My Genealogy Hound

HARRISON COLTHAR, farmer, P. O. New Hope, was born in Clark Township November 28, 1817. He is the son of Matthew Colthar, who was born in New Jersey August 7, 1777, and of whose mysterious disappearance mention is made in the history of Clark Township, and Mary (Church) Colthar, who was born in Kentucky in May, 1797, and died in 1872. Our subject’s first work for himself was two years spent as a raftsman; he then entered the shipyard at Cincinnati, where he worked one year, after which he rented land in Clark Township, which he farmed until 1853. In 1854, he purchased a farm of 300 acres which was in litigation five years. During the rebellion he enlisted in Company K, Forty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Capt. G. W. Patterson, and participated in the battles of Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing. He was appointed Sergeant but refused to wear the straps indicative of his rank. He was discharged at the close of the war and since his return has written a book about what came under his immediate observation while in the army. He was married in 1839, to Nancy Darrel, by whom he had five children, two of whom survive. He had two sons in the army—Matthew M. starved to death in Andersonville Prison December 1, 1864, and William, deceased, who enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Regiment.