USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 65
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New Ross is noted for sobriety. The temperance element is very
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strong. In 1875 a Good Templars lodge was organized, with a mem- bership of abont fifty, by J. W. Patch. F. M. Packer was elected worthy chief, and Kate Inlow, worthy vice-templar. In 1877 on ac- count of lack of interest the charter was surrendered. On October 11, 1878, Rev. I. P. Patch delivered an eloquent temperance address, and an effort was made to reorganize. Forty-four persons signified their desire to so do, and organization was immediately effected by the aid of Morning Star lodge. Hope Lodge, No. 151, then held an election, which resulted in the choice of W. F. Edwards, W.C.T .; Virginia Davis, W.V.T .; A. R. Peterson, W.S .; Wilson Jessee, W.F.S .; Buella Adkins, W.T .; C. L. Shaver, W.M .; Mary Heaths, W.I.G .; C. M. Benson, W.O.G .; A. R. Peterson, representative to the grand lodge. Officers were installed by W. P. Griest. The lodge is pros- perous.
In August, 1877, the farmers of New Ross vicinity held an exhibi- tion of the products of the soil, both field and garden, in the woods south of New Ross. Among the members were R. F. Bruce, Geo. Sanford, B. F., Wm., and Christopher Walknp, W. II. Steward. No premiums were offered or awarded. This was the germ destined to grow to large proportions. An effort was set on foot to organize an agricultural association. Shares were made $25 each, and thirty buyers found, and organization effected in 1878. Twenty-eight acres of land were leased for ten years of J. B. Jessee, dating from March 15, 1879. Officers elected were J. N. Dooly, Pres. ; Perry Yelton, Vice-Pres. ; W. H. Steward, Treas., and W. W. May, See., also a board of fifteen directors. They have their grounds fenced and in repair. They have held four exhibitions, counting the first or germinal display in the woods. Sixty-one shares have been sold to fifty-seven stockholders, and have over $4,000 improvements on the ground. In 1880 a most successful fair was held. The gate receipts were over $4,000. No entry fees were charged. They have one of the finest half-mile tracks in the state, and good accommodations. In their last exhibition there were 2,000 entries, forty of which were for sweepstakes on horses and thirty-two for mares. One clause in the constitution which commends itself is that no intoxicating liquor shall be allowed in the grounds. The officers for 1880 were John Lockridge, Pres. ; T. A. Adkins, Sec. ; D. M. Turner, Treas. ; J. II. Hashbarger, J. S. Byrd, and I. N. Miller, executive committee.
Fredericksburg, or Mace Postoffice, was named from Frederick Long, an early and respected citizen of Walnut township, who laid off the town about 1838 or 1840. The town grew but little till 1870. The first blacksmith was - Butt, and John Hanley next. David Crain was
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the first wagon-maker, abont 1845. Elias Crain long ago kept a cob- bler's shop. J. F. Watkins was an early merchant. Thomas Holloway and Jesse Williams have been merchants. Later merchants have been Watkins & Edwards, Edwards & Martin, Martin & Perry, Martin, Martin & Hutchings, and James G. Johnson.
The earliest physician was Dr. Parsons, then Dr. Irwin. Drs. Hogsett, Jones, and Eddinfield are the physicians of the day.
The first school-house in this region, and first in the township, was built about 1828, and taught by Maria Crain. As the people have de- veloped the country, better schools have supplanted the old. Fred- ericksburg has a good building, employing two teachers. The build- ing is two stories, the upper room being owned by individuals.
The order of Knights of Pythias is in a flourishing condition. It was organized in 1874. D. W. Kennedy was elected P.C .; Wm. F. Edwards, C.C .; J. M. Crain, V.C .; J. L. Smith, Prelate ; E. T. Linn, M.E .; G. W. Eddinfield, K.R. and S .; M. J. Fanst, M.A .; D. A. Mc- Cray, M.F .; C. C. Crain. I.G., and D. F. Beck, O.G. Other charter members were J. T. Chadwick, W. A. Dice, John E. Knox, D. D. Berry, J. Peterson, E. Meiser, G. A. Myers, T. Hunt, A. Linn. The lodge has given a welcome to forty-nine candidates. It is out of debt, and over $200 in the treasury, regalia and furniture paid for. The lodge has aided many in sickness, but has lost none by death. Present officers are Frank Cornell, P.C .; W. A. Dice, C.C .; W. V. Linn, V. C .; John Angelheim, Prelate ; O. H. Jones, M. of Ex. ; J. T. Chad- wick, M. of F .; John Peterson, K. of R. and S .; M. J. Faust, M. of A .; John Ward, I.G .; Wm. Everson, O.G. The lodge numbers twenty-eight.
