1850 census records Harmon (18) living in Chester, Wayne, Ohio with his father Samuel Von Dorsten(52 years old) and his mother Mary Von Dorsten(51). It is also noted his younger brother Cornelius who was 15 was living with them.

1860 census records Harmon (named misspelled Harrison) is now married to Susan. They have one small infant daughter named Minerva C. Vandorsten living with them. It is also noted that Harmon's brother Cornelius is living with him, They reside in Chester, Wayne, Ohio.

1870 census records that Harmon (H J Van Dorsen is actual recorded in census) and his wife Susan
have moved to Newbury, LaGrange, Indiana (post office Middlebury) and have 4 children:

Cinderilla 10
Flora 8
Chas (Charles is real spelling) 5
Samuel 3

1880 census records Harmon and Mary live in Clay, LaGrange, Indiana with 7 children. The oldest Minerva Cinderilla has moved out:

Flora: 18
Charles: 15
Samuel: 12
Captola 10
Lula 6
Ethel: 4
O. Othna: 3

1900 Census records Harmon (67) and Susan (60) living at home in Newbury, LaGrange, Indiana with two of their children:
Othney: 23
Frank E. : 16
They had been married forty-one years and had nine children all still living.



Additional info:

HANNON J. VAN DORSTON, one of the enterprising citizens of the township, purchased and located on his farm of 107 acres in the spring of 1864, and is living in the oldest frame house in the township. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, April 4, 1833, and came to Indiana soon after celebrating his twenty-first birthday. One year he passed in Elkhart and La Porte Counties; then returned to the home of his parents. In April, 1855, he started for California, going via New York and the Isthmus of Panama. After arrival there he engaged in mining for fourteen months; then went to Portland, Oregon, where he worked at lumbering until the fall of 1858, when he returned home and, March 24, 1859, was married to Miss Susan Flora. They have had eight children - Minerva C., now Mrs. Gideon Lehman; Flora T., Charles E., Samuel J., Capitola, Lula D., Ethel E. and Othny Ono. Mrs. Van Dorston is the daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Lesher) Flora, natives of Pennsylvania, and was born in Wayne County, Ohio, May 8, 1840. Mr. Van Dorston was Justice of the Peace four years, and then re-elected but did not qualify. His parents, Samuel and Mary (Flickinger) Van Dorston, natives of Pennsylvania, moved from Ohio to St. Joseph County, Mich., in 1865; Samuel Van Dorston died in 1880; his widow is now living in Three Rivers, Mich., and is eighty-four years old. The subject, his wife, and two daughters are members of the Lutheran Church.

Source: "1882 History LaGrange County