History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 136

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Ohio > Knox County > History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present > Part 136

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HAMMOND, J. L., Union township; farmer; post office,

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

Millwood, born February 4, 1852, and was married to Miss W. Tracy October 23, 1873. In 1875 he moved to his present farm. His father came from Maryland at an early date. He had two children: J. L. Hammond and Mary. S.

HANGER, REUBEN, Union township, farmer, post office, Rossville, born July 5, 1817. In 1816 his father came here, when they had no neighbors except Indians. He had eleven children, viz: Catharine, Susanna, Betsey, Polly, Reuben, Barbara, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, John, and Priscilla. Jacob died February 29, 1876; Polly, January, 1878; Barbara, July, 1878. Reuben Hanger married Hannah Lydie, September 1, 1839, and settled on the old homestead, where he still remains. He has ten children, viz: Mirion Jane, William F., George Washington, Leander Sherman, Isaac Newton, Joseph Curtis, Martin W., John Russell, Henry B., and May Elizabeth.

Mirion died in 1873, and left to her husband two children- Elizabeth Ellen and George C.

Isaac Newton was married, but lost all his family by death.

HANGER, JOHN, Union township, farmer, post office, Millwood, born in Union township. In 1810 his father came from Pennsylvania, and lived here until his death in 1851. In 1868 his mother died. John Hanger married Mary Larabell, March 1, 1854, and settled on the old home. They have four children-Lyman, born December 25, 1835; Barnett, Novem- ber 29, 1857; Seltura, June 27, 1859; and Victoria, November 29, 1865.

His wife was born August 19, 1834. Seltura died when she was seven weeks old. Barnett married Sarah Shafer Septem- ber 14, 1879, and lives with his parents.

HANGER, LEE, farmer, Union township, post office, Mill- wood, was horn August 31, 1841, in this township, and re- maincd at home until 1863. He was married to Christina Hy- att in 1865, and settled immediately on his farm. They have two boys-Curtis, born in 1870, and Charles, born in 1873.

HANGER, JOSEPH, Brown township, farmer and stock raiser, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hanger, was born in Union township, Knox county, March 3, 1831. At the age of nine years his father died, but he remained with his mother till he became of age. During that time he controlled and farmed his mother's portion of the farm. He married Juliza Winter- ringer, August 25, 1854, she being a daughter of J. B. Winter- ringer, born in Union township, Knox county. After his mar- riage he still remained in Union township, renting and moving on the farm owned by the widow Workman, where he remained about eighteen months, and then rented his father-in-law's farm, where he removed and remained about two years. While there he purchased his brother's share in the old farm, which, with his own share, made him sixty-seven acres. In 1857 he moved on this farm, and remained there ten years, and then sold the farm to his brother Reuben for three thousand dollars. He then purchased the farm known as the John Frost farm, of one hundred and twenty-five acres, in Brown township, where he moved and now resides, it being a very desirable and pleasant home.

In 1855 he was elected justice of the peace of Union town- ship, serving three consecutive terms.

Mr. and Mrs. Hanger were the parents of ten children: Alice C., born June 8, 1855, was married to Hudson Majors, and re- sided in Rosstown, Knox county, until her death, July 26, 1878; J. B. Leonard, born February 15, 1857, and died in July of the

same year; Mary J., born December 9, 1858, and died in in- fancy; Elizabeth, born December 17, 1859, and died in April of the following year; J. C., born April 14, 186r; Laura C., Octo- ber 25, 1863; Ida E., November 17, 1865; W. F., January 2, 1867; Martin L., November 23, 1872; and Rhoda M., July 25, 1864. Edith M. Majors, granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Han- ger, was born September 24, 1874.

Mrs. Hanger is a consistent member of the Presbyterian church of Millwood, Knox county.

HANCOCK, JOHN R., farmer, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1835, removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1856, and to Clay township in 1876. He was married December 3, 1856, to Elizabeth Bradfield. They have had eight children, viz: Joseph L., George W., Maggie A., Wil- liam, James, Nancy, Arabella, and Ermina. Notwithstanding Mr. Hancock is a second cousin to General Winfield Scott Hancock, Democratic candidate for President in 1880, he is a strong, life-long Republican. He is the owner of several hun- dred acres of good land, and is financially in very comfortable circumstances.

