Author: David Joseph Overmyer
John George Overmire Jr., the eldest child of Capt. John George Overmire and his first wife Eva Rosenbaum, has the distinction of being the first of this American Overmire (aka Overmier, Overmyer, Overmeyer, etc.) family to be born on American soil - at the home of his parents in Paxton Twp., Dauphin Co., PA, on June 3, 1755. A little over a month later, on July 9, Gen. Braddock was defeated by French and Indian forces at the Battle of Monongahela in western Pennsylvania, where a young George Washington distinguished himself by saving the surviving men from complete annihilation. His mother having died when he was only 4 years old, George Jr. was raised by his stepmother Barbara Vogt Overmire. In 1776, when he was 21 years of age, George Jr. enlisted as a private in Capt. John Clark's 1st company, 4th Battalion, Northumberland County Pennsylvania Militia. They went into service in December and marched to New Jersey where, in Jan. 1777, they were involved in operations following Gen. Washington's inspiring victories at Trenton and Princeton. Attached to Col. James Potter's 2nd Battalion, Clark's company fought the British at the battles of Piscataway and Short Hills (aka Ash Swamp) in May and June of that year. When the Northumberland militia units were reorganized in 1778, George Jr. served as a private in his father Capt. George Overmire's company of Frontier Rangers. Also serving in that company were George Jr.'s brother Peter and his father-in-law John Rearick (Rarick). On May 16, 1780, a patrol of Capt. Overmire's men was attacked by Delaware Indians at French Jacob's Mill in West Buffalo Twp. Four men were killed and a fifth narrowly escaped with his life. An alarm was sounded and the rest of Overmire's men turned out to drive the Indians away. They carried their dead comrades back towards what is now New Berlin, but the warm weather proved problematic, so three of the men were buried on farms along the way. The fourth, Samuel McLaughlin, was taken to the Overmire homestead. There the body was prepared for burial by the Captain's wife, Barbara. The accounts tell us that the Captain's son (presumably George Jr.) served as undertaker. George Jr. was a farmer. He married Anna Maria (Mary) Rearick, the daughter of his comrade-in arms John Rearick and his wife Maria. They had 11 children. The family lived in Buffalo Twp., then moved to Potter Twp., Centre Co., PA, sometime before 1805. After his father passed away in September 1805, George Jr. along with his brother John Michael served as executors of their father's will. In 1811, George Jr. moved to Overmyertown (New Reading) in Perry Co., OH, where several of his siblings had relocated. He died on Dec. 23, 1812, at the age of 57, and was laid to rest in what became the New Reading Cemetery where many of the Overmire family and their descendants would join him in later years.

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