Joachim Ernst Kraft Hörner (born probably about 1660) and his family lived in the village of Unteröwisheim, Germany in the region of Germany known as Baden (today's Baden Württemberg).

Ernst Hörner and three of his children (apparently without wife Appollonia) arrived in New York City in June, 1710 as a part of the Palatine migration from Europe. The family appeared as #299 on New York Governor Robert Hunter’s subsistence list, according to professional historian and historical researcher John L. Tevebaugh.

It is unknown whether Apollonia accompanied her husband and three of their children to America. There is no account of her arrival. Historian John L. Tevebaugh notes that her name never appears in New York Governor Robert Hunter's Palatine Subsistence Lists. Tevebaugh thus concludes that she died during the journey down the Rhine river to Rotterdam, or in England while waiting for the boat to New York, or more likely on the voyage to America itself. Many other emigrants did die enroute.

In 2001 John L.Tevebaugh completed and published on the Internet an extensive study of how this family evolved after its arrival in America. Joachim Ernst Kraft Hörner was the father of the man earlier researchers over the years had identified as Michael Harness, who lived in the early 1700’s in Hampshire County, Virginia. Tevebaugh’s well documented study of the early years of what evolved to become the Harness family (the primary subject of this web site) may be found on the Hardy County, WVA web site.

Hörner’s three children and their approximate ages at the time of arrival in America, according to Tevebaugh:

Anna Margaretha (probably about 20)

Johann Conrad Mattheus-15

Johann Michael Ernst-about 9 (after arrival in America, he would become known by a number of surnames, among them Michael/Ernst Harness, Sr.)

Historian Tevebaugh concludes that Joachim Ernst Kraft Hörner died in August or October of 1710, probably at West Camp, a Palatine settlement on the Hudson river in New York state. His daughter, Margaretha, married a fellow German immigrant, Johannes Kayser, in September, 1710 at West Camp.

In 2002 historian Tevebaugh completed a detailed analysis of new information that documents the parents, siblings and birth of Johann Michael Ernst Hörner (aka Michael Harness, Sr.) The information in the notes on this page reflects Tevebaugh's analysis.

The source for this new information was a town resident family lineage book (in German an ortssippenbuch) for the village of Unteröwisheim, located not far from Heidelberg in what is today the Baden Württemberg region of Germany. It is from this village that Hörner and his three children began their emigration to America.

The principal sources for the book were the church books from that village. Many of them were damaged and some portions were missing, primarily as a result of various wars in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The town resident family lineage book (ortssippenbuch) was compiled in 1995 by Karl Diefenbacher, one of Germany's leading geneaologists. It was discovered by Henry Z. Jones, Jr., a prominent American geneaologist, while he was researching some new material to add to his landmark series of volumes on the Palatine German families who came to New York in 1709-1710. Hörner and his 3 children were among those families. Historian Tevebaugh did additional analysis of the new material, comparing it with material he and others had previously researched. Tevebaugh's detailed analysis of the new material may be found on the Hardy County WVA web site.