Hon. Harvey M. McCaskey
Present Trustee of Green Township and a former member of the Legislature, Mr. McCaskey is a substantial farmer and citizen, a resident for half a century in Grant County, and has had a career of exceptional activity, including service when a boy as a Union soldier, and the many years spent in educational work. He has provided well for the temporal necessities of life, and is rich in the esteem paid by a community to his leading citizens.
In Ripley County, Indiana, Harvey M. McCaskey, was born January 19, 1849, a son of William and Jane (Salyers) McCaskey. The father was a native of Ohio and the mother of Indiana, and both moved to Grant county in 1862, locating in Green Township. The father lived here until his death in 1885, and the mother passed away in 1874. They were the parents of seven children, four of whom are living in 1913. Jeremiah lives in Missouri, Robert has his home in Green Township; and Elizabeth is the wife of James Byrd of Oklahoma.
Harvey M. McCaskey was thirteen years old when the family moved to Grant County, and he completed his education in the schools of this locality. The Civil War was in progress when the family moved to Grant County, and he was one of the boys whose patriotism flamed higher and higher at each succeeding campaign, until in 1863, when he was fourteen he could resist the passion no longer and enlisted in Company K of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Infantry. He served form the time of his enlistment as one of the very youngest Union soldiers until December, 1865. He saw a great deal of hard service, too, and participated at the battle of Resaca, at Burnt Hickory, the siege of Atlanta, the great battles at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, was sent around through Washington to the Carolinas, and fought his last battle at Kingston, North Carolina.
After he had returned home he remained on the home farm at work for several years, and in the meantime had determined to fit himself for teaching, and finally entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he was graduated in the scientific course in 1875. Both before and after his graduation there he taught school in Grant and Madison Counties, and altogether gave sixteen years of his effort to educational work. In 1876 Mr. McCaskey was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Noble, who was born in Rush County, Indiana. The five children of their marriage are mentioned as follows:
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Dr. Carl H. is a graduate of the Indiana College of Medicine at Indianapolis, and now practices in Indianapolis where he specializes in the nose, throat and ear diseases.
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Dora is a graduate of the common schools and the wife of Charles Wardwell.
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Carrie is a graduate of the common schools and the wife of B. H. Leisure.
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Pearl graduated from the common schools and lives at home.
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Dr. G. H., the youngest, has also taken up medicine and is a successful practitioner at West Newton.
The family are members of the Methodist Church at Rigdon, of which Mr. McCaskey is one of the Trustees. He is past Noble Grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also belongs to the Encampment, having passed the chairs in both degrees. A Republican in politics, he has long be4en active in public affairs, and in 1893 and 1895 was elected representative from Grant County in the lower house of the legislature. The first term he was elected by a majority of fifteen hundred, and the second time approval was given to his candidacy by a majority of twenty-five hundred. He is now serving as Trustee of Green Township, and was chosen to the office by a plurality of twenty-five votes. Recalling old army associations, he is a member of Beason Post of the Grant Army of the Republic. Mr. McCaskey owns and operates one hundred and sixty acres of land in Section Thirty-six, his farm being the southwest quarter of that section, and its location is ten miles southwest of Fairmount.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 1316-1317.