Person:Francis Harbison (1)

... [Robert Harbison] was a son of Francis and Catharine Harbison nee Hart.

Francis Harbison was born near Philadelphia, served in the Revolutionary war, during part of which he was a prisoner, and settled in 1798 on the farm now occupied by William Donahey, Young township. He died in 1823, at the age of sixty-five; his wife in 1849, at the age of ninety.

Their children were:
Joseph, d., m. to Rebecca Ewing, d.;
Robert, b. in 1785, d. in 1855, m. to Mary Millen, b. in 1785, d. in 1858;
Mary, m. to Thomas Cunningham, d.;
Jane, d., m. to Jas. Ewing, d.;
Anna, d.;
William, d., m. to Sarah Hutchinson, d.;
Sarah, d., m. to William McNeil, d.; and
Matthew, d., m. to Mary Henry.
...

The Harbison family is supposedly of Scotch-Irish extraction, and Francis Harbison, who founded the branch living in Indiana county, was a native of Pennsylvania, born near Philadelphia. During the memorable struggle of the Colonies for independence he served as a soldier, and was taken prisoner.

In 1798 he came to western Pennsylvania, crossing the Allegheny mountains and settling with his family in what is now Young township, Indiana county, where he was among the early pioneers who opened up this region.

His land was south of West Lebanon, where the station is now located, and he became the owner of a large body, having over one thousand acres, then in its primitive condition. He built a house of round logs, and also a log barn, and set himself to work to clear his land and prepare it for cultivation.

He spent the remainder of his life there, dying on his farm in 1823, at the age of sixty-five years, and is buried in the Ebenezer Church cemetery in Conemaugh township. He was a Presbyterian in religious connection.