John Reese Harvill was the only son of Dirkin Ellison Harvill and Eppsie (Nancy Eppes Spiers) Harvill to live to maturity. At seventeen, John entered the Army, and served four years as a Private, fighting within 100 miles of his home. He was shot in the head while fighting the Yankee troops under General Butler, and was left with permanent hearing loss in his right ear, and partial loss of sight in his right eye. When he was twenty one, John met Molly (Mary Elizabeth) Peek one day while she was sitting on her front porch with her Mama as he walked by. Their courship began, and they were married barely a year later. Their married life was one of happiness, struggle and heartbreak, for three of their children died in early childhood, three died before middle age, and only one lived to a ripe old age. Through the years, John worked at a varied number of occupations, sometimes two or more at a time, in order to provide for his large family. He taught school, managed the paper mill, farmed extensively, and was a stone cutter and a night watchman. It was a rainly cold day in January that John Reese stayed outside sawing and cutting wood all day. Molly begged him to leave it be, but his fierce pride and independence would not let him change his mind once he was set to doing something. He came down with a severe cold a day or two later that developed into pneumonia within a week. He died just a few days after his 76th birthday.
John Reese Harvill was the only son of Dirkin Ellison Harvill and Eppsie (Nancy Eppes Spiers) Harvill to live to maturity. At seventeen, John entered the Army, and served four years as a Private, fighting within 100 miles of his home. He was shot in the head while fighting the Yankee troops under General Butler, and was left with permanent hearing loss in his right ear, and partial loss of sight in his right eye. When he was twenty one, John met Molly (Mary Elizabeth) Peek one day while she was sitting on her front porch with her Mama as he walked by. Their courship began, and they were married barely a year later. Their married life was one of happiness, struggle and heartbreak, for three of their children died in early childhood, three died before middle age, and only one lived to a ripe old age. Through the years, John worked at a varied number of occupations, sometimes two or more at a time, in order to provide for his large family. He taught school, managed the paper mill, farmed extensively, and was a stone cutter and a night watchman. It was a rainly cold day in January that John Reese stayed outside sawing and cutting wood all day. Molly begged him to leave it be, but his fierce pride and independence would not let him change his mind once he was set to doing something. He came down with a severe cold a day or two later that developed into pneumonia within a week. He died just a few days after his 76th birthday.
Gravesite Details
John was the son of Dirkin E. and Nancy Harvill, he was born in Carson, VA.
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