1684 - 1758

Tobias Hartranft (or Herterranft) was born ca. 1684 in Lauterseiffen, Silesia and died on 4 October 1758 in Pennsylvania. His wife, Barbara Jäckel of Ober Harpersdorf, Silesia, died on 15 February 1764. Tobias came to America from Bielanka, Loewenberg, Silesia, arriving in Pennsylvania in 1734, together with his wife and six children, and settled in Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The Hartranft family was part of the Schwenkfelder movement, a religious group of followers of the Rev. Oscar Schwenkfeld, who immigrated to America for religious freedom.
(For more information about the Schwenkfelder exiles, click here.)

The 1879 book, A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of the Schwenkfelders, (revised 1923), details much more of this group and their immigration to the U.S.
(Additional information about this important book can be found here.)

On this website, it is not the intent to duplicate all the information contained in the above-mentioned Schwenkfelder book. Rather, using the book's information as a starting point, I have attempted to construct a family tree of descendants of Tobias. References to the numbering system of the Schwenkfelder book are included in brackets [49-xxx] where appropriate.

Of the three sons of Tobias and Barbara Hartranft, only the youngest, Abraham, had sons to carry on the Hartranft surname. This site particularly focuses upon the descendants of Abraham's son, Leonard, who is designated herein as "Leonard (2)" to distinguish him from an earlier sibling of the same name who died before the second Leonard was born. This site is admittedly only a work in process, and no representation of completeness or accuracy is to be inferred. It is fully expected that over time the pool of knowledge contained here will grow in both volume and accuracy. All contributions of additions or corrections are gratefully accepted.

Of particular interest is the family of Jacob Hartranft, oldest son of Leonard (2). One of Jacob's sons, Johann Dietrich, is believed to be the same as Dieter Hartranft, the great-great-grandfather of this site's webmaster. To avoid duplication, Dieter's descendants can be found only on the main Draper-tree pages. Click here to go directly to his information.

Any information or proof to connect Johann Dietrich and Dieter would be enormously appreciated by many of Dieter's descendants.

To search for a specific person in the Hartranft pages, click here.

For surnames in this file, click here.

To e-mail me, write to draper-tree.