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Based on the names you mentioned I believe your family is descended from what I refer to as the Beaver Co., Pennsylvania, Harsha family.
Andrew Harshe came to what is now Beaver Co. in western Pennsylvania about 1784 and settled on Racoon Creek. In 1784 he purchased land on Big Travers Creek, a branch of Racoon. He was on a tax list there in 1786. He is probably the Andrew Harsha who was earlier recorded in Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania between 1775 and 1782. There he was recorded with various spellings including Harsha, Harshaw, Harshe, and Harshey.
I have not found him in the 1790 Census but he is listed twice in the 1800 Census, once as Andrew Harshe in Hanover Township, Beaver Co. and once as Andrew Harshaw in Second Moon Township. He had a wife, three sons and a daughter. Based on a township map from 1800 I judge his land was on or near the dividing line between the two townships which perhaps explains the double listing. Andrew Harshe is again listed on the 1810 Census in Hanover Township without family.
Based only on census records I believe Andrew had four sons – William, Thomas, John, and James. I have no other documentary proof of this but there seems only to have been one Harsha family in Beaver Co. in the early 1800s and all the sons are a generation younger than Andrew.
Of the sons John's family is well documented down to the present by his descendants. They seemed to use the spelling Harsha for all the subsequent generations . William and Thomas lived and died in Beaver Co.; I have the names of some of their children but not much else. They and their families are documented as both Harsha and Harshe but Harsha seems more common especially in the later years.
The 1810 Census records James Harshe with a wife, one son, and one daughter both under ten in Hanover Township, Beaver Co. In 1817 the Beaver Co. Orphans' Court records show that James Harshe died leaving his wife Mary, and children Sarah, Andrew, David, and William all under 14. I assume that Mary and the children went to live with one of her relatives because I don't find her in the censuses of 1820 or 1830.
As you probably already know, in the 1840 Census Andrew Harshee (sic) is listed in Allen Co., Ohio. In the 1850 Census in Allen Co. Andrew and David Harshe are listed in the same household with no wife but with children Dace Ann, age 12, James, age 10, Samantha, age 8, and John, age 6. This agrees with the information from the book you mentioned. In the same census the Mary Harshe, age 64, who lived nearby is probably Andrew's and David's mother. The child James is probably the James R. Harshe who served in the 151st Ohio Infantry during the Civil War and whose widow Margaret Harshe filed for a pension in 1906.
In the 1700s and early 1800s the spelling of the Harsha name like many surnames was pretty variable. It seems that most branches of the family had settled on "Harsha" as the preferred spelling by about 1850. Your branch is one of the few that took the spelling "Harshe".
I hope all this helps. If you need the source for any of these items please email me direct at my address given on this web site.
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