Biography of Oliver H. Widney, page 951. History of De Kalb County, Indiana. Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885. Oliver H. Widney, son of John P. and Jane (Linn) Widney, was born Nov. 12, 1841, near Newville, De Kalb County, Ind. He was reared on a farm, and it early life attended the district school at Orangeville. After moving to Auburn he attended school at that place, completing his education at the Newville Academy, after which he taught school for some time. When a young man he cleared a farm of seventy acres, bringing it from a swampy state to be one of the best farms in his neighborhood. This farm he traded in 1877 to his father for the old homestead on the St. Joe River, near the town of St. Joe. He has been moderately successful in his farming pursuits, now owning a good farm of 134 acres of which he has gained by his own perseverance and industry. He was married Nov. 3, 1964, to Emily F. Maxwell, a resident of Concord Township. They have two children-H. Mervin, born March 2 1866, and Lenore, born May 18, 1881. Aug. 7, 1862, Mr. Widney enlisted as a private in Company H, Eighty-eighth Indiana Infantry. He was at Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., thence after General Bragg, through Kentucky, and participated in the battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, 1862. He was discharged at Nashville, Dec. 15, 1862, having been sick the greater part of the time while in the army, and returned home almost a living skeleton. He remained at home till he recovered, when he again enlisted, July 18, 1863, as First Duty Sergeant of Company D, One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Infantry, and was in the battles of Walker’s Ford, Dec. 2,1863, Bull’s Gap. in October, 1863, and Tazewell, East Tenn., in January, 1864, and was discharged March 4, 1864. Mr. Widney is serving his first term as County Commissioner. He has been re-elected to serve a second term. He is a member of John C. Carnes Post, No. 144, G.A.R., and has served as Junior or Senior Vice-Commander since the organization of the post, being at the present time Senior Vice-Commander. In politics he was reared a Republican, but since 1870 had affiliated with the Democratic party. His parents were married in Pennsylvania in the winter of 1835-’36, and in 1836 came to this county, locating near Newville. They settled on the farm where our subject now resides in 1843. The father is at present living at Belleville, Ohio. The mother died at Auburn in October, 1851, while John P. Widney was Clerk of the De Kalb County Circuit Court. Submitted by: Arlene Goodwin Auburn, Indiana Agoodwin@ctlnet.com