Harney - James F.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal March 18, 1904
There died at his home in Crawfordsville this March 15, 1904, Judge James F. Harney one of Montgomery County’s oldest and most respected citizens. James Ford Harney was born in Shelby County, Kentucky March 1, 1824 and came to this county with his father, Gilbert T. Harney in 1825 and has been a resident of Montgomery County ever since. His father was of that vigorous healthful Scotch-Irish stock that has given our nation so many good and able men and his mother of the sturdy Virginia Dutch making a combination of some of the very best elements in our nationality.
The father was a pioneer Baptist preacher and a man of great force and influence. In 1846 James F entered the army for service in the Mexican war. He was shipwrecked and suffered great privations and would doubtless have won distinction as a soldier but for the untimely death of his father and oldest brother, which called him home in August 1846, By the death of his father the burden of the family was thrown upon him, he being the oldest member a trust that he faithfully executed. In 1851 he was married to a daughter of Joshua Harrison one of the most respected pioneers of Scott township. Soon after that he took up his residence in Ladoga and remained there until about 12 years ago when he was elected judge and removed to this city. Of that union was born five children: Sallie C. Harney; Mollie Harney Roadanour; John Carey T, of Decatur, Ill and George _ of this city. John died in early manhood all the others together with their mother survive him and were present at his death. He also leaves two sister, Mrs. DC Stover of Ladoga and Mrs. Cornelia Warner of Indianapolis.
James F. Harney filled many positions of trust and honor. He was elected to the state legislature in 1849, again in 1858 and 1862 and again in 1872. He was a candidate for congress in 1864 but was defeated by the late Godlove Orth. He was for a time revenue collector for the district and in 1892 was elected judge of the circuit court. He served six years as judge and refused a renomination. During his career he was engaged in many and various occupations. He was for a time a stock dealer then grain dealer and manufacturer, but late in life he settled down to the practice of the law. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and had been for over a half century. He was also a member of the Ouiatenon Club of this city and a life long, active and consistent member of the Christian Church. Such is very brief and imperfect sketch of the leading events of his outward life Of the man himself the real James F. Harney it is not so easy to write. He was one of that type of men, now unhappily too rare, whose lineage and environment fashioned them to greatness. The immortal Lincoln is the best known type and like him Harney came from the hills of Kentucky and like him early assumed responsibility and built for himself a character as enduring as the hills from which he sprang and as broad genial and fruitful as the plains of Indiana and Illinois, upon which both were nurtured. The parallel might be pursued much further but however that may be, James F. Harney was one of nature’s noblemen – stalwart in body, stalwart in mind and stalwart in spirit. Over 6’ in stature, well proportioned, strong, agile and wary, he was capable of great physical effort and endurance and except for his crippled and diseased condition is the full possession of all his faculties up to the last day of his life. Intellectually he was thorough and systematic.
His thirst for knowledge and his love of truth and right were as eager and fresh at 80 years of age as it had ever been and his fund of general information and grasp of all great questions seldom equaled. He was broad minded, far sighted and remarkable clear, fair and unprejudiced in his judgment. He enjoyed all kinds of good literature and read the most obtruse and difficult subject with eater ease and pleasure. He seemed to delight in grappling with and mastering the most difficult problems – to use his own expression he liked to “face the rugged issue.” He had the judicial temperament in a marked degree and was in fact capable of filling any position he might have been called upon to fill. But above and beyond all this was the real man, greater than the intellect, infinitely greater than both mind and body was the soul inhabiting both. No man had loftier ideals of duty and life than he and none made his life more clearly conform to his ideals in the four score years of his life every day and every hour, since early manhood was spent in active earnest work. The poor and oppressed always looked to him as to their friend, and always met a quick and systematic response. In his family he was an ideal husband and father, always cheerful, always considerate and indulgent, yet his highest wish was the law of his household and that the law of love and of fear.
Through all the vicissitudes of his trials, his defeats, its suffering, though bent by age and wasted by disease and broken by accident, he never for a moment lost faith in himself or faith in God. Great simplicity and sincerity were among his most prominent characteristics. He was always temperate, always frugal and seemed to take no thought as to himself. He was self reliant, courageous and independent. His whole life was as an open book to be seen and read of all men and in all the fierce conflicts that try men’s souls he remained serene and true to his own convictions – living out in his life and contact with men the philosophy of his innermost consciousness. He accept life as it came made the best of it and was content no murmur ever escaped him. If as the proverb says: “He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city,” then James F. Harney has a right to be called good. If as has been said, “The greatest thing in the world is a noble-life,” then has he a close title to greatness. It may be James F. Harney did not occupy the positions in public life for which his ability and character fitted him; it may be that he did not acquire the property or attain the fame that this ability and labors deserved; what does it matter He had what to him what in any man is infinitely better – he had a conscience void of offense toward God and man and the love of every man, woman and child that knew him. The words of the great poet were never applied more aptly than to him. His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world, “This was a man.” Written by ALR; typed by kbz; provided by dc