Fredericksburg has a flourishing lodge of Good Templars, known as Morning Star Lodge. It was organized September 28, 1874, with thirty-six members. F. Cornell was first worthy chief templar, and Meranda Martin worthy vice-templar; C. L. Brotton, W.C .; Jacob Martin, W. Sec .; Lonisa Edwards, W.A.S .; W. C. Poage, W.F.S .; James F. Quillen, W.T. ; John W. Linn, W.M .; Lydia Finch, W.D. M. ; Ella Loop, W.I.G .; G. W. Linn, W.O.G .; Jennie Bratton, W. R.H.S .; Jennie Abbott, W.L.H.S .; W. F. Edwards, P.W.C.T.
A Methodist class was organized in an early day in this section. A general frolic was made when all the citizens turned out with their axes and built a log church 20×24 on the spot now occupied by Geo. Chadwick's barn. J. E. Hunt was the first to shoulder his axe and strike a blow and is the only one living of the first class.
Rev. Wilote, Thomas Brown, and Rev. Hargreaves were pioneer preachers ; John Linn, Jonathan and Littleton Fender were class-lead-
4
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ers; Ephriam Hunt was steward. About 1854 a new church 30×40, with seating capacity for three hundred, was ereeted. There are about two hundred members. Curtis Edwards, W. C. Loop, W. W. Ward, John E. Hunt, are trustees; W. C. Loop and W. W. Ward are stew- ards; Rev. John Harrison is minister in charge.
August 30, 1834, at an humble school-house, gathered a company of men and women for the purpose of organizing a Presbyterian church. There were present Joseph Henderson and wife Hannah, and daughters Elizabeth and Matilda, Rebecca Porter, John H. Poage and wife Jane, and daughters Hannah and Catharine, Delila Shanklin, Joshua McDonald, Wm. Yonel and wife Jane, John Porter, Rachel Porter, Silas Poage and wife Elizabeth, D. D. Berry and wife Eliza- beth, Mary Ann Foster, Margaret Crawford, Margaret Evans, Wm. Y. Mccutcheon, Wm. Zimmerman, Nathan Crawford, and Eliza Lock- ridge, twenty-four names. On the following day the number was made twenty-six, a most promising prospect for a strong church. Joseph Henderson, John Poage and Wm. Youel were elected elders. Joseph Wright, John Porter, Wm. Youel and Nathan Crawford were ordained elders March 20, 1836. At different elections since, James Touel, Wm. and David Watson, Joseph Watkins, and David Crain, were chosen. The church grew the first year to forty-nine, next year seventy-five, then eighty-four, ninety-one, ninety-seven, one hundred, one hundred and eighteen. In 1858-61 additions had been made. Immigration increased the membership, but its growth became slower in later years. Early ministers were James and John Thompson, Eastman Taylor, Cozad, Platt, and White. The church now numbers about forty members. During its life three hundred and sixty-seven persons have been brothers and sisters; one hundred and twenty-eight children have been baptized. The first trustees were Wm. Bratton, John Walkup and John Foster. As the writer reverts to 1831 when, at the first election held in Walnut township, but twelve votes were cast although many times twelve men had entered the land, and then shifts the curtain and views the present township, he can but exclaim how great the changes of time ! While his pen could not save all the history of this one spot in space alotted, yet the little dug almost from oblivion will grow in richness as the years produce other changes as marvelous as those of the past.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
James M. Seller, attorney, Crawfordsville. James and Mary D. Seller were natives of Virginia and went to Kentucky, then came to Montgomery county, Indiana, in 1827. Mr. Seller had been a captain
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in the Black Hawk war. He first came in the spring and started the clearing and planted a small crop, then returned to Harrison county, Kentucky, hiring a man to erect a hewn-log cabin of fair size, and two stories high. This cabin is now owned by Marshall H. Seller, east of Crawfordsville. It has been boarded and ceiled. Into this Mr. and Mrs. Seller and four children moved in the fall of 1827. They bought 280 acres. Mr. Seller became quite an active man in politics, first as a whig and later a republican. He was county commissioner for several years, and in the winter of 1843-4 he represented the county in the state legislature. He died December 24, 1874, and his wife is still living. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Seller is also a member.
