Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 710
HARMON D. OVERTON

Harmon D. OVERTON, of Missouri Valley, first came to Harrison County, in 1864, locating in Cincinnati Township, where he ran a saw mill for two years. In 1866, he returned to Omaha, lived two years, and then came back to Missouri Valley.

Our subject was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., in the town of Loraine, March 25, 1831. He is the son of James D. and Betsy (ALLEN) OVERTON. The father was a native of the Empire State, as was also his mother. The history of the OVERTON family shows, that in the seventeenth century, three brothers came to America from England. One settled in the North and the other two in the South. The North branch of the family is the branch from which our subject descended. The grandfather, Joseph B. OVERTON, was in the War of 1812. The father of our subject was a shoe-maker and tanner, and had a family of seven children, our subject being the oldest. The father died in October, 1814, and the mother at Omaha, in 1867. Of the seven children, five are living. A brother died on Island No. 10, on the Mississippi River, in 1855, of yellow fever, and a sister died in New York. One brother is a minister in Council Bluffs, and one lives in Pennsylvania. One sister lives in Hancock County, Ill., and the other lives in southern Missouri. The family came to Illinois when our subject was but nine years of age, and located on Spring Creek, Hancock County, near Macomb. The father was a farmer in that section. Here our subject received his education, and remained with his mother, assisting in the support of the family, until 1852, when he went to St. Louis and engaged in steam-boating. He served as an engineer on the river until 1857, running on the steam-boat "Omaha." He made Sioux City his terminal point north. He made his first trip in 1856, and was serving as an assistant engineer at that time. He operated the Omaha and Council Bluffs ferry-boat for about five years. Since coming to Missouri Valley, he has made that place his home but has been away much of the time himself, and has followed steam-boating much of the time, and also run a blacksmith shop in Missouri Valley. In April, 1891, he took charge of the water-works plant at Missouri Valley, where he still remains.

He was united in marriage December 15, 1855, at St. Louis, Mo., to Rebecca COOLEY, a native of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. OVERTON are the parents of four children, three of whom are deceased. Delia HARDMAN, their youngest child, is at home with them.

In politics, Mr. OVERTON supports the principles of the Republican party.

During four years prior to his engaging in the water works at Missouri Valley, he was employed at bridge work at Rulo, Neb., Nebraska City and Memphis, Tenn.

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