found this about my family

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=brower3231&id=I10771

ID: I10771
Name: Heinrich Habach
Given Name: Heinrich
Surname: Habach
Name: Heinrich Habach
Given Name: Heinrich Habach
Name: Heinrich Harbaugh
Given Name: Heinrich Harbaugh
Name: Henry Habach
Given Name: Henry Habach
Name: Henry Heorbach
Given Name: Henry Heorbach
Sex: M
Birth:
_UID: 4C73D999-E6A1-43DE-BCBA-91DCA9B3EFB5
RIN: MH:IF11670 BET 1755 AND 1764
Death:
_UID: 14374042-28FE-4A2F-B917-5BF551F25445
RIN: MH:IF72265
RIN: MH:I10779
_UID: 1A034A6F-AA59-4274-83BD-056E68933EAA
Note:
He was a Lutheran, and because he seems to have never used the Dutch form Hendrik for his given name, I can assume that any sojourn in Holland was short. He attended a German-language Lutheran church (I so assume because of the early identification of the church with a German name, Gute Hoffnung), overwhelming evidence must assert that he was from a German-speaking country. I cannot ascertain what part of the German-speaking lands he came from.


Whether Henry Harbaugh is related to the Harbaughs of the
"Harbaugh History" by Cora Bell HARBAUGH Cooprider that are not his descendants of himself or other Harbaughs who lived in Fayette County, PA at the time is highly uncertain. I know nothing yet of any ancestors who lived in Germany, Switzerland, or the (then) Germanophone Alsace-Lorraine region of France (family origin is likely in one of those places).

If HABACH is his original surname, then it was pronounced in German as "HAH-bakh", the KH representing a sound that does not exist in English. The strongly accented HAH could have been heard pronounced as "HAR", and the very audible "KH" could have come off as a K or been silent. Apparently it went silent and was spelled Harbaugh".

Several alternative spellings are possible for Harbaugh, but this family chose HARBAUGH

From a transcription of the 1800 US Census in Bullskin Twp., Fayette Co., PA


501 19 HEORBACH Henry 2 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . . .

This name was, of course, suited to sundry variations.

Note: two males under 10, one male between the ages of 26 and 45, and one female between the ages of 16 and 25. It is safely said that Henry was thus born between the
years 1754 and 1774, likely on the late side, and that Elizabeth was born between the years 1775 and 1784, likely on the early side. This household looks like a young couple, in view of the absence of any children over 10.

Here's a likely older brother:

501 18 HEORBACH John 5 1 . 1 . . . . 1 . . . .


Interpretation:

Five sons under 10, one son between 10 and 16, one adult male aged 26 to 45, wife between ages 26 and 45.

Here's a likely father of these two men:

501 17 HEORBACH Frances . . 1 . 1 . . . . 1 . . .

One son between the ages of 16 and 26, one man past age 45, wife past 45.

It is possible that "Frances" is a misrecording of "Francis" -- or "Franz", the German equivalent of "Francis". Nothing here is definitive.

..........

Rupp, in "About 30,000 Names" lists a "Heinrich Herbach" as arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1764, a "Johann Peter Harbach" as arriving in Philadelphia PA in 1772, and a "Michael Harbach" arriving in Philadelphia PA in 1773.

Strassburger, in "Pennsylvania German Pioneers", has a "Jacob Herbach" arriving in Philadelphia PA in 1741, and a Jacob Harbach arriving in Philadelphia in 1764. Those two are almost certainly different persons.

No other similar names, except involving a "Harback" arriving in Georgia at a similar time, is to be found, and the immigration list is extensive and alphabetic. Linguistic evidence suggests that if "HERBACH" is the correct spelling, then it was pronounced "hair-bakh" and slowly became "Harbaw" in pronunciation, as the obvious misspelling HEORBACH (which is bad German, bad English, bad Dutch, and bad anything else) seems to indicate. Paucity of alternatives on immigration lists suggests that the only alternative is to find someone who immigrated illegally, as by jumping ship.

In view of the absence of other evidence, my best guess is that Heinrich Herbach (known under several aliases -- all honorable, so far as I can tell) emigrated to the New World from Germany through Rotterdam and Philadelphia in 1764. Other Herbachs and Harbachs could be related -- but NOBODY seems to have reached America with the surname Harbaugh already formalized in writing.

It is possible that he immigrated as a child and even as an infant, so I have thus chosen to assert that he was born in or before 1764. Frequent changes of the rendering of his name are more typical of a recent immigrant with whose surname gives difficulties of pronunciation and spelling within the community within which he lives. Many French, German, English, and Spanish or Portuguese surnames were changed dramatically within the Dutch colony of New Holland; the lore of name changes of persons immigrating to most northern and western cities in the United States around AD 1900 shows the tendency to a powerful extent. Given names changed first; that is, Heinrich > Henry.

Once in America, Herbachs, Habachs, and Harbachs often became Harbaughs and who knows what else. Maybe even "Harvey" and of course "Harback". In his case the Anglicization went through "Heorbach", and as English speakers had trouble with the final sound that does not exist in English, the final "ch" was muted but transformed into the infamous silent final "gh" ot English.

NOTE TO RESEARCHERS:

Whatever you do, please cite my reasoning on the frequent name changes, which often seem like trial and error, in adaptation of an Anglophone environment. It is not from any book, so cite me to give credit -- or discredit -- where due. Because of the great ambiguity of his name at any given time, one can assume that his given name began as something unquestionably German over a few decades.

Addendum, 2 Dec 2006: a Francis Harbaugh, then between the ages of 70 and 80, appears in Union Twp., Fayette County, PA in the 1830 US Census, but not in 1840. This is consistent with "Frances Heorbach" being in the age group "45+" in 1810. No other persons with such a name are known to have been living in Fayette County between 1830 and 1870.
Change Date: 6 OCT 2008




Marriage 1 Elisabeth b: BET 1774 AND 1784
Children
Abraham Harbaugh b: ABT 1801 in Saltlick Twp., Fayette, Pennsylvania c: in Gute Hoffnung Lutheran Church, Saltlick Twp., Fayette, Pennsylvania