William A. Seller, son of the above, was born September 20, 1823, in Harrison county, Kentucky. He was married October 10, 1844, to Elizabeth Wilson, who was born November 24, 1824, in Miami county, Ohio. They farmed one year in Walnut township, then two years in Franklin township, and in 1849 they bought twenty acres of land, and added to this till they now own 230 acres. Mr. Seller was first a whig, then democrat, and now a national. They have two children : Louisa J., now Mrs. Peterson, and James M.
James M. Seller was born December 20, 1845, in Montgomery county, Indiana. He derived his education from the common schools and academy. In 1869 he began the study of law with James McCabe, of Williamsport. He further studied with John M. Butler, of Craw- fordsville. After studying one year he went to Illinois, where he was engaged in teaching for three years, and at the same time pursued his studies. Returning to Indiana he associated himself with John W. Smith for the practice of his profession, in 1872, in Williamsport. In 1874 he located in Crawfordsville, where he has become established. In 1876 he formed a partnership with James Wright, and this firm still continue to do business under the firm name of Wright & Seller. Mr. Seller is a staunch democrat, and in 1880 was a candidate for the state legislature. Mr. Seller was married May 1, 1877, to Laura Heaton, daughter of James Heaton Sr., one of the oldest settlers in the county. She was born May 1, 1846. They have had two chil- dren : William, born June 9, 1878, and an infant (deceased). The Heatons are related to Gen. W. S. Hancock, and figured in the rev- olution. Mr. Seller is a Mason, and an active temperance worker. Mrs. Seller is a member of the Methodist church.
Jere Redenbaugh, farmer, New Ross, was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, May 25, 1824. His father, Henry Redenbaugh, was born in Ohio, and his mother, Mary (Douglas) Redenbaugh, was born in Eng-
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land, near London, and came to America in 1800 with her parents. They moved from Ohio to Jefferson county, Indiana, and in 1827 came to Montgomery county, bringing three children : Alonzo J., Jere, and Mary. They lived the first year in Scott township, in a house of the rudest description, boards being laid across the sleepers for their bedstead. Leaving Scott township they leased thirty acres for three years of William H. Lynn, in Union township. This they cleared, for which they received $100 in money. With this little purse Mr. Redenbaugh purchased eighty acres of land in Scott township, upon which they lived till his death, which occurred in 1855. Mrs. Reden- baugh is still living in Boone county, Indiana, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. She is a member of the United Brethren church. Mr. Redenbaugh's father and brother were under Harrison in the war of 1812, and his brother George is now a resident of Fountain county, Indiana, and is eighty-seven years old. Mr. Redenbaugh was a dem- ocrat all his life.
Jere Redenbaugh, son of the above, has spent all his life on the farm. In 1847 he was married to Elizabeth Corn, daughter of Will- iam and Sarah Corn, who came to Montgomery county in 1830, and settled in Scott, then in Clarke township. There Mr. Corn died in 1859, and Mrs. Corn in 1874. Mrs. Redenbaugh was born in Ken- tucky. They have six children : Williams, Sarah J., Eliza E., Nancy E., George W., and Andrew. After marrying, Mr. Redenbaugh leased a farm of Isaac Elston, in Union township, on which he lived five years. He then lived one year in Scott township. Remembering that a rolling stone gathers no moss, he purchased forty acres, on which his present commodious house stands. He has been a thoroughly successful farmer, having added to this forty acres till he now has the W. ¿ of S.E. 4, and E. } of S.E. } Sec. 28, and twenty acres, the E. } of S.W. ¿ of S.W. ¿ Sec. 28. In 1868 he built his present resi- dence, 18×36, with hall 10×36, and kitchen 18×18, all brick; also large barn. He is now in easy circumstances. He is democratic in politics, and a supporter of progressive movements.
