Benjamin Mills Harney (1829 - 1899)

Born 17 Oct 1829 in Hanover, Indiana, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Decker — married 11 Jul 1854 in Middleton, Kentucky

Husband of Margaret Wellington Draffin — married 18 May 1864 in Anderson, Kentucky

Descendants

Died 11 Mar 1899 at age 69 in Orlando, Orange, Florida, United States

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Biography

Born 17 Oct 1829, Bloomington, Indiana, [or Louisville, KY, records vary] the son of John Hopkins Harney and Martha (Wallace).

Mexican War. Served as a private, Company A, 4th Infantry Regiment in the Mexican War, under Captain Timothy Keating. He enlisted 7 Sep 1847 for three years and was discharged at Louisville, KY, Aug 1848. Serving as a private in Company A, 4th Regiment Kentucky Volunteers in the Mexican War, he engaged in one skirmish at Jalco, near the city of Mexico, and was with the company and regiment all the time.

Cuba. According to Latin American Studies professor Antonio de la Cova, Benjamin joined an expedition headed by Narcisco Lopez in 1850, that invaded Cuba on May 19, 1850. According to an article in the Missouri Republican, June 23, 1850, p.2, he was slightly wounded by a lance in his leg at the skirmish in the city of Cardenas. Census records include Benjamin Mills Harney in 1850 Florida, Benton County (now Hernando County), near Orlando. After returning from the Cuba expedition, he taught school.

Civil War. An ardent unionist like his father, he served in the Union forces in the Civil War, where he enlisted 22 Aug 1862 as Captain, Company A, 9th Regiment, and was discharged 21 Aug 1863. He is described as 5'7" tall with a light complexion, light hair and blue eyes. While camped near Rolling Fork Bridge, without tents in November 1862, he was exposed to a snow storm, and contracted rheumatism for which he later received a military pension.

Benjamin ran for public office in Kentucky in 1867, and was defeated in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. He began a legal practice about this time in partnership with James R. W. Smith, in Louisville, KY. He is listed in city directories in the early 1870s as an engineer, and partner in the firm of Harney and Randolph, civil engineers.

Benjamin Mills Harney was married twice, first to Mary Decker also spelled Deacker, in Middletown, KY, 5 Aug 1854. The 1860 census includes Benjamin in Kentucky, Jefferson county, with his first wife and 3 children:

• Mary Ellen, b.12 May 1855 KY;
• Selby D, b. 3 Jan 1857, KY
• Margaretta, b. 6 May 1858 KY;

In 1870 these children are living with their grandmother, Martha R (Wallace) Harney and their Uncle Selby T Harney, a lawyer, and his family in Jefferson, Kentucky. Mary (Decker) Harney died at Middletown, Kentucky 29 November 1880.

Benjamin married second, Margaret Wellington Draffin, near Lawrenceburg, KY, 18 May 1864, and was divorced prior to 1880. Margaret was the daughter of John Draffin, a prominent lawyer and Kentucky State Representative from Anderson County for three terms. Benjamin and Margaret had one son,

• Benjamin Robertson Harney, called the ‘Father of Ragtime’ music.

In 1870, he was in Texas living with his second wife and working as a school teacher; 1880 living alone in Louisville. In 1887, 1890, and 1895 he is listed in the Louisville KY directory as a civil engineer.

Military records show Benjamin M. Harney died 11 Mar 1899, and is buried in the Greenwood cemetery, Orlando, Florida.

Sources

• Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979
• United States Census, 1850
• United States Census, 1860
• United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865
• United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934
• Find A Grave Memorial # 14417648.
• Census records from Antonio de la Cova, Sep 2007; 1890 & 1895 city directories from Fred Hoeptner, 2008
• 1880 • Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, USA
• Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans
• U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records
• Kentucky, County Marriage Records, 1854, 1864.
• Obit: The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) 13 Mar 1899, p.8