Rev. Gerberd Egger
Rev. Gerberd Egger, the Catholic priest of Harrison, Ohio, was born in Switzerland, educated at Thubingen university, Wurtemberg, and came to the United States November, 1866. He began his ministry at Dry Ridge, this county, where he preached for six years and four months, coming to Harrison in February, 1873. His first station was without the ordinary improvements which belong to places of this kind - no parsonage, no schoolhouse, in debt for the church proper, and, in fact, even the commonest grades of enterprise. He lifted a heavy church debt to a very great extent, increasing the value of church property from three thousand dollars to seven thousand dollars.
Since being at his present location he has won the admiration of those even outside of his congregation by his business tact and discipline. The old school-house and church at Harrison, which stood in a dilapidated state in 1873, now are handsome structures of brick. The church proper, with a congregation of four hundred or five hundred souls, was built in 1876; the priest's house, in 1873; and the school-house in 1877. Church property has advanced from one thousand eight hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars, and healthiness in all departments pervades. No surer sign of advancement in religious matters can be seen than that the minister is liked, the debt being liquidated, and everybody satisfied.
From History of Hamilton County, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881