Gearhart, William Henry

GEARHART, REEDER, HARTER, FULLINGTON, SWIHART

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/23/2009 at 15:30:28

Gearhart, William Henry

William Henry Gearhart, of Sherman Township, was born in Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania, December 2, 1849. He was the son of Jacob and Julia (Reeder) Gearhart, the father born in France in 1821 and when four years of age he came to America and settled in Pennsylvania. The mother was born in that state in 1818, and there they both grew to maturity and were married. Jacob Gearhart worked in the Pennsylvania rolling mills and steel plants for a period of thirteen years, and in 1855 he brought his family to Michigan and in 1857 drove with two teams and a wagon from that state to Jasper County, Iowa. He traded one team of horses and the wagon to a Mr. Watts for eighty acres in Sherman Township. Here he went to work with a will and cleaned up and developed the land, establishing a good home, and, prospering through his efforts and good management, he added to his original purchase from time to time until he became the owner of four hundred acres of valuable and desirable land. He was known as one of the most extensive and leading farmers of his day. In his old age he moved to Colfax where he lived in retirement until his death. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company D, Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and he saw some hard service, being wounded in the side in one battle. He spent three years in the army. He was a member of the Christian church, a man of intelligence and upright principles. His family consisted of the following children: Mrs. Sarah E. Harter; Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Fullington is deceased; Mrs. Ella Annetta Swihart is also deceased; William Henry, of this sketch; Herley G. and Charles L. are living in Sherman Township, this County; Napoleon Bonaparte is a practicing physician in South Dakota.

William H. Gearhart, of this review, was eight years old when his parents brought him to Jasper County and here he grew to manhood and received his education in the district schools, working on the home place during the crop seasons. When eighteen years of age, having received what textbook training he could in the poorly equipped school in his neighborhood in Sherman Township, he started in life for himself by working out by the month. After his marriage he rented land of his father for two years, then bought eighty acres, which he later sold and bought another eighty in Sherman Township where he still resides and where he has a very good home and a productive farm.

Mr. Gearhart was married on August 3, 1870, to Sarah Ellen Harter, who was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the daughter of William Harter, an early settler in Jasper County, whither he cast his lot in 1854. To Mr. And Mrs. Gearhart three sons have been born, Frank, Fred and Charlie.

Mr. Gearhart believes in leading his own life and abstaining from interfering in the affairs of others. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 854