Elizabeth (Bretz) and Barbara (Linn). Samuel was given his father's land of approximately 140 acres; the others were said to be provided for, principally during Jacob's lifetime.
George, oldest son of Jacob, was a farmer in Cumberland County until 1828, when he moved with his wife and most of his sons and daughters to Montgomery County, Ohio. Records in both counties show that George's name was frequently misspelled "Burtner" by local English-speaking officials and neighbors, but that he, himself, did not accept that spelling. However, his sons, Henry, George Otterbein, Jacob, John, and Joseph, changed the spelling of their family name, conforming to the common misspelling.
Jacob Jr., second son of Jacob and also a farmer, moved about 1803 from Cumberland County to Beaver Township, Northumberland County. That township became part of the new Union County in 1813, and the still later Snyder County, long after Jacob's death in the late l820's (which explains where it is now located). The Junior Jacob's sons, Jacob (III), George, and Benjamin, changed the spelling of their family name to "Bordner", the most common misspelling in that area.
Samuel, third and youngest son of Jacob Sr. of Cumberland County, apparently lived with his family on his father's farm all of his life. In his later years the farm was located in Silver Spring Township, which was split off from East Pennsborough Township. Samuel, himself, changed his name to "Burtner", and all of his descendants who have carried the family name, have continued that spelling.
It is an interesting fact that many of the Burtner descendants of Jacob Bortner of Cumberland County have been ministers of the gospel - - principally in the United Brethren Church.
[1] George R. Prowell, History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume 2 (Beers, 1907), 224, left column, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].
[2] Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952, [AncestryRecord].
[3] Pennsylvania Land Warrant, Lancaster County, B-30, [PHMC Warrant].
[4] Pennsylvania Archives Land Office Survey, A-46-62, [PA Survey Map], [PASurveyBooksIndex].
[5] Pennsylvania Land Patent, AA1-47, [Patent Index Entry], [Patent Indices].
[6] George R. Prowell, History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume 2 (Beers, 1907), 224, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].
[7] Harold Bordner, The Bordner and Burtner families: and their Bortner ancestors in America (1967), 10, of 10-11, [InternetArchive].