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 HILIP GARVER, who has been a resident
of this county for over thirty years, has
been engaged the greater part of the time
in farming pursuits. He took possession
of the land which he now owns and occupies in
about 1867. His first purchase consisted of eighty
acres, which he brought from wild prairie to a good
state of cultivation and which constitutes a part of
his present homestead, where he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising.Upon coming to this county, Mr. Garver, for about two and one-half years, was employed in getting out ties for the I. & St. L. R. R. He commenced in life without means, and by the exercise of his own industry has attained to his present position and accumulated a goodly amount of property, his farm containing 240 acres. His birth took place on the other side of the Atlantic, in the Kingdom of Prussia, April 27, 1831, 3:15 P. M., and he continued with his parents in his native Province until about 1836, and then the latter decided upon emigrating to the New World. They embarked upon a sailing-vessel, and after a voyage of nine weeks landed in New Orleans, whence they proceeded to Cincinnati, reaching the Queen City during the week between Christmas and New Year. Peter Garver, the father of our subject, and his wife, who was formerly Miss Mary Koeler, were both natives of Prussia and were occupied in farming pursuits. This lady was the second wife of Mr. Garver. By Peter Garver’s first marriage there was born one child, a son, John. By the second there were three children, of whom the eldest died when three years of age. The youngest, Jacob, was born in Germany, and is now a man of considerable prominence, being Sheriff of Franklin Comity, Ind. He married Miss Phronia Shrunk, a native of Germany, and they had four children, two now deceased. The mother of our subject died when her son Jacob was about three weeks old. Peter Garver was the third time married to a lady of his own country, and there were born twelve children, including two sets of twins, all boys. John is now a resident of Crawford County, Kan. One son, Peter, who, during the late war enlisted as a Union soldier in an Indiana cavalry regiment, was drowned while crossing a pond, his horse becoming entangled in weeds or brush. Michael is a liquor dealer in Connersville, Ind.; Kate died when about sixteen years of age, and another daughter, Frances, died when thirteen years old ; Youst is a resident of Arkansas. The subject of our sketch, while a resident of Franklin County, Ind., was married, Jan. 28, 1857, to Miss Barbara Kmerine, a native of Cincinnati, who was the sixth in a family of nine children born to her parents. Mr. and Mrs. G. became the parents of five sons and four daughters: Mary Susan was born Dec. 9, 1857, and died Aug. 28, 1871; Sallie became the wife of Clarence H. Horsey, and lives in Charleston; Rosa was married to Nicholas Mead, and died April 3, 1884; Louis is a resident of this township; Jacob and Louisa are at home with their parents. The younger children were Laura, Joseph, John, now deceased, and Edward. |
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