HARRISON, AMZI, Miller township, farmer, was born in Morgan township, May 21, 183r. His parents, Timothy and Phebe (Edwards), were natives of New Jersey, where they were married and shortly after came to Ohio and settled in Morgan township, and subsequently moved to Licking county, where they died, near Appleton. They had eleven children, four of whom are yet living.

Mr. Harrison was reared on a farm, and in his youth attended the common schools. He has always followed farming as his occupation; is a careful husbandman and an esteemed citizen. He came to Miller township in 1867. On the twenty-fourth of December, r862, he married Miss Malissa Callihan, and has three children: Ella Mav, Charles Wesley, and Frank Wilbur.

HARDEN, COLUMBUS, drayman, Fredericktown, was born in Morrow county in 1840, and married in 1862 Julia Iden, who was born in Sparta, Morrow county. Mr. Harden has been engaged in farming in Morrow county. In 1876 he moved to Fredericktown where he is engaged in draying.

HARDESTY, GEORGE, farmer, Morris township, post office, Mt. Vernon, was born in Williams county, Ohio, in 1857, and was married in 1879 to Sadie Hogue, who was born in Knox county in 1859. They have one son, Austin C., who was born in 1880. Mr. Hardesty has resided in this county seven years.

HARDING, THOMAS, grocer and coal dealer, was born in Yorkshire, England, May 4, 1819, on the old homestead where the Harding family had successively resided for over four hun- dred years. He remained on the home place until he was thirty- two years of age, during which he was engaged in farming. In 1851 he emigrated to America and located in Mt. Vernon. His first engagement was in the employ of J. E. Woodbridge, in the warehouse business, where he remained until October, 1852, when he established a coal yard and office, which was the first in the city, consequently making Mr. Harding the pioneer coal dealer of Mt. Vernon. He has continued in this business ever since, and about three years ago he added to his business that of groceries. In the coal trade he does business to the amount of about twenty thousand dollars per year; in the grocery busi- ness he carries a stock of about fifteen hundred dollars, and at the present does a business of about eighteen thousand dollars

young Respectfully. Jaar "Headley-

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

per year in the two departments, the coal trade having become greatly divided during the past few years.

HARIMAN, DAVID, Wayne township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown, born in Knox county in February, 1835, and was married in 1859 to Margaret Sharp, who was born in Knox county in 1837.

HARNWELL, BENJAMIN, merchant, Gambier, Ohio, was born in England in the year 1836. When only six years of age (in 1842) he accompanied his parents, Adam and Leonora Harn- well, to America. His parents located in Geneva, New York, and remained there about one year. From Geneva they re- moved to Wisconsin, and resided there until the fall of 1844, and then came to and settled in Gambier, this county.

The subject of this brief sketch entered school in that village, and received his education. In 1848 he engaged in the mercan- tile business as clerk for the late A. G. Scott, the then leading merchant of Gambier, with whom he remained six years.

In 1854 young Harnwell went to Cincinnati and engaged with George N. Wood & Co., corner of Fifth and Vine streets, with whom he ramained until 1857. From Cincinnati he came back to Gambier, and engaged in the mercantile business in the room he now occupies. In 1859 he left Gambier and went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he only tarried a few months, when he left the city and went to Memphis, Tennes- see, and continued there until 1870. While residing in Memphis Mr. Harnwell was engaged in the publishing business. He published the Daily Argus nearly all through the war and after the war. He published Hardie's Tactics, first edition twenty thousand copies, second edition ten thousand copies, and an edition of the Laws of Memphis. He also edited and published the Southern Monthly. He also pub- lished many other works. He printed the blanks for the cotton loan for the State of Mississippi for the amount of twenty mil- lion dollars. He also published Scott's Grammar. His print- ing establishment at Memphis was a large one, superior to any other in the Southern States at that time.

From Memphis, in 1870, Mr. Harnwell returned to his old Ohio home in Gambier, and engaged in the mercantile business at his old stand, where he has continued ever since. He deals in general merchandise. He is also agent for the Union Ex- press Company running over the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Columbus railroad.

On December 29, 1863, Mr. Harnwell married Miss Emma Probasco, of Lebanon, Ohio, daughter of Judge John and Susan Probasco, nee Freeman. This union has been blessed with three children, two sons and one daughter.

