RUSK BIOGRAPHIES, Henry County, Missouri ==================================================================== RUSK, William - b: 1834 Morgan Co, OH source: 1883 History of Henry Missouri , National Historical Co. - page: 762 residence: Fairview Twp William Rusk was born in Morgan County, Ohio, January 10, 1834. Humphrey Rusk, his father was a native of Belmont County, Ohio, while his mother whose maiden name was Margaret McDonald, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania. William spent his early youth on a farm, and upon moving to Illinois with his parents in 1855, located in DeWitt County, where he grew up. He was married there, September 19, 1862, to Miss Rebecca Ann Farhner, of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Jacob Farhner. Mr. Rusk, after his marriage farmed in DeWitt County for four years and in the fall of 1866, he went to Iowa, and settling in Linn County. After two years he came to Henry County, Missouri, in the fall of 1868, and bought land and improved the farm which he now occupies. He has 160 acres in a fair state of cultivation, and upon it is a good apple and peach orchard. He is devoting considerable attention to the cultivation of broom corn, and had raised the past year fifty acres of this product which averaged 500 pounds of brush to the acre. Mrs. Rusk died November 1, 1872, leaving five children. The oldest, Jacob H. met with a runaway accident which caused his death at the age of twelve years. He died May 15, 1873. Horatio S., Lizzie M., James M., and Otha P. Mr. Rusk was afterwards married in Champaign County, Illinois, April 13, 1878, to Mrs. Mary S. Swayze, a daughter of Samuel Harnit. She is a native of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and was reared and educated there and in Ohio. She is a lady of culture, and was a teacher for two years previous to her marriage with James Swayze, Mr. Swayze was originally of Ohio, but resided in Illinois at the time of his death, which occurred August 18, 1871. They had two children: Ira T. and James M. Swayze. Mr. and Mrs. Rusk have one son by their marriage, Willie H. C. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. R. is an Odd Fellow. ==================================================================== RUSK, William - b: 1834 McConnellsville, OH source: 1919 History of Henry Co MO, Uel W. Lamkin, Historical Publishing Co - page: 376 residence: Fairview Twp William Rusk. The oldest settler in the southwestern part of Fairview township is William Rusk, who for over fifty years has resided upon his quarter section farm. He was the first settler in his neighborhood who located upon the prairie. William Rusk was born at McConnellsville, Ohio, January 10, 1834, on the Muskingum River. He is the son of Humphrey and Margaret (McDonald) Rusk, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. Until he was twenty-two years of age, William Rusk resided in his native county. In the fall of 1855 he went to Illinois, and after a residence of ten years in De Witt County, that State, he went to Iowa. Two years later, in November of 1868, he located on a tract of prairie land in Fairview township. He improved this farm and has mined coal on the place since 1884. The entire tract is underlaid with coal. Mr. Rusk sold eighty acres of the farm to his son, who has erected improvements thereon, and is farming the entire tract. April 13, 1878, William Rusk and Mrs. Mary S. Sweazy were united in marriage. Mrs. Rusk was the widow of James Sweazy. Two sons were born of this marriage: Ira T., living in Kansas City, Missouri; James M., Harris, Kansas. Mrs. Mary S. (Harnett) Rusk was born in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on September 9, 1846, and is the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Walker (Corey) Harnett, natives of Pennsylvania. The mother of Samuel Harnett was Barbara Lutzenheizer prior to her marriage. The great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Rusk was James Harnett, who served in the American Revolution and whose wife was a girlhood friend of Martha Washington, nee Custis, and it is a matter of family tradition that one time when the women were doing a washing down by the sea coast they covered their heads with a large kettle and a clothes basket and ran from hostile Indians on the banks of the Potomac. The Harnett historical kettle is still preserved as an interesting relic by members of the Harnett family. Samuel Harnett, father of Mrs. Rusk, located in Ohio in 1855, and in 1866 removed to Illinois, where a brother of Mrs. Rusk, named Joseph M. Harnett, became very prominent in Champaign County, was a soldier of the Union and served as special pension examiner for the United States Government, with offices in Washington. He was high in Masonic circles. Mary S. Harnett was first married in Illinois to James Sweazy, who died. Later William Rusk came on from his new home in Missouri and wooed and won her for a wife. The town of Enon Valley was built upon the farm owned by Samuel Harnett in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and upon his farm is located the famous spring which furnished water for the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne railroad for many years. The first train which Mrs. Rusk saw passed over this road and it was the first train to go over the road. The Harnett children were all well educated. Mrs. Elizabeth Frederick, Mrs. Rusk's oldest sister, who lived in Henry County, was a classmate of Mrs. James A. Garfield, nee Rudolph, at Hiram College, Ohio. John and Ezra, her two oldest brothers, were classmates of James A. Garfield and completed their classical education at Bethany College, West Virginia. They taught in the South for a number of years. The children of William and Mary S. Rusk are as follow: William Harnett Garfield Rusk, born March 4, 1881, married Daisy Barker, and has three children, Gladys Dimple, aged fourteen, William Wilson, twelve years old, and Ethel Gertrude, aged ten years; Sarah Corey, born October 7, 1885, married Robert Arthur Fans and lives at Cimmarron, New Mexico, mother of four children, William Theodore, eight years old, Barbara Evelyn, aged seven, Harry Arthur, four years of age, Robert Leonard, an infant of four months. Robert Arthur Fans volunteered for service in the National Army for overseas service, enlisting in the 115th Regiment Regular United States Army, the Engineering Corps, and is located at Camp Kearney, California. William Rusk's first marriage was with Rebecca A. Farhner in Illinois and took place in 1862. The first Mrs. Rusk died in 1876, leaving five children: Jacob Humphrey, accidentally killed at the age of fourteen years; Horatio Seymour, Norwood, Colorado; Margaret Elizabeth, wife of Alfred Dunham, Colorado; James McDonald, California; Otha Perley, Norwood, Colorado. Since 1880 William Rusk has been allied heart and soul with the Prohibition party and has devoted many years of his life to the cause of prohibition. For years he stood alone as the only Prohibitionist in his township but has lived to see actual prohibition in Henry County became an accomplished fact. If he is spared for a few more months or years longer he will see his heartfelt wish realized-national prohibition. He was one of the charter members of the Westfield Presbyterian Church at its organization in 1870 and has been a ruling elder of this church for nearly fifty years, a record of which any citizen can well be proud. Mr. and Mrs. Rusk are kindly, intelligent and hospitable people who are highly regarded in Henry County. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by the Henry County MOGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~mohenry/henryco.html Contact the Henry County Coordinator for comments or corrections. ====================================================================