BENJAMIN HARVEY, Cpl., Company "K"
BENJAMIN HARVEY, Cpl., Company "K"
Benjamin Harvey, a business man and manufacturer of Wellsburg, was born in Beaver county, Penn., August 3, 1839, the son of W. H. and Olivia (Dawson) Harvey, both natives of that state. The family has been interested in paper manufacture since the days of the grandfather, Job Harvey, who made paper by hand, a ream and a half being a day's work. W. H. Harvey came to Wellsburg in 1851 and started the first paper mill at that place, and was afterward associated with Samuel George, in the making of flour sack paper. He died September 30, 1877, aged sixty-five years, and his wife died in 1845, aged twenty-seven years. They were both devout and earnest Christians and their lives and examples are tenderly remembered by their children and friends. Of their five children three are now living, Benjamin being the oldest. He came to Wellsburg with his father, and worked with him until the time of the rebellion. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, Twelfth West Virginia infantry, and served thirty-four months. At the battle of Winchester he was taken prisoner, and he was kept in Libby prison one night, one night at Castle Thunder, and six weeks at Belle Isle, under fire of the confederate guns. On returning to duty he served in the commissary department of the Eighth corps one year, then in the Twenty-fourth corps until discharged at Richmond, June 17, 1865. He assisted in the issuance of rations to Lee's army at the surrender. After coming home he went to New Castle, Penn., and engaged in the manufacture of flour sack paper until 1873, when he came to Wellsburg and was the foreman for his father and Samuel George until 1876. He and his brother, W. H., then purchased the old straw mill, and did a successful business until 1884, when the mill they built in 1883 was damage by the flood, and in 1887 it was blown up. In July, 1885, the Harvey Paper company, a stock concern, was organized, he and his brother, W. H., owning five-sixteenths each. The brother has since sold out his interests. The mill produces four tons a day of wrapping paper. Mr. Harvey is an enterprising and responsible business man, and takes an active interest in matters for the good of his community. He is a member of the G. A. R., having been quartermaster for seven years and in politics is a republican. Mr. Harvey was married in 1869, to Mary, daughter of Benjamin and Rhoda (Adams) Leatherberry, who were among the oldest residents of Jefferson county, Ohio. Her grandfather Adams was one of the early flat-boatmen on the Ohio, and was a resident of efferson county before the settlement of Steubenville. Her uncle, Henry Adams, now owns a quarter section of land granted to his father for services in the Indian war. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have five children, Olivia D., Bessie R. (deceased), Harrison C., Florence G. and J. Helen Virginia.From History of the Upper Ohio Valley, Vol. I, pages 617-618. Brant & Fuller, 1890.
Submitted by Linda Fluharty.
