OF GERMAN ANCESTRY

DAUGHTER OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERAN JOHN REARICK SR.

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A BIOGRAPHY OF MARY REARICK OVERMIRE, by Laurence Overmire (5G Grandson) genealogist and family historian, Aug. 2008:

Mary was born about 1764 in Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, the eldest of eight children of Revolutionary War veteran John Rearick Sr. and his wife Mary. On Sep. 22, 1783, at the age of 19, she married Revolutionary War veteran John George Overmire Jr. (aka George III) in Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It is believed they had 11 children together.

As early as Easter 1805, George and Mary and their children appear in the records as members of Mr. Early's congregation at Emanuel's Church at the Loop of Tusseyville, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. In 1809, George and Mary were the sponsors of their granddaughter Leah's [daughter of George IV] baptism.

In 1811, George and Mary decided to join their many Overmire relatives who had established Obermeyerstettle (or Overmyertown in English, later called New Reading) in what is now Perry County, Ohio. George and Mary settled on a piece of property in Jackson Township. Mary's brother Peter Rarick was also living in Perry County, perhaps in Jackson Township. Peter and his wife Elizabeth (Long) had been the sponsors for the baptism of George Jr. and Mary's son Jacob at Emanuel's Church at the Loop in 1808.

Soon after they settled in Perry County, George died on Dec. 23, 1812, at the age of 57. Mary would live quite a bit longer. She died in New Reading on Aug. 14, 1835 at the age of 70. They were buried in New Reading Cemetery where their tombstones still stand proudly today.

See:
"One Immigrant's Legacy: The Overmyer Family in America, 1751-2009" by Laurence Overmire (Indelible Mark Publishing, 2009, imarkbooks.com)
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THE GRAVESTONE OF MARY REARICK OVERMIRE, by Laurence Overmire, Aug. 2008:

The inscription reads: "Mary, Consort of George Overmyer, who departed this life Aug. 14, 1835, aged 70 years." (Note: Some show her tombstone spelling as "Overmeyer.") It is curious that the headstones of Mary and her husband George match: they are made with identical stone in the same style, and spell the surname "Overmyer." George died in 1812. The other markers of that early period are made of inferior stone and not wearing well, yet George and Mary's stones are in excellent condition. This suggests that the stones were probably cut upon the death of Mary in 1835, George's original stone having been replaced. It is also curious that the surname is spelled "Overmyer," a spelling which is known to have been adopted by later generations, and though it may have been used at the time of Mary's death in 1835, it was probably not used by George himself. Indeed, most of George and Mary's children seem to have gone by the spelling "Overmier" or "Overmire," if indeed there was a preference.