Bertha Williams (Sparks) Harter was the daughter of Wilson Wilmer and Mary Catherine (Williams) Sparks. She was the beloved 1st wife of Rev. Elmer Ellsworth Harter, Sr. They were married Bedford, Pennsylvania February 25, 1891. Rev. Harter was a minister in the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died December 23, 1936. Bertha was the beloved mother of Mary Emma (Harter) Miller and grandmother of Bertha Mae (Miller) Haight. She was the great-grandmother of Mary Jane Haight-Eckert.
US CENSUS
August 22, 1870
West Providence, Bedford Co., PA
Post Office: Bloody Run
SPARKS
Wilson W age 28, b1842 PA, farmer
Mary C age 27, b1843 PA
Bertha age 2, b1868 PA
Jane Imes age 30, b1840 PA, domestic servant
Annual catalogue of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary for 1887-1888
Ladies
Sparks, Bertha W.
Gentlemen
Harter, Elmer E.
Obituary
The Bedford Gazette
Bedford, PA
March 22, 1901
HARTER.--Mrs. Bertha Williams Harter, who died at her home, the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, in Dudley, on March 13, was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sparks and was born near Everett on April 11, 1868. She was a kind, gentle obedient and industrious child and of sweet disposition, and during the pastorate of Rev. A. S. Baldwin on the Ray's Hill Circuit, she, at the age of thirteen, was converted and joined the Baughman church. After spending a year in the Ladies' Seminary, Birmingham, in August of 1887, she started to school at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport. Here she met Rev. E. E. Harter, who was then a student in that institution. A year's association in this institution resulted in the forming of an attachment between them that three years later resulted in their marriage, on the 25th day of February, 1891. Mr. Harter was then junior pastor of the Concord Circuit, but that spring was appointed to the pastorate of the Thompsontown Circuit in Juniata County. Here they lived two years, then they removed to Schellsburg, this county. Three years later they removed to Dudley, where they lived almost five years. Deceased leaves her husband and five small children to mourn the loss of a loving wife and mother. She was loved by the people of the parish and wherever her husband's duties led him. In the early part of the year 1900 she became ill with inflammatory rheumatism, which resulted in BRIGHT'S DISEASE and organic affliction of the heart. In the fall of the same year, these new diseases affected her so that she was taken to the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, where after two months' treatment she was able to return to her home and superintend her household. On the first day of February she was attacked with the grip, which aggravated her chronic troubles so that after six weeks of terrible suffering her life peacefully slipped away, after spending thirty-two years, eleven months and two days in this world. Always cheerful, and especially during the days of her greatest suffering, death did not change the peaceful countenance of her face, and the many beautiful flowers contributed by the people of the parish seemed a fit crowning of her sweet life. Funeral services were held in the church at Dudley on Friday at 1 o'clock, conducted by the Rev. Emory Miller Stevens, assisted by the Rev. Amos Smith Baldwin, of Lock Haven; Rev. William James Sheaffer, of Three Springs; Rev. Ellsworth McClellan Aller of Hopewell; Rev. Charles Wesley Wasson, of Saxton, and Rev. James W. Trimbath, of Everett, after which her body was interred temporarily in the Dudley Cemetery.
Memoir
Methodist Episcopal Church
Central Pennsylvania Conference Journal
1901, Page 111
US CENSUS
August 22, 1870
West Providence, Bedford Co., PA
Post Office: Bloody Run
SPARKS
Wilson W age 28, b1842 PA, farmer
Mary C age 27, b1843 PA
Bertha age 2, b1868 PA
Jane Imes age 30, b1840 PA, domestic servant
Annual catalogue of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary for 1887-1888
Ladies
Sparks, Bertha W.
Gentlemen
Harter, Elmer E.
