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2 PIQUA DAILY CALL Thursday, October 16, 1975Persona litiesCasstown resident became literary successBY MARIA HICKSCASSTOWN—Thomas Chalmers Harbaugh of Casstown was born in Middletown, Frederick County, Maryland, January 13,1849. He was the son of Morgan M, and Caroline (Raulzahan) Harbaugh.They came to Ohio In 1851, living in Piqua for several years. In 1856 they moved to Casstown where Harbaugh lived 67 years while making himself famous as a writer.Harbaugh attended Lo sic reek Township’s district number one school which was located north of Casstown on a hill on S.R. 589.While a youth, yet in his teens he worked as an assistant postmaster. At the age of 18, he started writing for newspapers and magazines. After 1867 when he published his first fiction, he was constantly engaged in writing.Harbaugh has published three volumes of poetry Maple Leaves, 1885; Bugle Notes of the Blue, 1906; and Lyrics of the Gray, 1807. His poem “Grant Dying” was the only poem of that nature selected for publication in Stedman’s Encyclopedia of American Literature”.He also wrote a play, The Housler Schoolmaster”. The Y.M.C.A. in Troy in the year of 1876 produced this play in theScharble Jewelry Store Building on S, Market St.He also wrote such poems as “The Sword of Lee, “The Blue, The Gray, And Grant, Ohio Soldiers Dead”, “The Southland’s Dead, and Chickamauga.Harbaugh visited every battlefield of the Civil War in search of data for his novels, many of which have historical basis.Many of his works are in the Trov Library Historical Boom. Though Harbaugh was a bachelor, he also coined tributes to love and affections. He was as modest as a girl and unassuming in every respect. He was a small man with light hair and blue eyes,” as one writer described him.He spent most of his time reading and writing in his library or just goingX-i, Ir-; -r-LMy' ■fishing in Lostereck, always with a cigar in his mouth. There was a time in 1867, he was being criticized for writing a cheap paperback western novel with a character named Dandy Jack.His hometown paper made the following comment. We are proud of T.C. Harbaugh as a poet of our own but we regret exceedingly that he should add in anyway to already overloaded(HAKIMSpiqua cmmSATURDAY SUNDAYmarket of cheap and trashy literature. It is ruining our boy3 and girls.”His reply, lo this appeared In the Saturday Journal. Below are two stanzas of “My Pen and I.“Come here old fellow from the rack, And while we chat together I'll toast my feet before the grate,For this frosty weather,He'll not write any more today On madrigal or story.But let the critics have their way And starve to death on glory. You’ve turned the whole world upside downFrom mansion sir to hovel;You’ve gone and written what is calledA cheap and trashy novel;Against you, for this monstrous crime;The holy one's are crying O'er all the land, with moral rot The boys and girls are dying”. Since then T.C. Harbaugh has written under many pen names. According to several people in Casstown who remember him, he used to write some of the Nick Carter mysteries.It was once said that he could write with both feet as well as his hands.Harbaugh was not a politician, yet he was an earnest Republican and always look an active interest in the political battles in the county and state, Almost every year he was a delegate to the county and state conventions,He was a shrewd political writer, and during a hot campaign, his articles were gladly welcomed and often copied in the Republican newspapers of Ohio.hi the county he was a regular contributor to the Piqua newspaper, and his articles full of humor, sarcasm, and often predictions of the future of the politics of the county. Often he was so close to the mark that it was thought he must have been either a close observer or seaied very near the council chambers of the political leaders of the county. And yet his letters appear to be written more in the spirit of recreation away from hla literary labors than that of being the result of serious thought of political questions,In 1922 after the death of his brother,MarketsEarly and DanielsShelled ComSoybeansWheat2.58 4.75 No PriceVersailles Eggs (Thursday’s Prices)JumboLargeMediumSmallliveFowl.64-.B5.59-.60.5S-.57.4S-.46.07-,58Sam, he sold all of his personal property and, taking the money along with some money his many friends sent to him from New York and other eastern cities, paid for his keep at the Miami County Home.He passed away Oct, 28,1924, at 4:05 p.m. in the home, His funeral was at the home of Albert Harbaugh, his nephew in Casstown, with the Rev. J.M. Ramsey, pastor of the English Lutheran Church, officiating. He is buried in Casstown Cemetery.Harbaugh had written upon his tombstone the following epitaph.“Here he lies where he longed to beHome is the sailor, home from the seaAnd hunter home from the hill.”Lion finds homeDAYTON, Ohio '(AP) - Fritz the lion cub has a new home.Suburban Englewood police reported Wednesday that the 7-month-old cub has been taken in by a Greene County man who keeps exotic animals for his own pleasure.Police Chief Robert Koverman said the man, who does.not want to be identified, was recommended by a member of the American Zoological Society,We feel we have found Fritz a good home and we are happy to seem him get a new start,” Koverman said.
Newspaper Details
Piqua Daily Call
Piqua, Ohio, US
Thu, Oct 16, 1975
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Muskingum C.
OH, USA 19 Oct 2021
Other Publications Near Piqua, Ohio
Piqua Morning Call
Piqua Daily Call and Piqua Press Dispatch
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Piqua Daily Call
Piqua Miami Leader
