Catherine 'Kate' (Younkin) Harmon |
Catherine "Kate" (Youngkin) Harmon was born on Jan. 18, 1846 or 1848, the daughter of Aaron and Mary (George) Younkin.
When she was 23 years of age, on May 27, 1869, she entered into marriage with Civil War veteran John A. Harmon/Harman (1839-1890). The ceremony was held in the parsonage of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mechanicsburg (Brush Valley), Indiana County, by the hand of Rev. A. Baker. Witnesses were Mrs. S.S. Baker and Mrs. Marge Truby, and a record of the marriage was inscribed in the church records.
The newlyweds had known each other since childhood and had resided about a quarter of a mile apart. Kate's sister LouisaDeArmy helped her "to get ready to be married."
Seven known children were born into this union -- Edward Harmon, Mary Ellen Costlow, John "Wesley" Harmon, Anna "Annie" Beck, Daniel Harmon, Nelson Harmon and Cora Harmon.
Kate's mother Mary and friend Susan R. Overdorf served as midwives at the births over the years. The birth of daughter Mary Ellen in the winter of 1875 became bittersweet when the infant's teenage uncle Henry Younkin died only a few days later.
Kate's sister Louisa DeArmy and neighbor May Hess recalled seeing several of the babies within a few days of birth, nursing at their mother's breast as she lay in her "accouchement" bed.
John did not know how to read or write. Prior to the war, recalled boyhood friend and neighbor Simon DeArmy, he was "a stout healthy young man..."
John was a member of the 135th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, along with boyhood chum and his future wife's kinsman Francis "Frank" Herlinger, son of Frederick and Anna Mariah (Younkin) Herlinger, who lived about a quarter of a mile apart. The two men enlisted on Aug. 15, 1862 and initially served with their regiment on guard duty in Washington, DC.
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| Belle Plain Landing in Virginia where John contracted rheumatism in inclement winter weather in March 1863. Library of Congress |
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John and Herlinger in March 1863 were in the same company and on duty at Belle Plain Landing, VA, a winter encampment area along Potomac Creek. Herlinger later recalled that John contracted chronic diarrhea, dropsy and rheumatism after being "exposed to inclement weather" and that they "had no winter quarters." John "was excused from duty frequently by the Ret. Surgeon for said disability. He was stiff in his Limbs and at times was unable to Leave his Quarters..."
Boyhood friend and fellow soldier Edward D. Murphy said that they "marched in mud and snow, sleight and rain, lay out for two nights enough to kill us all." They marched for three miles in the muck until finally arriving at an abandoned camp where the quarters had been destroyed by the departing troops. Murphy recalled being forced to camp "in the open air" and that they burned the wood from the ruins "to keep from freezing." They eventually secured barracks and "staid there it being from Feb to May. When we went to fight he caught cold then and there and never got well to me."
The two men received honorable discharges on May 24, 1863 and traveled home via the Pennsylvania Railroad, arriving at Homer City. During the trip, recalled Herlinger, John "had to go to the Water Closet very often..." Neighbor and future brother-in-law Simon DeArmy, who lived a mile away, saw John a few days after arriving and said he "looked broken down in health." Murphy re-enlisted and wanted John to join him but "he was not fit to go and doctored I believe all the while I was gone," Murphy wrote.
Herlinger went back into the army in 1864 "and lost sight of Harmon for a couple of years," he wrote. "Then I have lived handy to him ever since and he has been sick more or less all the time."
In April 1876, the traditional month for tenant farmers to move if necessary, the Harmons settled on a farm in Brush Valley where they remained for good. Neighbor Hess recalled them as living on an adjacent tract and that over the next 21 years, she saw John walking with a cane and heard him complain about rheumatism, heart trouble and pain in his limbs, which he said had been contracted in the army. "He seemed to suffer from it badly," Hess wrote. "As a neighbor I found him to be a truthfull honest honorable man. Our families never had any difficulty... I knew he often worked when he was not fit to do so as he had to do so to support his family."
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| List of the Harmon children and birthdates - Courtesy National Archives |
Neighbor Zachariah Overdorf recalled that John also suffered from chronic diarrhea and often would "place his hand over his heart and complain of pain there. Each and every year after his return he would have to quit labor owing to said complaints," usually commencing at the beginning of July.
John and Murphy re-connected after the war and "were confidential, intimate friends," wrote Murphy. The two worked together in May 1866 peeling bark on a "log-job." John was able to labor for only a few days until having to quit due to the pain.
The federal census enumeration of 1880 shows the family in Brush Valley, with John earning a living as a laborer.
Sadly, John contracted tuberculosis, known in the day as "consumption" or by the technical term "phthisis pulmonalis." He was under the care of Dr. George W. Miller of Brush Valley up to the end. He died on April 3, 1890 at the age of 51. Neighbor Zachariah Overdorf was at the house when John died and attended the funeral. Burial was in Fry Cemetery in Brush Valley. His death left his wife as a single mother with five of the children aged 15 and under.
Writing in 1892, in a petition to receive a pension as a soldier's widow, she said that "I am in necessitious circumstance neat the necessaries of life and the only way I have to keep my family from starvation is by the contributions of others or place them as paupers in Brush Valley Twp or have them sent in the cold charities of the world... It sems as though the skies of adversity and want have almost driven me frantic when I look to the future and think what I have experienced in the past and often think if the persons who have to adjudicate my claim could only see my household, my children & myself how we live it would touch a chord of their humanity... Mr. Geo. W. Esch has been largely assisting in the support of my family for the past six months."
Esch -- who was Kate's brother-in-law, married to her sister Angeline -- wrote around the same time that "For the past six months she has been so reduced in circumstances and a large family dependent on her for support. I have furnished her a goodly portion of the necessities of life and am not able to do it much longer owing to my own circumstances. If she does not soon obtain pecuniary relief she will have to scatter her children to the mercies of the world or become a public charge."
Her physician Dr. McMullen, who had helped deliver her baby son Nelson, wrote that she was "in need of speedy aid."
Catherine in time was awarded the pension. [App. #437.041 - Cert. #334.353].
In 1891, she purchased the farm of her widowed mother in Brush Valley and remained as of 1901.
She eventually relocated into the town of Homer City, Indiana County, and was there in 1916.
After contracting bronchial pneumonia, death quickly swept her away in Homer City at age 74, on Sept. 18, 1920. Her daughter-in-law Mrs. Dan Harmon of Homer City signed the Pennsylvania certificate of death. The remains were laid to rest in Fry Cemetery.
~ Son Edward A. Harmon ~
Son Edward A. Harmon (1870-1959) was born on April 11, 1870 or 1872 in Brush Valley, Indiana County.
He earned a living as a laborer.
In about 1893, Edward was joined in wedlock with Margaret "Maggie" Brown (1871-1958).
Together they produced these known children -- John Snow Harmon, Daniel Harmon, Archie Harmon, Flora Frye, Sylvia Bell Lydick and Mrs. Michael Drapchat.
In about 1954, he moved to 6 Rodney Street in Clymer, Indiana County.
Sadly, Maggie surrendered to the angel of death in 1958.
Edward only outlived his wife by about a year. Suffering from advanced hardening of the arteries and a heart attack, he died in the home of married daughter Flora Frye in Clymer at the age of 88, on Feb. 8, 1959. Interment was in Brush Valley Cemetery, with Rev. Clayton Straw leading the services. On the death certificate, signed by son J.S. Harmon of Indiana, his mother's maiden name was spelled "Yunkron." The Indiana Gazette spelled the name "Unkron." He was survived by 17 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
Son John Snow Harmon (1896-1967) was in Indiana in 1959.
Son Daniel Harmon put down roots in Indiana. He was in Homer City as of 1998.
Son Archie A. Harmon (1899-1964) dwelled in 1959 in Clymer, PA.
Daughter Flora Harmon entered into marriage with (?) Frye. Her residence ni 1959 was in Clymer.
Daughter Sylvia Bell Harmon (1902-1998) was born on Oct. 31, 1902 in Brush Valley. She wed John T. Lydick ( ? -1975). Six children born into this union were Viola Lydick, Arthur Lydick, Anna Uncapher, Ruby Stiles, Marie Buterbaugh and Donald Lydick. They made a home in Indiana in 1959. Sylvia worked for the Knotty Pine and Brown Hotel as a waitress and cook. She held a membership in Shiloh Baptist Church of Deckers Point, the LOOM Ladies Auxiliary of Clymer and Dixonville and the Deckers Point Grange. Her final residence was in Clymer. At the age of 95, she died in Indiana Hospital on Jan. 6, 1998. Burial was in Greenwood Cemetery, with Rev. Dr. Clyde Mighells performing the rites. An obituary appeared in the Indiana Gazette.
Daughter (?) Harmon married Michael Drapchat. The pair settled in Johnstown.
~ Daughter Mary Ellen "Ella" (Harmon) Costlow ~
Daughter Mary Ellen "Ellie" Harmon (1875-1904) was born on Jan. 28, 1875. Her grandmother Younkin and Susan R. Overdorf were midwives at the birth, assisted in the "accouchement" by the baby's aunt Louisa DeArmy.
Ella grew up in Brush Valley, Indiana County, and lived there at the time of her wedding. The union came about in unusual circumstances and timing. A few months beforehand, Ella had given birth to their eldest child May prior to marriage, in September 1893.
Then in early Dec. 1893 she tied the knot with John P. Costlow (May 30, 1869-1948), of Buffington, also spelled "Castlo," "Costelow" and "Costello." News of the marriage license was published in the Indiana Weekly Messenger, which spelled her first name "Eva." The Weekly Messenger reported a week later that John had been let out of prison in order to be married and to legitimize the birth of their child --
Emma Sowers, another married woman and mother of eight children born in wedlock, charles John Costlow, a young fellow of about twenty, with the paternity of her ninth child. Mrs. Sowers did not appear at the trial and John denied the allegation. Verdict: not guilty and costs divided. John, however, has a wife and baby of his own, having been released from jail last week to marry them.
Clucked the Indiana Democrat, "John Costlow has been in jail a good while, but is now free and happy, having married his best girl."
Together, the pair produced a family of five -- Austie "May" Costelow, John Edward Costello, Olie Costelow, Charley D. Costelow and Cora Ethel Jones.
The family lived in Center Township where they farmed and "in very limited circumstances," said one newspaper.
Horror devastated the family in the the first week of June 1904. Ella and a daughter and son all contracted scarlet fever, generally marked by strep throat, fever and red rashes over the body. May died first at the age of 11, having "contracted the disease on Sabbath and lingered but a few hours," said a newspaper. Son Charles, age 5, also became ill on the Sunday and passed away Monday afternoon. Ella only lived a day longer to Tuesday, dying at the age of 28 on June 7, 1904. All three were laid to rest in Homer City Cemetery. Their son John also became ill but recovered. The Indiana Progress ran an article with the details.
John outlived his bride by 44 years and wasted little time in marrying again. On Sept. 11, 1904, he was joined in marital union with Blanche Rhodes of Center Township. The nuptials were held in the Homer City office of justice of the peace D.C. Weir, and not made public for nearly two months as printed in the Democrat.
The second marriage led to three more offspring -- Ella Mae McGaughey, George Brian Costellow and Margaret Agnus Marie Biggs. Their name evolved into a spelling of "Costello." He died in Burrell Township, Indiana County on Oct. 26, 1948. Blanche lived for another baker's dozen years and passed away in 1961. They sleep for all time in Oakland Cemetery in Indiana.
Son John Edward Costello (1895-1966) was born in Sept. 1895 in Brush Valley. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I. He died in Chester, Delaware County, PA on Nov. 25, 1966. His remains lie in honored sleed in Coral Lutheran Cemetery in Indiana.
Daughter Olie Costelow (1898- ? ) was born in March 1898. Nothing more is known.
