Meharry - Hugh
Source: H. W. Beckwith History, Montgomery Co IN (Chicago: HH Hill,
1881) p 513
Among the most successful of Indiana's pioneers is numbered
Mr. Hugh Meharry.
Mr. Meharry was born in Virginia in 1797.
His father, Alexander Meharry, was a native of Ireland, and
emigrated to Virginia, then to Ohio, where he was killed by a
tree falling on him.
Hugh Meharry, in 1827, entered a small quantity of land in
Coal Creek township, Montgomery County, Indiana.
On May 29, 1828, he was married in Highland County, Ohio, to
Susanna Ambrose, who was born April 18, 1812.
Mr. and Mrs. Meharry immediately emigrated to their western
home, where for the first year they lived in a slab and canvas
tent.
Their privations and struggles are further noticed in the
history of Coal Creek township.
Ere fortune smiled bountifully on this household Mr. Meharry
was deprived of his co-worker, her death occurring January 8,
1835.
Mr. Meharry was soon after married to Margaret Davidson, who
was born December 3, 1808.
As years passed, acres were added to the Meharry farm, stock
was bought and sold, until by close dealing and saving Mr.
Meharry owned about 20,000 acres of land.
In his later years he sold and gave to his children much of
this.
His benevolences also have been large.
He endowed a $10,000 chair in the Bloomington (Illinois)
Wesleyan University, donated an endowment of $10,000 to Asbury
University, Greencastle, Indiana, gave $10,000 to the Nashville
(Tennessee) Colored College, A.H. Braden present president; he
also donated $17,000 to the Nashville (Tennessee) Colored Medical
College, which he and his brothers, Samuel and Alexander,
founded.
He was one of the organizers of the celebrated "Donovan's
Tennesseean Minstrels.'
Besides these gifts he gave 1,280 acres of land to the New
York Methodist Missionary Society, and has aided largely in
building churches, etc.
He is a member of the Methodist Church, and a warm republican
of whig origin.
His second wife, a queen of the home and mistress of domestic
duties, closed her eyes in death February 17, 1871.
She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from
fifteen years of age.
She was the mother of five children:
Maria, Harriet (dead), Mary, Alexander, Ethan (dead).
Mr. Meharry is (1880) a resident of Paxton, Illinois.
Alexander Meharry, the fourth child of Hugh, was born on the
old homestead, June 20, 1843.
He was educated at Asbury University, also received a complete
business course of instruction at Eastman Business College,
Chicago.
Mr. Meharry owns the home farm of about 670 acres, with large
brick residence, etc.
He is the patentee of a draft equalizer for cultivators, a
portable derrick for merchants, a railroad joint, and a crupper
fastener for harness, some of which are extensively used.
He was married February 14, 1866, to Miss Jennie Evans,
daughter of O.P.C. and E.J. Evans.
She was born July 29, 1843, and died March 24, 1879, leaving
one child, Jennie Pearle.
She was a native of Kingston, Ross County, Ohio, and a member
of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Meharry was next married June 2, 1880 to Miss Lizzie
Ambrose, daughter of George and Margaret (Rizer) Ambrose, of
Hillsboro, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Meharry are Methodists. He is a Knight of
Pythias.
A stronger republication Montgomery County has not.