Samuel Harner
Samuel Harner, a soldier of the Civil War and proprietor of a farm of one hundred and sixty-three acres in Beavercreek township, situated on rural mail route No. 3 out of Xenia, was born on that farm and has lived there all his life with the exception of a period of four years during the "70s, when he lived in Missouri. He was born on March 7, 1838, son of Samuel and Nancy (Watts) Harner, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families in that part of the county.
Samuel Harner was a son of Jacob and Mary (Heffley) Harner, the latter of whom was a daughter of one of the earliest settlers in Greene county. Jacob Harner was a native of Germany, who upon coming to this country made his way out to Ohio and located in Greene county, where he presently married Mary Heffley and settled on a farm in Beavercreek township, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of nine children, those besides Samuel having been Charles, Abraham, William, George, Jacob, Mary, Catherine and Sarah J., the descendants of whom in the present generation form a numerous connection. Samuel Harner grew up on that pioneer farm in Beavercreek township and in addition to becoming a good farmer became skilled in the use of tools, his services in that line being of value to his neighbors, for whom he made plows, grain cradles and various articles of agricultural or domestic use. He married Nancy Watts and in 1822 settled on the farm on which his son Samuel is now living, building there a frame house which served as a residence for the family until it was destroyed by fire in 1857, after which he erected the brick house which has ever since served as the farm house and in which the subject of this sketch is now living. The bricks for that house were burned on the place and while the house was being erected the family lived in the work shop which Samuel Harner maintained on his place. On that farm the senior Samuel Harner spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1871. His widow survived him for many years, her death occurring in 1906. They were members of the Reformed church and were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others having been Jacob, George, Mary Ann, Nathan, William and Nelson.
The junior Samuel Harner was reared on the home farm in Beavercreek township, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and living there when the Civil War broke out. In the spring of 1864 he went to the front as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while thus serving was taken prisoner by the enemy at New Creek Station, Virginia, and for four months thereafter was confined in the rebel prisons at Belle Isle and Richmond, later requiring several weeks of hospital attention at Richmond, his condition being regarded as critical when he finally was transferred. When Mr. Harner entered the service he "tipped the beam" at one hundred and eighty pounds. When he was sent from Libby Prison he weighed but eighty pounds, a mere shallow of his former self, and he has ever since suffered more or less from the effects of the privations he was compelled to undergo in the rebel prison pens. In the spring following his return from the army Mr. Harner was married. After his marriage he continued to make his home on the home place until in the "70s, when he moved with his family to Missouri, making the journey of seven hundred miles by wagon, and located in Clinton county, that state. Four years later he returned to Greene county and resumed his place on the old home farm, where he has ever since resided. For more than fifteen years Mr. Harner has lived retired from the active labors of the farm, the place now being operated by his eldest and only surviving son, W. Harry Harner, who is married and lives there.
On March 14, 1865, Samuel Harner was united in marriage to Mary Campbell, who was born in the neighboring county of Clark, July 5, 1845, a daughter of James and Drusila (Clarke) Campbell, who later became residents of Greene county, where they spent their last days. James Campbell dying here in 1850, his daughter Mary, last-born of the twelve children born to him and his wife, being then five years of age. The widow Campbell survived her husband for many years. Of her twelve children, but three are now living, Mrs. Harner having a brother, Stephen Campbell, living at Ludlow Falls, and a sister, Rebecca, living at Bellbrook. To Samuel and Mary (Campbell) Harner three children have been born, W. Harry, Samuel L. and Ada May. The first of these, W. Harry Harner, as noted above, is now operating part of the home farm. He has been twice married, his first wife having been Luella Charlton and the second Emma Moody, and they have three children, WilIiam L., Ada Belle and Iva May. The second son, Samuel L. Harner, who died on April 6, 1917, also was a farmer and operated part of his father's place. He married Sarah Jane Hickman and had eleven children, Ernest, Everett, Mabel, Elwood, Beulah, Helen, Kenneth, Alberta, Neoma, Louise and Muriel D. The only daughter, Ada May Harner, married Owen Swadner, of Oldtown, and has had nine children, Etta, Ethel, Esther, Carrie, Clarence, Herman, Alice, Margaret Lucile and Ada Louise, the latter of whom died at the age of three years. The Harners are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Oldtown. Mr. Harner is a Democrat and has held some local offices, including for some years membership on the school board. Mr. Harner saw the first train of cars enter Xenia upon the completion of the railroad from Springfield to that city and has witnessed the development of this county through all the wonderful change that has taken place since the days of his boyhood.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918