Obituary
The Bedford Gazette
Bedford, PA
March 22, 1901
HARTER.--Mrs. Bertha Williams Harter, who died at her home, the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, in Dudley, on March 13, was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sparks and was born near Everett on April 11, 1868. She was a kind, gentle obedient and industrious child and of sweet disposition, and during the pastorate of Rev. A. S. Baldwin on the Ray's Hill Circuit, she, at the age of thirteen, was converted and joined the Baughman church. After spending a year in the Ladies' Seminary, Birmingham, in August of 1887, she started to school at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport. Here she met Rev. E. E. Harter, who was then a student in that institution. A year's association in this institution resulted in the forming of an attachment between them that three years later resulted in their marriage, on the 25th day of February, 1891. Mr. Harter was then junior pastor of the Concord Circuit, but that spring was appointed to the pastorate of the Thompsontown Circuit in Juniata County. Here they lived two years, then they removed to Schellsburg, this county. Three years later they removed to Dudley, where they lived almost five years. Deceased leaves her husband and five small children to mourn the loss of a loving wife and mother. She was loved by the people of the parish and wherever her husband's duties led him. In the early part of the year 1900 she became ill with inflammatory rheumatism, which resulted in BRIGHT'S DISEASE and organic affliction of the heart. In the fall of the same year, these new diseases affected her so that she was taken to the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, where after two months' treatment she was able to return to her home and superintend her household. On the first day of February she was attacked with the grip, which aggravated her chronic troubles so that after six weeks of terrible suffering her life peacefully slipped away, after spending thirty-two years, eleven months and two days in this world. Always cheerful, and especially during the days of her greatest suffering, death did not change the peaceful countenance of her face, and the many beautiful flowers contributed by the people of the parish seemed a fit crowning of her sweet life. Funeral services were held in the church at Dudley on Friday at 1 o'clock, conducted by the Rev. Emory Miller Stevens, assisted by the Rev. Amos Smith Baldwin, of Lock Haven; Rev. William James Sheaffer, of Three Springs; Rev. Ellsworth McClellan Aller of Hopewell; Rev. Charles Wesley Wasson, of Saxton, and Rev. James W. Trimbath, of Everett, after which her body was interred temporarily in the Dudley Cemetery.
Memoir
Methodist Episcopal Church
Central Pennsylvania Conference Journal
1901, Page 111
Bertha Williams (Sparks) Harter was the daughter of Wilson Wilmer and Mary Catherine (Williams) Sparks. She was the beloved 1st wife of Rev. Elmer Ellsworth Harter, Sr. They were married Bedford, Pennsylvania February 25, 1891. Rev. Harter was a minister in the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died December 23, 1936. Bertha was the beloved mother of Mary Emma (Harter) Miller and grandmother of Bertha Mae (Miller) Haight. She was the great-grandmother of Mary Jane Haight-Eckert.
US CENSUS
August 22, 1870
West Providence, Bedford Co., PA
Post Office: Bloody Run
SPARKS
Wilson W age 28, b1842 PA, farmer
Mary C age 27, b1843 PA
Bertha age 2, b1868 PA
Jane Imes age 30, b1840 PA, domestic servant
Annual catalogue of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary for 1887-1888
Ladies
Sparks, Bertha W.
Gentlemen
Harter, Elmer E.
Obituary
The Bedford Gazette
Bedford, PA
March 22, 1901
HARTER.--Mrs. Bertha Williams Harter, who died at her home, the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, in Dudley, on March 13, was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sparks and was born near Everett on April 11, 1868. She was a kind, gentle obedient and industrious child and of sweet disposition, and during the pastorate of Rev. A. S. Baldwin on the Ray's Hill Circuit, she, at the age of thirteen, was converted and joined the Baughman church. After spending a year in the Ladies' Seminary, Birmingham, in August of 1887, she started to school at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport. Here she met Rev. E. E. Harter, who was then a student in that institution. A year's association in this institution resulted in the forming of an attachment between them that three years later resulted in their marriage, on the 25th day of February, 1891. Mr. Harter was then junior pastor of the Concord Circuit, but that spring was appointed to the pastorate of the Thompsontown Circuit in Juniata County. Here they lived two years, then they removed to Schellsburg, this county. Three years later they removed to Dudley, where they lived almost five years. Deceased leaves her husband and five small children to mourn the loss of a loving wife and mother. She was loved by the people of the parish and wherever her husband's duties led him. In the early part of the year 1900 she became ill with inflammatory rheumatism, which resulted in BRIGHT'S DISEASE and organic affliction of the heart. In the fall of the same year, these new diseases affected her so that she was taken to the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, where after two months' treatment she was able to return to her home and superintend her household. On the first day of February she was attacked with the grip, which aggravated her chronic troubles so that after six weeks of terrible suffering her life peacefully slipped away, after spending thirty-two years, eleven months and two days in this world. Always cheerful, and especially during the days of her greatest suffering, death did not change the peaceful countenance of her face, and the many beautiful flowers contributed by the people of the parish seemed a fit crowning of her sweet life. Funeral services were held in the church at Dudley on Friday at 1 o'clock, conducted by the Rev. Emory Miller Stevens, assisted by the Rev. Amos Smith Baldwin, of Lock Haven; Rev. William James Sheaffer, of Three Springs; Rev. Ellsworth McClellan Aller of Hopewell; Rev. Charles Wesley Wasson, of Saxton, and Rev. James W. Trimbath, of Everett, after which her body was interred temporarily in the Dudley Cemetery.
