Harshbarger - Abram
Source: Portrait & Biographical Records of Montgomery, Parke &
Fountain Counties, Indiana. Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1893, p562
ABRAM HARSHBARGER, who is a worthy representative of the
Harshbarger family that has played such an important part in the
upbuilding of Montgomery County since the early days of its
settlement, is a prominent and prosperous farmer of North Union
Township, where he has a well-equipped and well-stocked farm,
located on Section 3. Our subject is a native of Union Township,
born in one of its pioneer homes May 4, 1832.
The father of our subject was Isaac Harshbarger, who was a
native of Ohio, and was in turn a son of Christian Harshbarger,
who was born in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Va., where the
Harshbargers settled in the latter part of the last century.
Christian Harshbarger migrated from his early home to Ohio, where
he lived until 1828, when he came with his family to Indiana, and
was among the first pioneers to locate within the present bounds
of Montgomery County, settling on a tract of government land that
he had purchased west of Crawfordsville, and making it his home
until he closed his eyes in death after a life of pioneer
experiences and hard toil in reclaiming a farm from the
wilderness. He married a Miss Booker, and they had a large family
of children.
Isaac Harsbarger was young when his parents came here to
settle, and he grew to a stalwart, active manhood on his father's
farm. He wedded Miss Sarah Crouch, a daughter of James Crouch, a
pioneer farmer of Montgomery County, who came here as early as
1829. Isaac continued to live on the paternal acres for twelve or
fifteen years after marriage, and then entered a tract of
government land on Section 3. He was a hard worker, a good
farmer, who knew well how to make every stroke of labor tell, and
he accumulated a comfortable property, including a farm of two
hundred and seventy-eight acres of highly productive soil. His
death occurred in the home that he had founded here in 1856. He
was a devoted christian, and was long identified with the Baptist
Church as one of its most earnest and useful members. His good
wife lived to an advance age, her demise occurring in 1878. Our
subject is the only one living of their children. The others were
Christopher, who died in Illinois; Jane who died on the old
homestead; Susan, who died at the age of fourteen; and Lizzie,
who was married.
Abraham Harshbarger was reared under wholesome home
influences, and was educated in the schools of his native
township. He remained an inmate of the paternal household until
he was twenty-two, assisting his father in the care of his farm.
He was married in 1856 to Miss Lydia Booker, a daughter of Henry
Booker, a farmer of Union Township, and after marriage he resided
on the old home place eight or nine years, and then settled upon
the farm upon which he is now living. It comprises three hundred
and fifty acres of choice land, which is in a good state of
cultivation, and its improvements are of a high order, a neat and
well-built residence, which was erected in 1880, adorning the
place, and there are commodious barns and other out-buildings.
Grain and all products common in this part of the country thrive
on the rich soil of the farm, and our subject raises standard
stock of various kinds. He has accumulated the most of his
property himself by judicious management of his affairs, the only
help that he received in starting out in life being the forty
acres of land given him by his father. He is a member of the
Horse Thief Detective Association, and in politics is a strong
Democrat. He is very genial, with a cheery word for all, and his
neighbors and associates generally find in him a warm and
steadfast friend, whose many fine traits of head and heart make
him thoroughly respected and esteemed throughout the community
where his entire life has been passed.
In 1866 death shadowed the pleasant home of our subject and
removed the beloved wife and mother, whose helpful hand had aided
in molding the fortunes of her husband, and was tenderly guiding
their children to useful and happy lives. Of these children, but
one survives, Charles H., who lives on and operates his father's
farm. He married Annie, daughter of David and Miranda Cowan. Her
father is dead. Her mother still lives in Union Township. The
other children of our subject were, Sarah Ann, who died when a
young lady; Elizabeth, who married Frank Pittinger, and died a
the age of thirty-one, and Daniel, the youngest, who died at the
age of twenty-five.