T. A. Brown, school teacher, New Ross, was born in Clarke town- ship, Montgomery county, July 19, 1850. His father, William A. Brown, was born in Kentucky, and his mother, Elizabeth (Gose) Brown, in Virginia. William A. came with his parents, when he was a boy, to Montgomery county in 1828, and settled in Clarke township, where his father died the month following their arrival here, and was the first buried in the Davis graveyard. The Goses came to Boone county about 1829, when Elizabeth was small, and in the year following their arrival Mr. Gose died. William A. and Elizabeth some years after
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were married, and settled on the old homestead, which he bought from his brothers. There they have toiled in clearing and improving their land, not a stick having been cut before they came. The Indians camped on the creek close by. They are members of the Methodist church. He votes the republican ticket. T. A., the son of William A., for the first twenty-two years of his life lived on the farm, attend- ing the district school as much as possible, spending six months at the New Ross graded school, which enabled him to secure a certificate authorizing him to teach, which he did for one term. He sought fur- ther instruction at Valparaiso, Indiana, state normal school, teaching in the winter and schooling himself in the summer. His experience of ten terms' teaching well fits him for his present position as principal of the New Ross school. He has always met with success in his work, never leaving a school which he could not reëngage. He carries a cer- tificate of the first grade. He taught two years at Colburn, Tippe- canoe county, one session at Transville, and three years in Walnut township. Mr. Brown was married May 14, 1878, to Thalia Walters, daughter of William and Julia A. (Fritter) Walters. She was born in Iowa January 19, 1857. Her parents are from Ohio, and now of Car- roll county, Indiana. Her father is a blacksmith. He served three and a half years in the civil war, and is a republican. Mrs. Brown is assistant teacher in the New Ross public school, and holds an eighteen- months certificate. She is a member of the Christian church. He is a republican. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are yet young, and the future lies promising before them.
Andrew J. Routh, farmer (retired), New Ross, was born March 4, 1815, in Butler county, Ohio, and is a son of Jesse and Nancy (Doug- las) Routh. Jesse and Nancy Routh were natives of North Carolina, and moved with their parents to Tennessee, then to Ohio, where they were married. They next moved to Clarke township, Montgomery county, Indiana, arriving September 15, 1828. They settled on Sec. 21, and there, in 1837, Naney Routh died. Jesse Routh married again, and moved to Boone county, and in 1843 came to Walnut township, this county, where he owned an interest in a small mill just south of what is now New Ross, the first mill in the township. There he died in 1844. He was a democrat, and both he and first wife were members of the Baptist church. His father was wounded in the arm in the revolution. Andrew J. Routh spent his youth with his axe and plow in clearing and stirring the soil. He attended school in the log house, with oiled paper windows, slab seats, etc., when he could. He learned the carpenter's trade, and worked at that business in connection with farming, but he has farmed more or less all his life till of late years.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
He retired from constant toil on account of inability to labor, caused by a stroke of paralysis. For the past eleven years he has lived in New Ross. Mr. Routh was married in 1835 to Sarah A. Agee, daughter of Elizabeth Agee, who came to the county about 1834. In 1838 Mr. and Mrs. Routh moved to Walnut township, and bought a farm of forty acres in Sec. 35; sold this afterward and bought a much larger farm in the same section. He has since purchased a house and lot in New Ross. His wife died May 14, 1874. She, with her husband, was a member of the Christian church. Two children, Martha J. and Ace- nith, are deceased. James L. died in the war, after contracting a severe cold in the battle of Nashville. The four living are in Walnut town- ship. Mr. Routh has been quite a prominent republican. In his young days he was for many years a constable, and later he has been justice of the peace fourteen years, township trustee three years, and school director for twelve years. When he looks about and beholds the many changes, he is proud that he has been able to contribute in muscle and brain toward the conversion of the wilderness into wheat and corn fields, with here and there a village, school or church.
