Individual Details

John was the second child named John - there was also a son born 27 Mar 1805 that died in 1812.

John Harmon the youngest child of Daniel Harmon and Mary Elliot, was born in Davis County, near Washington, Indiana not far from White River on 27 March 1828. The Harmons were Germans of the Moravian Faith. The Elliots were English.

The Harmons came to Rowan County, North Carolina about 1750 and settled near Salisbury. In 1795 some of the family moved to Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky. Some settled near Licking River, in Bath County, Kentucky and some went to Missouri. Several reached Indiana at an early date, headed for Illinois.
But reports of Indian slaughters of the whites caused them to stop in Indiana. Soon after the War of 1812 they began crossing into Illinois.

John, the subject of this sketch, written by his son, grew up on the farm where he was born. No schools then existed so he spent his spare time hunting, fishing and trapping. He caught a catfish weighing nearing a hundred pounds in the backwaters of the White River. I have heard him tell of going barefoot all winter when the snow was on. He would stand two boards up by the fire until they were hot, then would start out to his traps by laying one board down, step on it while he moved the other board forward for the next step.

When he was nineteen years of age, he owned a three year old filly on which he ran away from home and rode alone to Richland County, Illinois where some of his family had previously settled. That was in 1847. His sister, Nancy had come to this county much earlier and had married James Shields, but had died leaving two children.

James Shields had then married Charity Bullard and had one child that died. James had owned a small forty acre farm north-east of Olney, where after his death, Charity lived with her step-children. Since they were niece and nephew of John, it was easy for him to become acquainted with Charity, where on 23 Jan 1849, he married Mrs. Charity Bullard Shields. Charity is the daughter of Peter Bullard and Lois Wilson and was born in Princeton, Indiana on 25 Dec 1823. John and Charity had ten children.

For six years they lived on her place, then sold it and bought another forty acres south west of Olney. In the mean time, his parents had followed him to Illinois and bought forty acres adjoining John's forty. When John's mother died, his father deeded his forty to his son, but later he married Granny Jane Dyke and took back the farm he had deeded to his son. That marriage was 19 April 1854 performed by D.W Blaine J.P.

Soon after John and Charity were married they both were converted and united with the Newlight Church near where they lived. John helped build B & O Railroad through Olney. On one deer drive south of Olney, he killed two deer at one shot. During the Civil War, he enlisted but failed to pass the physical test. He was of medium height, rather slender, blue eyes, light hair, unschooled. His wife who had been a school teacher, taught him to read and write. He was a farmer and remained a hunter and trapper all of his life. He made trips with Cameron McKnight into South-east Missouri to hunt and trap all winter. He would cut five and six bee trees in a single year.

In the fall of 1866, in two covered wagons, they started west but the Kansas grasshoppers turned them back. After six weeks of wandering, they returned and settled in the northeast part of Clay County, Illinois. John and Charity united with the Baptist Church in Hoosier. During the winter of 1872 and 1873, there was a fearful scourge of spinal meningitis in this community. There was 29 cases near the Harmons; some were sick for six months. John used to go around and visit them all nearly every day. In those days, there were no quarantine, and being the good man that he was, he soon caught it and died in six days. John died of meningitis on 18 April 1873 and the Charity died 16 Mar 1916, leaving 182 children and grandchildren. Both John and Charity lie side by side in the Hoosier Cemetery.

Birth	27 Mar 1828	Daviess County, Indiana
Marriage	23 Jan 1849	Olney, Richland County, Illinois - Charity Bullard
Death	18 Apr 1873	Ingraham, Clay County, Illinoi

Spouse	Charity Bullard (1823 - 1916)
Child	Lois Maria Harmon (1852 - 1910)

Father	Daniel Philip Harmon (1780 - 1850)
Mother	Mary Elliott (1788 - 1856)