Daughter Cora Ethel Costello (1901-1979) was born on April 9, 1901 in Indiana County. She entered into marriage with Thomas Shevera Jones (1897-1979). Their brood of children included Merton Shevera Jones, Norman Charles Jones, Thomas Eugene Jones, Ethel Avadene Stutler, Cora Genevieve Bankes, Mary Louise Smith and Jack Herbert Jones. At the age of 78, she died in Kettering, Montgomery County, OH on June 2, 1979. The remains were returned to her native county for burial in Brush Valley Methodist Cemetery. Thomas died a month later, on July 3, 1979, as a patient in Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, MD.
~ Son John "Wesley" Harmon ~
Son John 'Westley" Harmon (1877-1967) -- shortened to "Wesley" or "Wess" -- was born on Dec. 6, 1877 in Brush Valley, Indiana County. His grandmother Younkin and Susan R. Overdorf served as midwives at the birth. The baby's aunt Louisa DeArmy was not present but saw him about a week later, "suckling at his mother's breast" as she lay in bed.
At one time he made a homeplace in Homer City, PA. He is not known to have married or reproduced.
Wesley relocated to Ohio and lived in Cleveland in 1950-1959. As of 1950, he dwelled with a nephew and wife, William and Roberta Harmon, and earned income operating a lathe making parts for a water meter company.
Death enveloped Wesley at the age of 89, in Chagrin Falls, OH, on Jan. 20, 1967. The Indiana Gazette carried an obituary. Rev. Scott Browning presided at the funeral, held in Homer City. His remains repose for eternity in Greenwood Cemetery, Indiana County.
~ Daughter Anna "Annie" (Harmon) Beck ~
Daughter Anna "Annie" Harmon (1879-1973) was born on March 16, 1879 in Brush Valley. Midwives at the birth were her grandmother Younkin and Susan R. Overdorf. The infant's aunt Louisa DeArmy came for a visit a few days later.
Circa 1896, she married William George Beck (Jan. 9, 1878-1937), a native of Indiana, PA and the son of Isaac and Amanda (Sheffler) Beck.
Seven offspring born to this couple were Harry McKinley Beck, William E. Beck, Charles W. Beck, Ralph Edison Beck, Raymond Monroe Beck, Edna Beck and Geraldine Beck.
The Indiana Democrat said in 1937 that "During his young manhood he was associated with his father in the carriage business and for 35 years was a valued employe of the Diamond Glassware Company. For the past five years he had conducted a machine shop." Their address in 1937 was 1147 Maple Street.
Sadly, stricken with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1936, William died at White Haven Sanatorium in Luzerne County at the age of 59 on Feb. 19, 1937. His obituary was published in the Democrat. Funeral services were led by Rev. Dr. Robert L. Clark, Jr. of the First Presbyterian Church.
Anna outlived her husband by many decades. Her dwelling-place in 1959 was in Indiana and in 1973 at 1147 Maple Street, Indiana.
Death swept her away in Indiana Hospital on July 2, 1973 at the age of 94. Her obituary was printed in the Indiana Gazette, which said that she "had lived almost her entire life in Indiana and was a member of the Grace United Methodist Church..." Her survivors' headcount was 10 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. Rev. Dr. H.E. Jamison led the funeral rites, followed by burial in Greenwood Cemetery.
Son William E. Beck was deceased by 1937.
Son Harry M. Beck resided in Indiana in 1937.
Son Charles W. Beck settled in Indiana and was there in 1973..
Son Ralph E. Beck made his dwelling-place in 1937 in Indiana. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, working as an aviation mechanic with the 51st Transportation Squadron at Rosecrans Field in St. Joseph, MO. In 1943, he married Viola K. Monteith, daughter of St. Clair Monteith of Patton, PA. The Becks's dwelling-place in 1973 was in Indiana.
Son Raymond Beck put down roots in Indiana and resided in the city as of 1973..
Daughter Edna Beck moved to Oakmont near Pittsburgh. She was unmarried as of 1973.
Daughter Geraldine L. Beck lived with her parents circa 1937 and with her widowed mother and unmarried sister in Indiana in 1973.
~ Son Daniel Harmon ~
Son Daniel Harmon (1882-1951) was born on Feb. 11, 1882 in Brush Valley. His mother's friend Susan R. Overdorf attended the birth as a midwife. His aunt Louisa DeArmy came to see him a short time after the birth and witnessed him nursing his mother's milk.