John Stipe, farmer, Orth, is a son of Joseph and Mary Ann (Stone) Stipe. Joseph Stipe was a native of Germany, and his wife of Virginia. He went to Virginia when a child, and went to Kentucky, and was there married. In 1816 he settled in Ripley county, Indiana, and in 1829 located in Franklin township, Montgomery county, where he en- tered eighty acres in Sec. 35, and added to the eighty till he owned 169 acres, and forty acres in Walnut township. He died in 1858, at the age of seventy years, and his wife followed in 1863, aged seventy- six years. He had served in the war of 1812. John Stipe, son of the above, was born in Ripley county, Indiana, in 1820. He remained at home till thirty years old. In connection with Jonas A. Jones he built a saw-mill in Shannondale, which occupied his attention three years. He then sold, and bought 160 acres of land. He added to this till he owned 320 acres. He now owns 240 acres, well stocked, a large barn, and a handsome two-story brick dwelling, containing sixteen rooms, erected in 1870, at a cost of about $6,500. He is eminent among the successful farmers. In politics he has been a life-long dem- ocrat. He was married in 1853 to Ann Eliza (Higgason) Robins, widow of Jacob Robins, who was married to Ann Eliza Higgason, by whom he had four children : Wm. R. (dead), Mary J., James H. and Sarah A. In 1850, while in Crawfordsville in the doctor's care, he died. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, so, also, was his wife. She was afterward, as stated, married to John Stipe, and is still living. She was born in Kentucky, and came with her parents to
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Franklin township in 1830, at the age of four years. Wm. R. Robins, son of Jacob and Ann Eliza Robins, served in the battles of Fort Don- elson and Pittsburg Landing, was taken sick and died at Evansville, Indiana. The daughters are married and living in Boone county, and James H. was married to Miss L. P. Crawford, of Missouri, and now owns 160 acres of land in Secs. 2 and 3, Walnut township. He has controlled a drain tile factory on his farm for several years. The chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Stipe are Joseph W., married in 1874 to Eliza- beth Evans, daughter of Wm. B. and A. A. Evans, of Walnut township. They farm in Boone county. The second son is John W., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Stipe and their parents have contributed their share of toil toward the development of Montgomery county.
James B. Jessee, farmer (retired), New Ross, was born in Russell county, Virginia, October 13, 1803, and was the son of Archie and Nancy (Browning) Jessee, both natives of Old Virginia. James studied his books but forty or fifty days, his education being derived by looking over the shoulders of others, and gathering from observa- tion. He adapted himself to any trade, now farming, then carpenter- ing or blacksmithing, or sat on the bench of a shoemaker. Mr. Jes- see was married in September 1827, to Nancy Candler, daughter of Squire John Candler, of Virginia, She was born in April 1808. In 1829 Mr. Jessee, wife and babe, emigrated to Indiana and settled in Montgomery county. His uncle, Wilson Browning, came the same year and entered the land on which New Ross now stands, and Mr. Jessee having nothing but a few household goods and $8 in cash, lived the first year with his uncle, whose wife being lame Mr. Browning pro- posed that Mrs. Jessee keep house, and all life together, which was agreed to by the second party. Some three or four years after, Mr. Jessee received from his brother $60, which was due him, and by put- ting what he had to this and borrowing $20, and paying 120 per cent interest, he purchased eighty acres of land on which he still lives. He has added to his farm till he owned 240 acres. He now lives with his son, I.W. Jessee, on the homestead, about one fourth of a mile south of New Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Jessee had seven children : Martha, Dorothy, Jane, Dosha A., now Mrs. G. T. Dorsey ; Thomas J., who died at Pittsburg Landing, during the late civil war; James M., now of Aurora, Illinois, who enlisted three times in the civil war ; and I. W., at home. Mr. Jessee has always been a warm whig or republican. He and wife are Methodists. His memory is still fresh, and he re- members well the war of 1812, in which his father was captain of a light horse company. His father was also a member of the Virginia legislature for twelve or fifteen years, and his grandfathers Jessee and
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Browning were in the revolution, the latter having been a captain and having lived to be 102 years of age. Mr. Jessee has been a prominent man in his vicinity for fifteen years, and was justice of the peace. In his old age he is a great reader and good converser. His settle- ment of Montgomery county is further noticed in the general history of Walnut township.
