H. N Carver, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of H. N Carver
PROF. H. N. CARVER.
The rapid advancement made of late in matters pertaining to popular education is due in no small part to the brilliant leaders who have risen here and there, and who have dedicated their labors and energies to the upbuilding of the school interests of their respective States. Among these stands the name of Prof. H. N. Carver, who is now in the classical department of the Normal School at Valparaiso, which position he holds in a very creditable manner. He is of English-German descent and of old Revolutionary stock. His grandfather, Henry Carver, a Hessian, was working in his father's field when a boy, and was seized by a recruiting party of German soldiers and made to serve in the American Revolution. He was but sixteen years of age .at that time, and being small for his years was made a fifer. He served in the war, and after cessation of hostilities, like many other Hessian soldiers, remained in this country. He married a Miss Mitchell, of North Carolina, and subsequently settled in Harrison County, Ohio. This was in 1814, and he was one of the very earliest settlers of that county. He became a substantial and respected citizen, reared an intelligent and happy family, and lived to the advanced age of eighty years. In religion he was a Quaker and in politics a strong Abolitionist, being connected with the underground railroad. His son, Abner Carver, the father of our subject, was born in Harrison County, Ohio, and, following in the footsteps of his father, became a prosperous farmer. He was also a Quaker in his religious views. It is known that this branch of the Carver family was of the old Puritan English stock that fled from England to Holland before the Pilgrims landed in America. Abner Carver married Miss Eliza Norris, and two sons were born to this union, Harrison N. and Thomas P., both of whom served in the army during the Civil War. Prof. H. N. Carver, our subject, is a native of the Buckeye State, born in Harrison County, January 2, 1842. During the early part of his days he assisted on the farm and attended the district school in which he received a fair education. Later he attended the Western Reserve College in Ohio, but on the 11th of July, 1862, he flung aside his books and enlisted in Co. F, ninety-eighth Ohio Vol. Inft., and served three years, or until the close of the war, being honorably discharged in August, 1865. He participated in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign, and on Sherman's March to the Sea. He was also in the return march to Washington and present at the Grand Review. During his service he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in 1863. He was neither sick nor wounded, came out of the army in excellent health, and after returning to his native State returned to his books, attending the Normal School at Lebanon for one year. Following this he was a teacher of Greek and Latin for six years, after which he taught a private school at Medina, Ohio, for five years. In 1879 he came to Valparaiso as teacher of Latin and Greek, and here he has since remained. His classes have an average attendance of about three hundred students and he annually graduates a large class. He was married in 1868 to Miss Mary Dickey, and there are four living children: Kate, Thomas H., Adda B., and George. Mrs. Carver died in 1885. Prof. Carver is a Republican in politics and a Quaker in religious beliefs.
Source: Goodspeed Brothers. 1894. Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Brothers. 569 p.
Page(s) in Source: 129-130
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook