From A Biographical History of Central Kansas, Vol. II, p. 1213
published by The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago & New York, 1902

HARVEY B. VINCENT

   When the country became involved in Civil war and men from all stations of life gathered at places of enrollment to acknowledge their allegiance to the Union and march from their homes to the battlefields of the south, Harvey Vincent was among the number, and his duty to his country in days of peace has been as faithfully performed, so that he is now a valued and honored resident of Rice county, where he has made his home through a period of twenty-three years.  However, the width of a continent separates him from his birthplace.  He first opened his eyes to the light of day in Wayne county, New York, November 10, 1822, being a son of Ezra and Lydia C (Freeman) Vincent.  His father also was a native of the Empire state.  His mother was a widow at the time she married Mr Vincent.  She was born in Maine, and her first husband was a Mr Hamlin, a cousin of ex-Vice President Hamlin.  On leaving the east Ezra Vincent went with his family to Sandusky county, Ohio, locating near Clyde, where he followed agricultural pursuits for many years.  He held membership in the Free Will Baptist church and was a man of unquestioned probity of character, ever honest and reliable.  His political support was first given the Whig party and afterward to the Republican party.  He died at the age of ninety years and his wife passed away, at their home near Clyde, when seventy-seven years of age, her death being deeply mourned by many friends, who had loved and esteemed her for her excellent qualities of character.  Ezra Vincent had been twice married, and of the first union there were three children, - Ezra, Hiram and Hannah; and the mother of our subject by her first marriage had seven children, namely:  Barney, Timothy, Patty, Mathias, Ezra, Lydia and John.  Ezra and Lydia C Vincent became the parents of five children, namely:  Gardner, Lucy, Jane, Harvey B and Darlin.  The last named was a soldier in the Civil war, belonging to a regiment of Pennsylvania cavalry.

   Harvey B Vincent was a  youth of twelve years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Sandusky county, Ohio, and on the home farm near Clyde he spent the remainder of his youth, passing through the experiences of frontier life.  Until better educational facilities were afforded in the county he pursued his education in a log school-house during the winter months.  At the age of eighteen he began teaching, and for many years was one of the popular instructors of Ohio.  In the fall of 1861 he responded to the call for troops and joined Company C, Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, under command of Colonel Rutherford B Hayes, afterward president of the United States.  One of the privates of the regiment was William McKinley, who was later promoted to the rank of colonel and who finally became the chief executive of the nation and fell a martyr to the assassin’s bullet.  Mr Vincent participated in the battle of Carnifax Ferry and was afterward ill in a hospital in Virginia for some time.  He was then honorably discharged, on account of physical disability, and has never fully recovered from disease contracted in the war.

   He returned to his home in Clyde, Ohio, where he remained until 1878, the year of his arrival in Rice county, Kansas.  He at once took up his abode in the neighborhood where he has since resided.  He had been married in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1859, at the age of thirty-seven years, to Miss Jane Blackstone, who was born, reared and educated in the Buckeye state and was a daughter of Moses Blackstone, of Ohio.  She died a year later, leaving one son, O B Vincent, now a well known citizen of Rice county.  In the fall of 1878, Mr Vincent was again married, his second union being with Miss Mary Whittaker, who resided at Clyde, Ohio, and for nine years successfully engaged in teaching.  She was a daughter of Stephen Whittaker, who was born in New York, but is now living in Clyde.  He was a cooper by trade and has followed that pursuit throughout much of his business career.  He wedded Mary Adeline Arnold, also a native of the Empire state, and they became the parents of six children:  John, who served as a soldier with the Seventy-second Ohio Infantry for three years, and who was in Andersonville prison for nine months, now resides in Ashtabula, Ohio, while his business connects him with the railroad service; David is deceased; Mrs Louisa McLeod is a resident of Harvey, Illinois; Mary is the wife of our subject, Vincent; Eli is living in Clyde, Ohio; and one child died in infancy.  The marriage of Mr and Mrs Vincent has been blessed with five children:  Stephen H, who is now twenty-three years of age; Florence M, who is a capable teacher in this locality; and Frank E, Vera M and Ralph E, aged respectively seventeen, fifteen and thirteen years.

   The family home is located upon a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres and the place is supplied with all modern equipments and improvements.  To the development and cultivation of his place Mr Vincent devotes his attention with untiring energy, and his labors result in bringing to his a good income.  He maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, and in the county of his adoption he has many warm friends.