HARPER, HON. LECKY, editor and proprietor of the Mt. Vernon Democratic Banner, was born in the county of Done- gal, Ireland, December 29, 1815. His parents, Hugh Harper and Catharine (Long) Harper, with their children, three sons and two daughters, emigrated to the United States in the sum- mer of 1820, and settled in Washington, District of Columbia. The following year his father died of malarial fever, leaving his mother and four young children almost entirely among strangers. The bereft mother, being a woman of Christian principles and no ordinary force of character, put forth un- expected energy, attending to their wants, their culture, and their education, assisted, however, by the advice of members of a family to whom they bore relationship. Nothing was neg- lected to prepare them for a project, which the mother kept always in view, to take them, as soon as practicable, to the

State of Ohio, then the "far west," an undertaking deemed by their immediate friends extremely hazardous.

In the month of June, 1826, the little family crossed the Alle- ghany mountains, and arrived, without any accident, in Jeffer- son county, where they were met by relatives and friends.

Mrs. Harper died at the residence of her second son, in Akron, in 1866, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Only two children remain, one a well known citizen of Pittsburgh, John Harper, esq., president of the Bank of Pittsburgh, and the third son, Lecky, the subject of this memoir.

Lecky Harper came to Ohio in the eleventh year of his age, with some education, which was increased by such acquisitions as could be obtained in a country school-house amid the hills of Jefferson county in early days. In 1830, young Harper went to Steubenville, and entered as a clerk in a mercantile establish- ment. After clerking about a year he entered the office of the old Jefferson Democrat, for the purpose of learning the "art preservative of all arts." In that office he remained a year, when he found but little could be learned in an establishment where the proprietors were entirely ignorant of the profession. Hetherefore concluded to enter into an engagement with Judge Wilson, then editor of the Steubenville Herald, to go with him to Pittsburgh, in 1832, where the judge established the first daily paper in that city, called The Pennsylvania Advocate.

During the period of his apprenticeship Mr. Harper spent his leisure hours in reading historical and literary works, kindly loaned him by a valued friend. He made frequent contribu- tions to the Saturday Evening Visitor, a family paper then published in Pittsburgh. In May, 1837, Mr. Harper returned to Stubenville and purchased a half interest in the American Union, the successor of the old Jefferson Democrat. For two years he edited and conducted the Union with marked success. During the session of the Ohio legislature for 1839-40 he re_ ported the proceedings of that body for the Ohio Statesman, then under the management of the late Colonel Samuel Medary, and also assisted in the editorial department of that paper. During his connection with the Statesman a warm personal friendship sprang up between the colonel and Mr. Harper, that lasted until the death of Mr. Medary. During the exciting presidential campaign of 1840 Mr. Harper edited the Crawford Democrat, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, whilst the proprietor was engaged in taking the census. At that time Mr. Harper had made arrangements for establishing a daily Democratic paper at Pittsburgh, but the unexpected defeat of Van Buren changed the political aspect of affairs, rendering it impolitic at that time to undertake so hazardous an enterprise, and induced him to embark in some other profession. He entered the law office of Messrs. Metcalf & Loomis, and in due course of time he was admitted to the bar of Pittsburgh. During his course of study he edited the Pittsburgher, a weekly Democratic paper. In 1843, after his admission to the bar, he located at Cadiz, Ohio, where he practiced law, and purchased the Cadiz Sentinel, which he edited three years, and then disposed of the paper and returned in 1846 to Pittsburgh, by the invitation of leading Dem- ocrats of that city. He bought the Morning Post, then a small paper, with limited circulation, and printed on a hand press. Under the editorial management of Mr. Harper, the circulation of the Post rapidly increased, soon taking rank as one of the leading papers of Pennsylvania. It became necessary to throw aside the hand press and substitute steam power presses. Doing all the editorial work of a daily was too severe a task for a con- stitution at no time robust; he therefore disposed of the Post, so

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as to secure a location and paper demanding less mental work than a leading daily in a large city.