Memoir
Methodist Episcopal Church
Central Pennsylvania Conference Journal
1901, Page 111
US CENSUS
August 22, 1870
West Providence, Bedford Co., PA
Post Office: Bloody Run
SPARKS
Wilson W age 28, b1842 PA, farmer
Mary C age 27, b1843 PA
Bertha age 2, b1868 PA
Jane Imes age 30, b1840 PA, domestic servant
Annual catalogue of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary for 1887-1888
Ladies
Sparks, Bertha W.
Gentlemen
Harter, Elmer E.
Obituary
The Bedford Gazette
Bedford, PA
March 22, 1901
HARTER.--Mrs. Bertha Williams Harter, who died at her home, the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, in Dudley, on March 13, was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sparks and was born near Everett on April 11, 1868. She was a kind, gentle obedient and industrious child and of sweet disposition, and during the pastorate of Rev. A. S. Baldwin on the Ray's Hill Circuit, she, at the age of thirteen, was converted and joined the Baughman church. After spending a year in the Ladies' Seminary, Birmingham, in August of 1887, she started to school at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport. Here she met Rev. E. E. Harter, who was then a student in that institution. A year's association in this institution resulted in the forming of an attachment between them that three years later resulted in their marriage, on the 25th day of February, 1891. Mr. Harter was then junior pastor of the Concord Circuit, but that spring was appointed to the pastorate of the Thompsontown Circuit in Juniata County. Here they lived two years, then they removed to Schellsburg, this county. Three years later they removed to Dudley, where they lived almost five years. Deceased leaves her husband and five small children to mourn the loss of a loving wife and mother. She was loved by the people of the parish and wherever her husband's duties led him. In the early part of the year 1900 she became ill with inflammatory rheumatism, which resulted in BRIGHT'S DISEASE and organic affliction of the heart. In the fall of the same year, these new diseases affected her so that she was taken to the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, where after two months' treatment she was able to return to her home and superintend her household. On the first day of February she was attacked with the grip, which aggravated her chronic troubles so that after six weeks of terrible suffering her life peacefully slipped away, after spending thirty-two years, eleven months and two days in this world. Always cheerful, and especially during the days of her greatest suffering, death did not change the peaceful countenance of her face, and the many beautiful flowers contributed by the people of the parish seemed a fit crowning of her sweet life. Funeral services were held in the church at Dudley on Friday at 1 o'clock, conducted by the Rev. Emory Miller Stevens, assisted by the Rev. Amos Smith Baldwin, of Lock Haven; Rev. William James Sheaffer, of Three Springs; Rev. Ellsworth McClellan Aller of Hopewell; Rev. Charles Wesley Wasson, of Saxton, and Rev. James W. Trimbath, of Everett, after which her body was interred temporarily in the Dudley Cemetery.
Memoir
Methodist Episcopal Church
Central Pennsylvania Conference Journal
1901, Page 111
Inscription
Bertha W. Sparks
1868 - 1901
Aged 32y 11m 2d
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
