JOSEPH W. HARSH, farmer, P. O. Alvada, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, October 12, 1823, son of Benjamin and Margaret Harsh, natives of Pennsylvania, who settled in Wayne County, Ohio, where they remained until their death. Benjamin Harsh died June 9, 1868; his wife May 6, 1861. Our subject was united in marriage, May 13, 1847 with Elizabeth Titler, born in Wayne County, Ohio, February 3, 1829, daughter of Jacob and Margaret Titler (both deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Harsh came to Big Spring Township, this county, in 1848, and has lived here ever since. They are the parents of three children: Margaret A., wife of William Reynolds; Emily, wife of Nicholas Boley; Eliza J., deceased. Mr. Harsh owns ninety-three acres of good laud where he and his family reside, and 160 acres in Iowa. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. During the late war of the Rebellion he first enlisted in Company F, Forty-ninth Regiment Ohio National Guards, in the spring of 1863, and in the fall of that year the regiment was called out to guard Confederate prisoners at Johnson's Island, on Lake Erie; on May 2, 1864, the regiment was called out to do guard duty around Washington City; then was taken to Cleveland, Ohio, and there mustered into the United States service. There our subject was put, May 2, 1864, into Company C, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and from there left for Washington City, and thence marched to Arlington Heights. Company C was stationed at Fort Cochran, and remained there till the 18th of August, 1861; was then taken back to Cleveland, and there discharged. Mr. and Mrs. Harsh are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.


Trancribed by Bonnie Walsh.
WARNER, BEERS & CO., 1886
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, Part IV, p.720
BIG SPRING TOWNSHIP