Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920                                                       ADAM V.HARTER                      Adam V.Harter, the present recorder of Henry County, Indiana, was born in   Honey Creek, Fall Creek Township,this County, November 2, 1876, his parents being Ferdinand A. and Mary E. (Benbow) Harter. Mrs. Mary E.Harter being a native of Henry County, a record of her genealogy will first be given.  Adam V. Benbow, father of Mrs. Harter, was born in North Carolina and was of Welsh ancestry, his grandfather having been one of three brothers who together came in a sailing-vessel over the ocean to America and were sold under what was known in early days as the “apprenticeship” system—that is to say,they had no funds with which to pay their passage money at the start and the captain of thevessel which brought them to a port in the new world “sold” their time and labor to any person in want of “help,” the length of service and rate of wages being adjusted to Suit the circumstances. Of the three brothers, it is  known that one settled in Maryland, one in North Carolina, but of the third nothing definite is known as to his destination or fate. Of the North Carolina “apprentice” the Benbow family of Indiana are lineal descendants. Barclay Benbow, grandfather of Mrs. Harter, came from North Carolina to Henry County, Indiana, in an early day, accompanied by his son Adam V., entered land in Prairie Township and there passed the remainder of his life. Ferdinand A. Harter, father of the subject, was a son of David Harter, a native of Virginia, who settled in Preble County, Ohio. David Harter was a blacksmith by trade, which he worked at until leaving Preble County, Ohio. From Preble County, Ohio, he moved to Wayne County, Indiana, where his son Ferdinand A. was born. When David Harter came to Henry County, Indiana, he entered land in Jefferson Township,cleared tip in course of time two farms, and was extensively engaged infarming. He died in 1887, when past eighty years of age.  Ferdinand A. Harter was married in JeffersonTownship, purchased the old Harter homestead, and with him his father spent thelast eight years of his life. Ferdinand A died May 13, 1900, in his seventieth year, and his widow now lives with her son, Adam V., in New Castle. Ferdinand A. passed his earlier years in farming, and also erected a sawmill on his farm. He and his father also ran the first steam thresher in Henry County about 1860.The engine was made in Richmond. Indiana, and in connection with the thresher was a chaff separator.  In 1884 they built a sawmill, in which the thresher boiler was utilized in conjunction witha new one, and their services were largely in requisition in Henry and adjacent Counties. Ferdinand A. and his father were both Republicans in politics. David was a Dunkard in religion, while Ferdinand A. and wife were among the originalmembers of the Christian church at Mount Summit, of which Adam Benbow was a prominent member. Peter Harter, a brother of Ferdinand A., lost his life in the battle of Chickamauga, and two brothers, John and Oliver, still live in Jefferson Township in the vicinity of Sulphur Springs. To Ferdinand A. and MaryE. (Benbow) Harter have been born nine children, namely: Theodore, a farmer at Honey Creek: John, a mechanic at Mount Summit: William also a mechanic and at present in Arkansas; Frank, principal of the East school at New Castle; Adam V., the subject of this memoir; Elmer, in New Castle: Lillie, wife of Frank Lester, on the old farm: Rose, wife of Fay Rader, of Sulphur Springs: and Ethel, who is deputy recorder. Adam V.Harter was educated in Sulphur Springs and early became an accomplished musician. He for about nine years taught piano and organ playing in nearly every part of Henry County, In November 1900, he was elected county recorder on the Republican ticket, and took possession of the office on the 17th of the same month.  The duties of the office are performed by him self and sister and have given entire satisfaction to the public. In fact, all the male members of the family are Republicans, and Frank Harter has succeeded in          keeping the party intact in his district, although living in a strongly Democratic Township. Frank was also in his early days a schoolteacher and followed the vocation fifteen years. The two brothers, the sister and the mother live together as one family and are held in the highest possible esteem in the social circles of the city and township. Adam V. still owns a part of the old homestead, which consisted of one hundred and sixty acres and was first owned by his grandfather