During Mr. Harper's editorship of the Post, he was drawn into a very exciting controversy on the labor question. The legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law making ten hours a day's labor in all manufacturing establishments, more especially in factories where children were employed. Previously little children had been compelled to work twelve and even fourteen hours a day, commencing at six o'clock in the morning and laboring until seven or eight o'clock in the evening. Mr. Harper sustained the law, not only because it was the law, but that it was a just and humane enactment. Every other paper in Pittsburgh opposed the law, taking sides with the manufac- turers, who claimed that they could not compete with the manufacturers of the east, unless they run the long hours. The Commercial-Journal at that time was the special organ of the manufacturers, who called to their assistance their attorney, who undertook the task of writing Mr. Harper down and destroy his paper. To accomplish this, it was alleged, he was ruining Pittsburgh's leading industries, etc. This was followed by a movement to induce business men to withdraw their patronage from the paper. But a reaction took place, and for every man that stopped the Post at least fifty new names were added to the list. The mechanics and working men of the city made the cause their own. The largest meeting ever held in Pittsburgh assembled in the old market square to sustain the Post, and when Mr. Harper appeared at the meeting he was lifted on the shoulders' of the men of toil and carried to the speaker's stand, where he addressed the excited people, advis- sing them to stand up for their rights and the rights of human- ity, but to commit no act of violence. The ten hour law was triumphant.

Finding an opening in Mt. Vernon, Mr. Harper, after dispos- ing of the Post, came here and purchased, in 1853, the Mt. Ver- non Democratic Banner, which he has since ably conducted and edited. From being a poorly unsupported institution he soon brought the Banner to the front with a large subscription, and it is now one of the most ably conducted and edited newspapers in the State. A few years since the building in which the paper is published was destroyed by fire, including the entire outfit of type and presses. This calamity required a complete refurnish- ing of both type and presses, which was accomplished within a space of ten days. The Banner office is now one of the most extensive and complete printing establishments in Ohio, outside of the leading cities. Mr. Harper was president of the Ohio Editorial association four years, and is the president of the Dem- ocratic Editorial association, organized in 1880. In 1879 he was elected State senator in the Seventeenth and Twenty-eighth Senatorial districts, composed of the counties of Wayne, Holmes, Knox and Morrow, and is a member of several of the most important committees in that body.

Mr. Harper is one of the oldest editors in the State. From May, 1837, up to the present time, over forty-three years, he has worn the editorial harness, with a prospect of many more years of usefulness before him. As an editor he occupies the highest rank, and as a news compiler he is unequalled; as a citizen, honored and respected; as a neighbor, kind and obliging.

On the eighteenth of September, 1844, Mr. Harper was united in marriage to Miss Eliza A. Mercer, at Florence, Washington county, Pennsylvania. She is a descendant of General Hugh Mercer, of the American Revolutionary war. From this union nine children were born, the three oldest of whom died in in-

fancy. The names of the living are William M., Howard and Clarence B., born in Pittsburgh; John, Frank, and Kate, born in Mt. Vernon.

The Harper ancestors went originally from England to Ire- land, after the Earl of Tyrone's rebellion; and, by purchase, be- came possessed of a town land named Pollyarnon, of the con- fiscated estate of the Manor of Hastings. The last of his paternal ancestors, whose remains were laid in Irish soil, was his great-grandfather, Robert Harper, who died March 10, 1780, in the forty-fourth year of his age, according to the monumen- tal inscription in the English churchyard at Castlederg, in the county of Tyrone. His grandfather came to this country at an earlier date than his father, and so also at various times others of the family; some settling in the Shenandoah valley, Vir- ginia, and some in Ohio. Of the latter branch was the late Judge Alexander Harper, of Zanesville, who was his father's cousin. Mr. Harper's baptismal name, Lecky, was derived from the maiden surname of his paternal grandmother, Lillias Lecky, daughter of Hugh Lecky, of Gortumuck. The Lecky family were Scotch Presbyterians-the Harper family belonged to the English church.

HARRIS, HENRY C., Miller township, farmer, was born in Miller township, September 29, 1832, and is the youngest son of Emor Harris, who was born August 1, 1792, near Providence, Rhode Island, and Sarah Sweet, who was born April 12, 1797, near the same place. They were married in 1814, and came to Ohio in 1817, settling in Miller township, where they perma- nently located. They were among the best citizens of the town- ship. Mr. Harris was a justice of the peace for nearly twenty- three years, and was regarded as a man of sound judgment, and a safe and wise counsellor. He died September 28, 1850; his wife died November 30, 1873. They had eight children, viz: Caroline, wife of R. C. Walker; Emor B .; Sarah; Mary J., widow of Madison Miller; Lydia M., deceased; Betsey and Emily, who died in infancy. Emor B. now resides near Red Oak, Iowa.

Henry C., the subject of this notice, was reared on the old homestead, where his parents first settled. His education was at the district schools. He was captain of company C., One Hundred and Forty-second regiment Ohio National guards, and served with his command in Virginia. In the spring of 1879 he was elected a justice of the peace. He is a man of comprehen- sive ideas, and has the esteem of the community. He was married to Miss Dorcas Gates, February, 1856, daughter of Cyrus Gates, an early settler. She died some years since. They have had four children: Mary W., Cyrus G., Carrie A., and Henry G.

HARRIS, THOMAS, Monroe township, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Devonshire county, England, January r, 1815. In 1840 he accompanied his parents, Thomas and Eliz- abeth Harris, to America, and located on a farm in Jefferson township, now owned by John Hobbs, where his parents passed the remainder of their days.

In 1849 he married Miss Ellen McMillen, then of Jefferson township, born in Pennsylvania in 1814, daughter of Joseph McMillen. They settled on his home farm, remained one year, then moved to Defiance, Ohio, remained a few years, and then returned to the old home farm again, where they lived until 1867, when he sold the home farm, and purchased and moved on the farm in Monroe township, where they now reside. Their union resulted in four children, one son and three daughters,

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all of whom are now deceased except one of the daughters, Keziah M.

HARRIS, MICHÆL, Liberty township; farmer, was born in Hilliar township May 1, 1841, and is the son of Burr and Catharine Harris, nee Shaffer.

Burr Harris was born in Licking county, Ohio, removed to Hilliar township, and thence to Bloomfield township, where he yet resides. They had nine children, five of whom grew up.

The subject of this notice was reared on a farm with his par- ents. In July, 1861, he enlisted in company G, Twenty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry. The regiment belonged to the Eastern army. He participated in the battles of Green Briar, Mc- Dowell, Cross Keys, Second Bull Run, besides a number of skirmishes. He was wounded slightly while in West Virginia. He was discharged on account of physical disability contracted while in service in 1863, having been almost two years in service.

November 1, 1863, he married Miss Caroline M. Tucker. They have seven children-four sons and three daughters. Mr. Harris is a good farmer, takes an interest in his occupation, and is a good citizen .-

HARRISON, J. C., Pike township, post office, North Liberty; born in Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1829, and was married in 1851 to Martha Matthewson, who was born in Holmes county. They had one child, Jerusha (deceased). Mrs. Martha Harri- son died in 1872. Mr. Harrison was afterwards married to Cyrene Hathaway, born in Morrow county. They had one child, John, born in 1873. Mrs. Cyrene Harrison died in 1874. Mr. Harrison was afterwards married to Mary Eley, who was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1848. They have one daughter, Luella May, born in 1875. His father, B. Harrison, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1804, and came to Harrison county, Ohio, with his parents at the age of eighteen months, and remained there until he reached the age of twenty-four years when he removed to Wayne county, re- mained there till 1855 and then came to Knox county. He was married to Rachel Caldwell, who was born in Pennsylvania. They had two children, Louisa and James. Mrs. Rachel Har- rison died in 1876. Louisa, their daughter, died in 1840.

HARROD, WILLIAM L., Hilliar township, proprietor of Central house, Centreburgh, Ohio, was born in the county August 14, 1835. His youth was spent on a farm until he en- gaged in the saw-mill business, which he followed until he en- listed in company C, Thirty-second Ohio volunteers, July 20, 1861, and was mustered into service August, 1861. The company left Camp Dennison September, 1861, for Cheat mountain, Virginia. He participated in the battles of Green Briar, McDowell, and in the skirmishes of the Virginia valley, and in the battle of Cross Keyes. He was in the battle of and surrender of Harper's Ferry, and paroled on the field, and was subsequently exchanged at Cleveland, Ohio. His regiment was sent to Vicksburgh, where he participated in the fight at Champion Hills and the Vicksburgh campaign. He then vet- eranized in 1863, and joined Sherman's army. July 22, 1864, he was taken prisoner at Atlanta and sent to that famed prison, Andersonville, where he was kept until September 22, 1864, when, fortunately, he was exchanged. During 1864 and 1865 he participated in all the various campaigns and marches in Sher- man's army, and was at the surrender of Johnson's army. He was first lieutenant of his company the last seven months, thus serving his country faithfully and honestly for four eventful years, never losing a day except when a prisoner. When he returned

home he engaged again in the saw-mill business, and subse- quently farmed until he came to Centreburgh in the spring of 1880, and became proprietor of the Central house, where he is always willing to wait upon his patrons. In' 1858 he was mar- ried to Miss Mary Hayes. They have two children.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 136

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096