Claims that his father was Abraham HERRINGTON should be regarded with suspicion.
The following typed document was found in the attic of Melba Hamma in MO.  An
EXACT copy, complete with typing errors follows:
"I Bartholomen was born of the parents of Sarah Leek and Abramham Herrington
in the town of Leech in the county of Lancaster on April 10 1740 in a log
cabin.  I had three sons and one daughter, manely Jonathan, Mary
Elizabeth, Abramhan David and Joshua.

Elizabeth Herrington was the wife of my brother Nathaniel   Nathaniel died
in Ohio and was buried near Mansfield his wife proceeded to our new home
with us.

My wife was Phoebe Ann Schmidtgen of Lund, Penn.  Her father was Peter a
German Cobbler and farmer.  Schmidtgen"

While probably well intentioned, there are several items which cast doubt
that this typed copy was made from an earlier original document.  These 
include:
1. The document reads like a school essay where the assignment was "pretend
you were born in colonial times and write about your life."  In this case
it appears the writer picked an ancestor about which they knew a few
facts, and made up the rest.

2. Bartholomew HERRINGTON signed all documents with his mark.  If genuine
the document could have been dictated, but not written by him.

3. The phrase "born ... in log cabin" reads like modern grade school books
about Abraham Lincoln.  It is doubtful anyone of the time would have 
referred to themselves as being born in log cabin, as that would be where
most people were born.

4. No towns of Leech or Lund have been located in Pennsylvania.

5. Most importantly, the names he allegedly states were his sons and
daughters do not match the known facts.  The statement adds children he
did not have, and omits children he did have.

6. The sentence about Elizabeth is awkward, written as though someone had
visited the cemetery where Bartholomew and Elizabeth are buried, and was
trying to explain who she was.  This was probably because her cemetery
inscription, said by some to be a replacement that is supposed to be a copy
of the original, stated she died 16 March 1817 in her 90th year.  Were this
accurate, she would have been too old to have been the mother of any of
Bartholomew's children.  Thus the "invention" of the explanation for who
she was.

7. The town of Mansfield did not exist in 1799 when the HERRINGTON family
   moved from KY to MO.  Not only would it have been out of the way, but no
   settlement existed there at that time. The first settlement in the vicinity of what
   became Mansfield was not until 1807.1  

With almost every part of the document having errors that do not agree with
known facts, both historical and records regarding Bartholomew, there is
no reason to consider the statement about Bartholomew's parents as factual.

One interesting point to note is that is believed that Bartholomew had a 
brother named Abraham, not his father.


1. A. A. Graham, History of Richland County, Ohio, Mansfield, Ohio: A. A.
   Graham & Co., Publishers, 1880), 234.