BIO: John G. GARNER, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 245-246.
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  JOHN G. GARNER, Entriken, Huntingdon county, Pa., was born in Penn 
township, August 22, 1840, son of Philip and Margaret (Morningstar) 
Garner. Philip Garner, son of John Garner, was born December 15, 1807. 
His education was rather limited as to English branches, but more 
complete in German. He was all his life a farmer, in Penn and Lincoln 
townships. He owned some 400 acres in Penn township, on which he 
erected a dwelling, a barn and other buildings; after improving and 
cultivating this farm for some time, he sold it, and bought 137 acres 
in Lincoln township, which he farmed for the remainder of his life; he 
was fond of horses, a thoroughly competent and reliable stock raiser. 
Mr. Garner was a Republican. He enjoyed the respect and confidence of 
the community in which he lived, and was elected to the offices of 
constable, supervisor of roads, school director, collector of taxes, 
etc. His wife was a native of Penn township. Their children are: 
Philip, enlisted for the war of the Rebellion in the Sixteenth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry, was captured, and starved to death in the prison 
at Salisbury, N. C., in 1863; Frederick, of Juniata township; Mary J. 
(Mrs. William Morningstar), of Henderson township; William, of Penn 
township; John G.; Michael, of Oklahoma; James H., commissioner of 
Huntingdon county; Margaret A., deceased; Barbara E. (Mrs. L. 
Morningstar); Susanna, deceased, wife of Edmund Goss, of Clearfield 
county, Pa.; and one that died in infancy. Philip Garner, the father, 
died June 26, 1896; he was a member and an office-bearer in the 
Lutheran church, and a citizen of good repute. His wife died April 18 
(Easter Sunday) 1897, aged eighty-nine years, six months and four days.
  Attending the public schools of Penn township, and helping in the 
cultivation of his father's farm, John G. Garner passed his boyhood and 
attained his majority. In 1861, he enlisted for the defense of the 
Union in Company C, Fifty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. J. R. 
Brooke, Capt. (Dr.) J. H. Wintrobe. Mr. Garner was in the service for 
nine months, during which time he participated in several minor 
engagements, but suffered much from cold and exposure, and was ill for 
a time in the hospitals at Alexandria, Va., and White House, Va. Upon 
his discharge, which he received in Virginia, he returned home and 
continued farming, in Penn township. In 1864 Mr. Garner re-enlisted in 
Company G, Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, as corporal. He passed 
three months in the service, principally on detail for guard duty. 
Having once more returned to Penn township, he found employment with 
the Huntingdon and Broad Top R. R. as repairman, for six months. He 
then went to Ohio, still in railroad employ, remained there two months, 
and then came back to Pennsylvania and to the employ of the Huntingdon 
and Broad Top R. R. Several years later, with money saved from his pay 
in army and railroad service, Mr. Garner bought a farm of 130 acres, on 
which he has made improvements, and where he still resides. He is fond 
of horses and cattle, and is an extensive stock raiser. Mr. Garner is a 
Republican, as are also his sons. He has been a member of the election 
board, and in February, 1897, was elected a school director. He is a 
member of the G. A. R. post at Marklesburg. He is a genial gentleman, 
and highly respected.
  John G. Garner was married near Worcester, O., December 31, 1863, to 
Jane B., daughter of Jacob Showalter, of Huntingdon county. She was 
born in Juniata township. Their children are: John B., deceased; Philip 
E., deceased; Harry S., born September 3, 1867, educated at Entriken, 
has been all his life a farmer and railroad employee, is member and 
chaplain of the Grange, also of the Farmers' Alliance; Grant, railroad 
employee, married Minnie A. Smith, of Hopewell township; Minnie M., 
deceased; Milton H., born May 28, 1876, farmer on homestead, was 
married March 15, 1896; May E. (Mrs. Kyler), of Lincoln township; and 
Margaret A., at home. Mrs. Garner died April 6, 1889. Mr. Garner is a 
member of the Lutheran church, a good citizen and much esteemed.