Biography of John H. Harrod

epb1937@scrtc.com

This is a biographical summary of what is known of John H. Harrod as of September 23, 1998, by Glenda Bastin. Thanks!

In the 1850 Census of Butler County, Kentucky, John H. Harrod is listed. In the listing for William Asbury Edwards in the 1880 Census of Hart County, Kentucky, John H. Harrod is listed as being from South Carolina.

http://home.okstate.edu/homepages.nsf/toc/11ky.htm
Herrod, John H., Private, D Co, 45 yrs, 14 Sep 61 at Rochester, Ky.
Jan-Feb 62 sick at home. Mar-Apr 62 AWOL.
Deserted 17 Jun 62 at Calhoun, KY.
Charges of desertion removed from record on 11 Aug 90 by Adjutant General Office and discharge date of 30 Apr 62 recorded.

Two witnesses (affidavits) who had known John since they were children, stated he was married two times (and only 2 times): first wife was CATHERINE J. ORANGE; second wife was Martha J. Runner. In an affidavit for a widow's pension, Martha J. gave the death date of Catharine Orange as 6 October 1867. After Catharine died, John re-married within 5 weeks. John married Miss Martha J. Runner on 21 November 1867 in Warren County, Ky. They were married by Thomas Bottomley. Thomas Richards was given as a witness on their marriage license. This is a copy of the marriage license and marriage certificate in the pension file.

The original charges of "absent without leave" and "desertion" were dropped. But, the paper trail that I received thus far doesn't give much detail except to say that he was ill. John joined Co. D, 11th KY. Vol. Inf. on 14 September 1861 in Calhoun, KY. He was present for the December roll call. He became ill in January 1862, and was given a furlough to go home to recuperate. His illness was identified as "bowel trouble", "piles", and "disease of rectum and bowels". He never got over the chronic diarrhea for the rest of his life. It was listed as cause of death in 1895. He died at the age of 83. He was charged with desertion on 30 April 1862. This was rescinded in 1891, and he was considered officially discharged on that date; the desertion charges were dropped.

John joined the service when he was 49 years old. He enlisted for a period of 3 years, but only served about 3 or 4 months due to illness. His rank was "hospital stewart".

John H. Harrod married Martha J. Runner on 21 November 1867 in Warren County, KY. He was 55 years old, and she was 21 years old. Catharine Orange had died about 5 weeks prior to John's remarriage; she was 47 when she died. The cause of her death is not given; nor was the place of burial given.

According to several witnesses' affidavits, John was an extremely poor fellow and was dependent on charity from neighbors and friends for survival. One of the witnesses was E.B. Seeley. He said in his affidavit that John had no property, no income, and was "unable to make his subsistance by manual labor", and that he was "haley (wholly?) dependent on public charity for his daley (daily?) subsistance". This affidavit was given on 17 January 1890. John was mostly confined to bed and was incontinent for the last several years of his life according to the witnesses' statements. Mr. E. B. Seeley, of Warren County, apparently felt sorry for John and thus furnished him a place to live and even gave him money. E.B. Seeley described John as an "honest, sober, morel (moral?) man". He stated that he was not related to John.

The names of the witnesses:
1. L.T. Arnold, Chaplain of Co. D, 11 Ky. Vol. Inf.
2. E.F. Miller states he had known John for 26 years in the 1890 affidavit.
3. E.B. Seeley states he had lived as a neighbor to John for the last 5 years (1890). He furnished John a place to live and gave him money.
4.Martha J. (Runner) Harrod was John's 2nd wife. She survived John by 3 years.
5. P.H. Tuck, age 73 in 1896, stated he had known John since he (P.H. Tuck) was a boy. He stated that he had known Catharine Orange and that he had helped "burrie her". He didn't say where she was buried though :-( P. H. Tuck's address was given as Sugar Grove, Butler County, Ky. So, more than likely, Catharine Orange Harrod was buried in Sugar Grove, Ky. But, she may have been buried in Richardsville, Ky., where John and Martha J. are buried in Green River Union Church Cemetery. John's and Martha J.'s gravesites are marked by a tombstone with legible print when I visited their gravesites in the summer of 1998.
6. Elizabeth Haley, age 66 in 1896, stated that she had known John since she was a child. She said she knew John before he married Catharine Orange.
7. B.H. Milliken was John's physician for several years prior to and at the time of his death. Dr. Miliken was a physician in Bowling Green, Warren County, Ky.

Thus far, I don't know the above witnesses' relationship to John and his family. Usually the witnesses for such cases are indirectly related to the claimant, even though they say that they are not kin/related to the individual. Oftentimes, in-law relationships were still considered as being "unrelated" to the individual. I am sure that today's Washington lawyers would question these witnesses and ask them "How to you define being kin or related?". :-)

On a general affidavit, dated 24 April 1891, John signed his own name. The handwriting is shaky in appearance but is very clear. His last name is spelled HARROD in his own hand-writing.

Well, this is what I have gleaned from the Reader's Digest version of John H. Harrod's pension file. Hopefully, the rest of the pension file will have more clues. Unfortunately, one of his children were listed in the papers that I have gotten thus far. Maybe that will be in the rest of the file (gfb. 09-23-1998)

A Posto Office was established at Quality Valley, Kentucky, on August 13, 1863, and was discontinued July 31, 1863. One name of a Quality Valley, Kentucky, Postmaster and his year of appointment was "John Harrod 1868".

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