The son of Amos & Magdalena (Shirey or Shearer) Firing, in 1860 he was a laborer living with and/or working for well-to-do farmer Henry Flannery in Union Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. He is in that census by his first name but had appeared by his middle name in the 1850 census for that same township.

A Civil War veteran, please note that the regiment shown on the tombstone is wrong. Henry never served with the 42nd Pennsylvania Infantry as the inscribed name implies. While he is listed in the 1890 Veterans Schedule as a veteran of the 42nd Pennsylvania Infantry, that, too, is incorrect. He served two terms of service:

1. Enlisted at the stated age of twenty in Birdsboro, Berks County, June 30, 1863, during the Gettysburg crisis, mustered into state service at Reading July 1 as a private with Co. I, 42nd Pennsylvania Militia, and honorably discharged with his company August 11, 1863. He is on the roster by his middle name.
2. Enlisted at the stated age of twenty-one in Philadelphia January 27, 1864, mustered into federal service that day as a private with Independent Battery E Pennsylvania Light Artillery, and honorably discharged with the battery June 14, 1865. He is on the roster by his middle name.

He married Mary Hazzard and fathered Ollie Olivet (b. 03/25/81), Elmer E. (b. 03/26/83), and Lillie Maybelle (b. 11/24/89 - married Murray K. Straw). In 1890, he was living in Upper Pottsgrove, Montgomery County, and on May 23, 1897, successfully applied for a disability pension as "Harrison." By 1910, he was a resident of Harrisburg where he died from "carcinoma of lower maxilla right side" and identified as "Harrison" in his obituary in the Harrisburg Telegraph.

On December 12, 1911, Mary applied for a widow's pension and received it.

bio info courtesy of Dennis Brandt