Harrison Kimble Civil War file

Harrison Kimble, pension file (see select scans of pages):

5' 5" or 5' 6", 165 lbs, light complexion, blue eyes, auburn hair.

Corporal in Co. D, 144th Regiment. Enlisted 2 May 1864. Mustered in 11 May 1864, at Camp Chase, for 100 days. Honorable discharge, 22 November 1864 at Columbus, Ohio. Captured at Berryville, VA, 13 August 1864, and sent to Belle Island (Richmond), Virginia for three months. Came home with chronic dysentery and rheumatism, scurvy of the mouth, and an injury to a finger, which was a permanent disability. At time of death, had deformity of the mouth/no teeth and suffered from senile dementia. Also had valvular heart disease/arterio-sclerosis. Death record says he died of organic brain disease.

b.21 June 1838 or 9, near Carey, Wyandot County, Ohio. If age of 78 on death certificate is accurate, then he was born in 1839, however, 1838 seems to fit his given age on more affidavits.

On two separate occasions in 1912 and 1913, Harrison himself gives the date as 21 June 1838. Among the affidavits, I tallied the different dates according to his age and the date of the affidavit: b.1838- shown 18 or 19 times (in 1886 it states 46 or 47); b.1839- 10 or 11 times; b.1837- 4 times; b.1836- 4 times.

d.23 June 1917, Michigan State Hospital, Kalamazoo, MI. He was admitted there 27 March 1917. Previous residence was Lawton.

Death record says father is "Wm Kimble," but marriage license to Mary Penny states parents as Nathan and Mary Ann (Bogard) Kimble- no places of birth/residence given.

Harrison m.1, Mary Ellen (Hawkins) Pope, 25 October 1866, by Rev. Daniel [Heoy? Hay?], in Big Lick, Hancock County, Ohio. Mary was the daughter of Richard Hawkins [it may be a brother, Richard, who is a witness on affidavits, who is 77 years old and a resident of West Unity, Ohio, 7 November 1917]. Probably related to Wesley and Lorenzo D. Hawkins, of Hancock County, who were witnesses in Sept 1877 on Harrison's Declaration of Invalid Pension. Mary m.1, Lewis D. Pope in 1862. He was an army MD, and died in 1864. Mary was born 5 May 1838, Ohio, and died 30 January 1913, Lawton, MI, of apoplexy. 75 years, 9 months, 24 days. Buried 2 February 1913, Prospect Cemetery, Lawton.

Children of Harrison Kimble and Mary Ellen (Hawkins) Pope (from a March 1915, affidavit):

Nathan L. Kimble b.2 March 1868

Lillian N. Kimble b.16 August 1869. deceased by March 1915.

Richard L. Kimble b.15 September 1870 (Harrison says 16th in 1898)

Harry O. Kimble b.16 December 1874 (Harrison says 5 December in 1898)

Hanson D. Kimble b.5 October 1876. deceased by March 1915.

Harrison m.2, Mary E. (Birman) Penny, 5 August 1914, Paw Paw, MI, by O.W.Rowland, Justice of the Peace. Widow of Riley M. Penny, who died 13 October 1912, in Mancelona, Michigan. Riley was not a veteran. Daughter of John Birman and Katherine [P? or R?][u?]terbaugh.

Affidavits include ones with witnesses Ezekiel Kimble, B.F.Kimble, Dr. Ezra Wonder, Margaret Hawkins, and Hannah Dorsey (Harrison's brothers, brother-in-law, and sisters). Thus we have proof that Hannah (Kimble) Wire did indeed marry John Dorsey (also a veteran). On 8 November 1917, Hannah is 75 years old and a resident of Winona Lake, Kosciusko County, Indiana.

A couple probate papers reflect a guardianship of Harrison's wife Mary E. (Birman) (Penny). It most likely reflects giving her rights to the estate as Harrison has been in the State Hospital.

Residences of Harrison Kimble:

spring 1861-1864 Carey, Ohio.

1869 to West Independance, Ohio.

1871 to Fostoria, Seneca County, Ohio.

He removed to Lawton around 1882.

In 1914 he has a Florida address- #400 Emmett St., Palatka, Fla, but must have only been there a short while as he is in Lawton in 1912 and in Lawton in 1916. His brother-in-law, John Dorsey [Hannah (Kimble) (Wire) Dorsey's husband], files an affidavit at same time from same location.

Numerous accounts call Harrison prior to the war a "hearty, tough man," "stong and robust," even the most so, of anyone known to one the those giving account (Hezekiah Stover). Also called temperate, of good habits, and of strong Christian character. Harrison was among 400 who were captured at the same time, yet was one of the only ones he knew were still living in later years. Many died in Virginia on Belle Island due to the exposure to the elements. Harrison's skin disease evidentally coming from the sand. The finger which disabled him after the war had a "felon" which the confederate doctor lanced twice.

Hezekiah Stover is called a cousin of Harrison, and he is blind. He states that he did not see Harrison in 1870, when Harrison visited in Hancock County, Ohio, because he was blind. Hezekiah was 54 on 4 June 1890 when he made an affidavit. He was a broom maker in Lawton at the time of the affidavit, and knew Harrison since he was a little child. He stated that he "never knew a stronger or more robust young man" prior to the war.

In Margaret Hawkins' affidavit, she mentions that her brother Harrison had the measles when he was a boy, and that no one else in the family has a skin disease.

After Harrison had recuperated in Annapolis following his exchange and release from being a prisoner, he wrote to his father Nathan to request that someone come to bring him back home. Nathan sent Dr. Ezra Wonder, the family doctor at the time (and Harrison's brother-in-law). When Ezra finally arrived in Virginia, Harrison had already left and evidentally made his way back home on his own.