Honorable James H. Harrison, farmer and stock-raiser, Ladoga, was born December 7, 1807, in Shelby county, Kentucky, and is a son of Joshua and Sarah (Paris) Harrison. Sarah Paris was a native of Green county, Tennessee. Her father, Robert Paris, emigrated to Kentucky with the first white family in those regions. Before he died he declared history to be wrong concerning the settlement of Kentucky, asserting that the Boone family were taken sick in East Tennessee when on their way to Kentucky, and that the Kenton fam- ily moved on and were the first family to winter in that state, the Boones following in the succeeding spring. Robert Paris was very exact and truthful, and became aroused whenever he read or heard contrary history. He was a soldier in the revolution, and also fought the Indians. He killed at least four Indians, whose scalps he wore to his shot pouch. Joshua Harrison was a native of Maryland, and early accompanied his parents to Kentucky, where he lived in the fort known as Burnt Station, at Beardstown. There he grew to manhood, married, and had a family. In 1829 he and son Robert made a trip to Montgomery county, Indiana, and entered 240 acres of land two miles west of Ladoga. He returned to Kentucky, and in January 1830 James H. joined his brother Robert in the wilds of Montgom- ery, and put in a crop. In the following fall he made two trips to his native state, and aided in moving the family to their new home. There were eleven children. They lived on that farm until 1854, when the mother of the family was thrown from a buggy and killed. This sad event made a change. Joshua Harrison made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Senator Harney, of Ladoga, where he died Angust 8, 1870, aged ninety years, two months and two days. He had fought in the war of 1812-15, and represented the county in 1840 in the legislature. He was whig and republican, never having voted for but one democrat, Thomas Jefferson. He professed Chris- tianity but never united with the church. His wife was a Methodist. Nine of their children are living. James H. Harrison, the principal subject of this sketch, was married July 26, 1833, to Elizabeth, daughter of George and Rebecca (Kelley) Watkins, early settlers of Scott township. She was a native of Montgomery county, Ohio. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Harrison settled four miles east of La-
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doga, where he worked at 88 per month, and bought the first eighty acres. In three years he sold out, and in 1836 bought the S.E. } of Sec. 31, Walnut township, of John Pottenger, where he still lives. He has 360 acres in the home farm, seventy-five acres in Vermilion county, Illinois, 240 acres of well-improved land in Kansas, and has given to five children one and one-fourth sections, and to another $1,000 in cash. Mr. Harrison has dealt very extensively in stock, especially in mules, during the last thirty years. He has paid out as high as $50,000 a year for stock. He at one time owned a flat-boat, which he run down to New Orleans, and met Abraham Lincoln in the same business, his first acquaintance with the then future president. He was a whig, and cast his first vote for J. Q. Adams. He has traveled ex- tensively through the south. In 1843-44 he represented Montgomery county in the state legislature. He was a member of the session in which Hon. G. S. Orth and Gov. Williams received their first experi- ence. He has attended all the political conventions held in the dis- trict, except two, and takes an active part in the campaigns, never tir- ing till the victory is won or lost. Like his father, he has aided all measures of a progressive nature. His wife, for so many years his helpmate, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, died March 2, 1879, at the age of seventy years, five months and twenty-seven days. They had eleven children : Robert W., Charles B. (dead), John K. (dead), Wm. C. (dead), Joshua P., James H. Jr. (dead), Thomas H .. Sarah R., Louisa .J. (dead), Mary E. (dead), and Carrie S. Four sons, Robert W., John K., Joshua P. and Thomas H. served in the civil war, Joshua P. having been eight months in Andersonville prison, and at Savannah, Charleston, and Florence. Mr. Harrison was a home-guard. Eight of his children he has graduated at school. IIis second marriage took place August 26, 1880, to Mrs. Sarah (Zirkle) Robinson.
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