SEVENTH GENERATION

116. Jesse HARBOUR was born on 27 Aug 1817 in , Champaign Co.?, Ohio. He died on 17 Aug 1886. He has reference number 116. From Harbour Book
Harbour History, Compiled by Nina Harbour Champion, Copied from records of Tom
and Beryl Harbour of Bloomfield Iowa
According to a story told by Grandpa Harbour (Jesse Harbour) as related by my
father (Cyrus) and his cousin (Eli Harbour) only one Harbour ever came to
America. He wanted to come but was too poor to pay his passage. So he stole a
pair of shoes and the government transported him to Virginia. He had to work
very hard. I think this story is true. Ship passage was very expensive in
Colonial days. Also over 300 crimes in the 17th cnetury were punishable in
England by death. The prisons were crowded by debtors and petty criminals. The
government transported many to the colonies where they were usually bound out
for a term of years to pay for their passage, usually seven years. Also
Grandpa
Harbour (Jesse) should have known he was born in Champaign Co., Ohio in 1817.
His father Elisha Harbour was one of the earliest pioneers in the county having
gone there by horseback from Virginia not long after 1800. He was married
there March 1804. Later other Hrabour's followed him from Patrick Co. Va, his
brother William, Jesse Harbour, Elizabeth Harbour and probably his parents Joel
and Sarah Harbour. The land records in Patrick Co. show that his parents sold
all their land, 464 acres in 1809. So it is supposed they moved to Ohio. So
Grandpa might have heard the story from his grandfather. His grandfather Joel
was a young man at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
During 1777 all men of Va. were asked to renounce allegiance to the Crown of
England and to swear an oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Va. In the
list of those in Henry County who took the oath appears the name of Joel
Harbour. I found this list in a book in Los angeles, California libaray. I
also found indication that he probably served as a private in the
Revolutionary War and was in the battle of Guilford Courthouse.

This cannot be confirmed from Washington D.C. as there is no record that he
ever applied for a pension or western lands on the basis of service. The war
department wrote me that their records of the Revolutionary War are incomplete.
A Noah Harbour of Halifax Co. Virginia, undoubtedly a relative did receive a
pension. I come so near being the yougest grandchild that I have been at a
great disadvantage in collecting the history. I never had a chance to know the
older members of the family.

Also, our people have been pioneers in each generation and as the families
scattered the older family records were lost.

Grandpa Harbour (Jesse) had an older cousin John Arrowsmith, the oldest son of
Ezekiel Arrowsmith (who was a brother of Katherine Arrowsmith wife of Elisha
Harbour, my Grandpa Harbour's mother) who left Champaign Co. Ohio and settled
near Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Joel and Jesse Harbour, brothers, with their wives and
their oldest sister Betsy Wilson with her husband and children followed him in
January 1841. John Arrowsmith was a surveyor and helped survey Davis Co., Iowa
to the west after a new treaty with the Indians opened the main part of Iowa to
settlement. At first only a strip about three counties wide next to the
Missisippi River was open for settlement. In 1846, the spring the Mormons
crossed Iowa, Joel and Jesse Harbour moved to Davis Co. where they spent the
rest of their lives. The Mormons helped them get out the logs for their cabins.
One of these log cabins still stands on the farm of Eli Harbour, Joel's
youngest son. They use it mainly to store wood for winter. (Note: This cabin
has been donated by Thomas Joel Harbour, son of Eli Harbour, to the Bloomfield,
Iowa Historical Society. It has been moved into Bloomfield, restored, and is
now on display there). Joel and Jesse helped build the first school in their
neighborhood, the old Harbour school which their children attended.

Grandpa Harbour had very dark hair and eyes, spoke in a loud voice, had a keen
sense of history, belonged to the Methodist Church, loved to joke and like all
Harbour men was very kind to his family.

In the spring of 1886 he died of pneumonia at the age of 68. His older brother
Joel had been killed at the age of 51 by a tree falling on him when he and
Newton were cutting wood. Joel was named for his grandfather the Joel Harbour
who lived in Patrick Co. Virginia. (Henry Co. was cut into two counties -
Patrick and Henry Co.) He was married to Elizabeth BERRY on 15 Mar 1840.

117. Elizabeth BERRY died on 9 Feb 1863. She has reference number 117. Children were:

58 i. Richard Johnson HARBOUR.
ii. William Berry HARBOUR was born on 20 Nov 1842. He died in Mar 1874.
iii. John Davidson HARBOUR was born on 25 May 1845. He died on 5 Jun 1864.
iv. Noah HARBOUR was born on 20 Aug 1847 in , Davis, Iowa. He died on 6 Apr 1923 in California.
v. Cyrus HARBOUR was born on 25 Jun 1851 in , Davis, Iowa. He died on 24 Jun 1933 in California.
vi. Marion Smith HARBOUR was born on 3 Feb 1856 in , Davis, Iowa. He died on 15 Feb 1918 in California.
vii. Peninah HARBOUR was born on 10 Jan 1859. She died on 19 Jul 1900 in Mansfield, , South Dakota.
viii. Elizabeth Etta HARBOUR was born on 18 May 1870. She died on 21 Mar 1932 in California.