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An impressive obelisk markes the grave of James B. Linhart

The Descendants of Christian Linhart (1721-1810)

Christian Linhart, Sr. emigrated from Germany and initially settled in York, Pa., There, in1764, he married Anna Maria Heindler (1740-1828) and began a family.    In  1787 the growing family moved to Wilkins Township where Christian bought several hundred acres of farmland. The couple were to have numerous children, many of whom stayed on to farm in the area including Barbara (b.1768) ; Adam (1769-1848); Michael (1770-1818); Christian, Jr. (1771-1844);  Margaret (b.1779) and Abraham (1782-1838).

Michael Linhart was born in York Pa., and he married Julia Hawk of Westmoreland County.  By 1850 he was farming his land along Thompson’s Run in western Patton Township.  His son James B. Linhart, became a prosperous and well-known farmer in his own right.

Christian Jr. also farmed in the area, most notably in North Huntington Township.

Still another son, Adam, married Sally Baughman and had several children including two brothers who stayed on to work the family farm  -- James (b.1851) and Christopher (1880-1874). 

The life and times of the brother are described in one early history:

“A tract of land a few miles east of Beulah – one of unrivaled beauty because of its location – was owned by two bothers Christopher and James Linhart. It was a frequent rallying place for marauding Indians in pioneering times (family lore tells of their encounters). James Linhart was a bachelor and familiarly known as “Big Jim.”  He was fond of jewelry, wore big rings and carried watch with heavy chain and swung a gold-headed cane.  Arrayed all in this finery it gave him pleasure to go to Wilkinsburg for the day where he enjoyed two good meals and the notice he attracted. The latter trait is memorialized by his tombstone, the most pretentious in the otherwise prevailing simplicity of Beulah graveyard.”

 Two events were to transform the landscape of Patton Township in the 19^th century:  the discovery of coal east of Pittsburgh, and the coming of the railroads in the mid 1800s. The Union Railroad, carving out a north-south route from the Great Lake to the mills of the Monongahela Valley, bought a tract of Linhart land along Thompson’s Run; the station they built there took the name of this pioneering family -- Linhart Station.

Sources:

History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (1889) Chicago: A. Warner & Company.

Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity : the Village, 1788-1888.  Compiled by the Group for Historical Research, Wilkinsburg; edited by Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee: Wilkinsburg, Pa., 1940.