Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 590
HARVEY H. CHAMPNEY

Harvey H. CHAMPNEY, located on section 35, in Raglan Township, in the month of April, 1867, purchasing a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, the same having some improvements, including a dilapidated frame house, in which he lived until January, 1868, and then moved to Magnolia, where he has lived ever since. He built a new house on his farm, rented it twelve years, and in August, 1880, sold it, at which time it consisted of two hundred and forty acres. Since that time he has lived a retired life. He has held numerous local offices, and been Township Trustee two terms, being elected in the fall of 1886, serving two years at the same time was elected Justice of the Peace and served four years, and was appointed to this office again in the spring of 1891; has acted as Constable or Deputy Sheriff for several years since he came to Magnolia.

Our subject was born in Oswego County, N. Y., March 9, 1817, and remained there with his parents until the spring of 1838, and the following summer worked out by the month, and attended school in the winter, attending the academy at Mexico, that county, from which institution he graduated in the spring of 1840. He had taught one term of school before he graduated. After leaving school he farmed and taught until the spring of 1842, when he formed a partnership with his father-in-law (S. ERSKINE) in the manufacture of furniture at Holmesville, Oswego County, N. Y., and continued in this until 1852, when he went to California in the mining region, near Sonora, where he worked for eighteen months, and then returned to Oswego County, N. Y., bought a tract of land and went to farming. He remained at that until the time of his coming to Harrison County, Iowa.

He was married in Oswego County, N. Y., October 8, 1840, to Miss Phebe ERSKINE, by whom two children were born--Caroline A., January 2, 1842, and Adelaide A., December 29, 1843. Caroline A. died in Magnolia January 18, 1880. Adelaide A. married Delos R. FRARY, and now lives in Mapleton, Monona County, Iowa.

Phebe (ERSKINE) CHAMPNEY was born in Otsego County, N. Y., August 9, 1817, and when twelve years of age her parents moved to Oswego County, N. Y., where she remained until the date of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. CHAMPNEY are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he having united in 1833, and his wife in 1842.

Hira CHAMPNEY, father of our subject was born in Massachusetts March 30, 1786, and when six years of age his parents moved to Oneida County, N. Y., where he lived until he was a man grown, and then moved to Oswego County, where he remained until his death, December 12, 1853.

He was married in Oneida County, December 28, 1806, to Miss Bedy A HIMAN, who was born in Rhode Island January 17, 1786, and moved with her parents to Oneida County. She died in Oswego County March 9, 1817. They were the parents of five children, our subject being the youngest. For his second wife our subject's father married Miss Eunice WARNER and by this union eight children were born.

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