He moved to East Liverpool, OH and was there in 1911.
In about 1911, Daniel wed Bessie Campbell (1891-1948), a resident of West Wheatfield Township, Indiana County. News of their marriage license appeared in the Indiana Progress.
Together they became the parents of William Clair Harmon and Leona Avonell Harmon. The family was plunged into sadness when newborn daughter Leona died from hemophilia at age 10 days on Aug. 21, 1922.
The family moved to Homer City in about 1913 and stayed for good. Their address in the early 1950s was 81 Columbia Avenue, Homer City.
Sadly, at the age of 71, he was admitted to St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh for hardening of the arteries and congestive heart failure. There, after undergoing shock treatment, he passed away on Oct. 26, 1951. The remains were brought back to Indiana for burial in Greenwood Cemetery. Wayne Harmon of Homer City was the informant for the official Pennsylvania certificate of death.
Son William Clair Harmon (1912-2000) was born on July 16, 1912. On June 30, 1936, in Cumberland, MA, he married Roberta A. Held (1917-1989), a native of Dunkirk, NY. Three known children in this family were Lawrence C. Harmon, Thelma L. Hill, Dr. Robert J. Harmon and Ruth Ann Harmon. He trained as an electrical engineer. They moved to Cleveland in the 1940s, where he obtained a position as an electrical engineer, performing research for a steel factory. As of 1950, William's bachelor uncle John "Wesley" Harmon lived under their roof. Their final home was in Texas, where they planted themselves in 1980 in Kerrville. Roberta was gathered away by the angel of death in Kerrville on June 30, 1989. William died in Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, TX at the age of 87 on June 16, 2000. His remains sleep for the ages in Garden of Memorial Cemetery in Kerrville.
~ Son Nelson Harmon ~
Son Nelson Harmon (1885-1983) was born on May 16, 1885 in Indiana County. Dr. James McMullen assisted in the birth, with the baby's grandmother Younkin and Lydia Overdorf attending as midwives. The infant's aunt, Louisa DeArmy, came for a visit about a week later, and Mary Overdorf arrived in a day or two.
Nelson married Naomi O. Brallier (1892-1970).
Four known sons of the pair were John S. Harmon, Russell Harmon, Carl Nelson Harmon and Walter Blain Harmon. Unspeakable grief cascaded over the family when three of the sons died in infancy -- Russell (born prematurely at six months on July 19, 1917 and only lived 15 minutes, and may have been named post-mortem), Carl (born prematurely at seven months but lived for a month and 27 days until dying on Jan. 11, 1924) and Walter (born prematurely at six months, died at age one day on Sept. 16, 1926). The boys were laid to rest in Benshoffs Cemetery, later renamed Grandview Cemetery.
In 1959-1967, their residence was in Elyria, OH.
Naomi passed away at the age of 77 in Elyria on Jan. 25, 1970.
Nelson lived for another baker's dozen years as a widower. He died in Elyria at the age of 97 on April 5, 1983.
Son John S. Harmon (1915-1993) was born in 1915.
~ Daughter Cora Harmon ~
Daughter Cora Harmon (1888-1904) was born on Aug. 3, 1888.
Her grandmother Younkin and Sarah Miller were midwives at the birth. A day later, the baby's mother sent word to Mary Overdorf to come. The infant's aunt LouisaDeArmy saw her nursing at her mother's breast about two weeks later.
She was only two years of age at the untimely death of her father.
Evidence suggests that she may have been taken into the home of a cousin, Harry and Lelia Harmon of Washington Township, Indiana County, and lived there in 1900. This is not yet confirmed.
Sadly, Cora died in 1904, at the age of 15 or 16, with burial in Fry Cemetery in Brush Valley.
The cause of her death is not yet known, but may have been related to the epidemic of scarlet fever that carried off her sister and young niece and nephew in June of that year.
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Minerd.com extends its gratitude to the late Donna (Younkin) Logan for her research contributions to this biography. |