JOHN S. HARVEY, SR., who for over twelve years has been Justice of the Peace in Odin Township, Marion County, is at present residing on section 32, where he has a well cultivated farm of one hundred acres.
He is a native of the Empire State, having been born in Broome County, October 3, 1812.
He is the son of Solomon and Polly (Stearns) Harvey, natives respectively of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and later participated in the conflict of 1812.
The father of Mrs. Polly Harvey, John Stearns, was captain of a regiment during the Revolutionary War, and also fought in the War of 1812. He was a farmer by occupation, and located on the Western Reserve in Ohio, where lie became very wealthy, and on his death, which occurred at the remarkable age of ninety-four years, his children inherited valuable farms. He was prominent in his locality, and for many years was Justice of the Peace. Solomon Harvey received his education in the common schools, and remained with his parents until ready to establish a home of his own. He was married in the Bay State, after which the young couple removed to Broome County, N. Y., where they entered land from the Government.
In 1816 the elder Mr. Harvey disposed of his property in New York, and going to Ohio was one of the first to locate in Brunswick Township, Medina County. There he purchased a small tract of timber land and made his home among the Indians, whose children were our subject's only playmates. The father died while on a visit to this state, when in his eighty-sixth year. He was a Jacksonian Democrat in politics, and was well known and respected by all who knew him.
John S. Harvey, of this sketch, was educated in the common schools of Ohio, and remained on the home farm until reaching his seventeenth year, when he engaged as traveling salesman. Then going to Akron he engaged in the mercantile business in 1836 on his own account, and for five years carried on a very flourishing trade.
January 16, 1840, he was married to Miss Sarah B., daughter of Dr. Jesse P. and Phebe (Gerard) Carpenter.
The father of Mrs. Harvey was the son of Joseph and Bethia (Babcock) Carpenter; and her mother was the daughter of John and Sarah (Church) Gerard.
The wife of our subject was born in Milton, Vt., May 12, 1816. Her father, who was a prominent physician, practiced medicine for a half-century. He moved to Akron, Ohio, in 1843, where he died.
To Mr. and Mrs. Harvey has been born a family of seven children, namely:
After selling out his stock in Akron, our subject was engaged in manufacturing stoves and castings in that city for several years. Later finding a better home for that branch of business in Cincinnati, he moved his stock of goods thither and continued to reside there until his removal to Illinois, in 1861. On locating in this state Mr. Harvey purchased land where he now lives in Marion County, and owns at the present time one hundred acres of as finely improved land as is to be found within the limits of the county.
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey are devoted members of the Congregational Church.
Socially, the former is a Mason, belonging to the lodge at Centralia, and in politics always votes with the Democratic party.
Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois"
Chapman Publishing Co, Chicago, 1894
Pages 365 - 366
Submitted by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer