In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1915) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions (1915), The history of Madison County, Ohio (1883)
OWEN HARBAGE, farmer, P. O. West Jefferson, is a son of Joseph and Sarah Harbage, natives of England, where they were married and had born a family of eight children. In 1854, they all started for America, but, while on the ocean, one child died. The family finally reached Madison County, Ohio, and settled in Jefferson Township where they all have lived since, save one child which returned to England and one now residing in Indiana. Our subject was born in England in 1839, but since fifteen years of age has been a resident of Jefferson Township, where he married Minerva F., sister of Ezekial Arnett, of Jefferson. This union has been best with a family of seven children. Mr. Harbage is by occupation a farmer, which was the vocation of his ancestors in England for several generations back. He is the owner of 323 acres, under good cultivation, and is an enterprising citizen. He has always taken a deep interest in the schools of his township, and has repeatedly served as local Director, now being President of the Board of Education.
As printed in The history of Madison County, Ohio (1883). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
OWEN HARBAGE.
The gentleman whose name is noted above is a member of one of the old and honored families of this county, who, though not native-born, have made a name and a place for themselves, and have become in every sense of the word American, except in the matter of birth. Coming to this country when a mere lad, Owen Harbage has worked out his destiny by reason of ability and perseverance, until he has come to occupy an important place in the vicinity of hishome, and has won many friends, whose entire confidence he has, He is the son of parents who braved the dangers of the ocean to establish their home in the New World. It is “a far cry” from the little town in England in which he was born on May 2, 1838, to the presidency of a bank in Ohio, but such is the cycle of his life.
Joseph and Sarah (Kutley) Harbage, parents of Owen Harbage, were English-born, and after their marriage came to the United States, about the year 1853. Arriving in New York City, they bought tickets for Madison county, and located immediately on a farm near West Jefferson, where they sput the remainder of their days, acquiring two hundred and twenty-five acres of land in that part of the county. Joseph Harbage was a quiet, forceful man, a Republican in political belief and a good, conscientious farmer. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, those besides the subject of this sketch being John, Elizabeth (widow of Patrick Caragan). Sarah (deceased), Joseph, William (living in Indiana), and Edwin.
It is not difficult to imagine the struggles of an English lad of fifteen coming to a strange country where so many customs and Institutions differ from those of the Old World, but, with determination, Owen Harbage set to work, and here in the Madison county schools finished the education begun in England. Until the year of his majority, he lived under the paternal roof, and then started to care his own destiny. It would seem that Fate was rather kind to him, for she not only brought him a wife, but in so doing determined the direction along which he should carry out his economic activities. In other words, after his marriage to Minerva Arnett in the fall of 1859, he became manager of his mother-in-law’s Madison county farm, afterwards purchasing it. and he still owns nine hundred acres in Jefferson township. Continuing his residence on the farm until 1905, he then moved to West Jefferson, where he now resides, one of his business Interests centering in the Farmers Bank, which he organized, and of which he is the president.
To Owen and Minerva (Arnett) Harbage seven children were born, four of whom are living, namely: Vynul, who has become a wealthy farmer, of Jefferson township: Arnett, who possesses six hundred acres in Monroe township; Clara, who married J. Wilson Ooodson. a prosperous resident of Jefferson township, and Addle, who married David Lloyd, a successful farmer of Franklin county. The mother of these children died in 1901 and three years later. August 26, 1904. Mr. Harbage married, secondly. Mrs. Elizabeth Riddle, who was born in Madison county on August 4. 1849. The daughter of a farmer, she was educated in the local schools, and reaching womanhood.
those for her husband Abner Biddle, to which union two children were born, Ellen, who married David Sidner, a farmer of West Jefferson, and Gertrude, deceased.
The church to which Mr. and Mrs. Harbage have been most strongly attracted is the Methodist Episcopal, and to this they have contributed both of their time and means, Mrs. Harbage being quite active in the church work, especially that of the Ladies’ Aid Society.
Although an active Republican, Owen Harbage has never held any office of a public nature. He is of a kindly, cheerful disposition, attracting friends and retaining them, and is one of the honored and respected citizens of the county in which he has spent nearly all of his life.
As printed in History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions (1915). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Their biographies name Owen Harbage: Raymond R. Harbage (b. 1889) Arnett Harbage (b. 1873) Vynul Harbage (b. 1869)
The printed record stops around 1915. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.