Walter M. Laurens
Walter M. Laurens, who is operating the David S. Harner farm in Xenia township and residing on the place, rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia, was born in that township, on a place two and a half miles north of the city of Xenia, February 27, 1872, son of A. P. F. and Josephine (Grisel) Laurens, the latter of whom also was born in this county, in the southern part of Xenia township, in April, 1851, and who is still living here, a resident of Xenia. Her widowed mother was for years the keeper of the toll gate on the Cincinnati pike south of Xenia. Mrs. Laurens was the youngest of the three children of this widow.
A. P. F. Laurens was bom in the Shenandoah valley in Virginia on January 6, 1846, a son of Martin Laurens and wife, and was about twelve years of age when his parents came to Greene county. Martin Laurens was born in France and was but a boy when he came to this country with his parents, the family locating in Virginia, where he grew up and was trained to the trade of miller. After his marriage he continued working as a miller in Virginia for some time and then came with his family to Ohio to take charge of a mill in Clermont county, later coming up here to take charge of the Jacoby mill on the Little Miami river in the vicinity of Goes Station. That was in the late '50s and he continued in charge of that mill during the Civil War period, later taking charge of a mill on Buck creek at Springfield. He and his wife were Methodists and were the parents of twelve children, all of whom are now deceased. A. P. F. Laurens was about twelve years of age when he came with his parents to Greene county and when he was sixteen he enlisted for service as a soldier of the Union and went to the front as a member of the Eighth Ohio Cavalry, with which command he served until the close of the Civil War. Upon the completion of his military service he took up farming, after his marriage establishing his home on a farm, and continued thus engaged the rest of his life, his death occurring on October 19, 1898. He and his wife were the parents of twelve children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being the following: Alice, who married John Skelly and died at the age of thirty years; William, a resident of Xenia township; Etta, wife of William Betts, of Miami county, this state; Margaret, wife of William Lackey, of the Cedarville neighborhood; James, of Caesarscreek township; Clara, wife of John Turner, of Cedarville township; Jessie, wife of Harry Bausman, of Miami county; Lee, now living in the neighboring county of Clinton; Edward, also a resident of Clinton county; Clifford, who is engaged in the service of the Big Four Railroad, making his home at Miamisburg, and Olive, unmarried, who is making her home with her mother at Xenia.
Walter M. Laurens was reared on a farm and received his schooling in the neighborhood schools. When twenty years of age he rented a farm and has ever since been actively engaged in farming. After his marriage in 1890 he rented a farm in the vicinity of Selma, later renting the T. B. Stevenson farm and on this latter place remained until 1901, when he took charge of the farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres belonging to his father-in-law, David S. Harner, in Xenia township, and has since made his home there. Mr. Laurens is a Democrat, as was his father. His wife is a member of the First Reformed church at Xenia and his mother is a member of the Friends church.
On December 3, 1890, Walter M. Laurens was united in marriage to Emma Harner, who was born on the farm on which she is now living, daughter of David S. and Lavina (Wall) Harner, now living at Xenia, and to this union two children have been born, namely: Gussa, born on June 8, 1892, who was killed in a grade-crossing accident on the Springfield pike in 1908, and Freda, born on September 13, 1905.
David S. Harner, father of Mrs. Laurens, was born in Beavercreek township, this county, June 27, 1838, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Snyder) Harner, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families. Daniel Harner was a son of John and Sarah (Koogler) Harner, both of whom were born in Germany, but who had come to this country with their respective parents when mere children, both the Harner and Koogler families settling in Pennsylvania, where John and Sarah grew up and were married. It was in 1805 that John Harner and his wife came to Ohio and located in Beavercreek township, this county, settling on a timber tract which they proceeded to develop. John Harner and his brothers for some time operated a distillery there, marketing their product in Cincinnati. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, Jacob, Simon, John, Daniel, George, Mrs. Kate Showers, Mrs. Rebecca Augwell and Mrs. Sarah Miller. Daniel Harner grew up on the farm on which he was born and after his marriage to Elizabeth Snyder established his home on that portion of the place that had come to him and later added to the same until he had an excellent farm of one hundred and forty-five acres. He and his wife were members of the Reformed church at Byron and he was a Republican. They had four children, of whom David S. was the first-born, the others being Margaret, wife of Mathias Routzong, of Xenia township; Jonathan, a veteran of the Civil War, now deceased, who spent all his life on the home place, and Sarah who married Warren Steele and is living on a farm in Beavercreek township.
Reared on the home farm, David S. Harner was living there when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted his services in behalf of the Union, but was rejected on account of a disability due to having broken one of his legs some time before. He therefore was compelled to stay at home, "doing his bit" not only by carrying on the operations of the home farm, but by harvesting the crops of several of his neighbors who were at the front, on one occasion driving a reaper for eleven days continuously, hands bringing on fresh horses to keep the old reaper going in order that the harvest might not be interrupted. After his marriage in the fall of 1865, Mr. Harner bought the farm that is now being operated by his son-in-law, Mr. Laurens, part of which lies in Beavercreek township and part in Xenia township, and there he made his home until his retirement from the farm in 1909 and removal to Xenia, where he and his wife are now living, Mr. Harner having built a house on the Fairground road just at the edge of the city. Mr. Harner is a Republican and he and his wife are members of the Reformed church at Xenia. Mrs. Harner also was born in this county, in the vicinity of Clifton, in Miami township, a daughter of Andrew and Mary (Long) Wall, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Harner have three children, Mrs. Laurens having a brother, Kasper, who is living on a farm in Xenia township, and a sister, Mary, wife of P. C. James, a grocer in Xenia.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918