Erastus Harvey, sixth child of William and Jane (Beebe) Harvey, was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, March 8, 1789. In the year 1807, he enlisted in the regular army and was in the War of 1812. He played the tenor drum in the battle of Plattsburg, in September, 1814. At the close of the war he returned to Lyndon, Vermont, and in the year 1816 he married Betsey Bettis, who was born September 27, 1798. Erastus Harvey was a member of the Free Will Baptist church at Cabot, Vermont, in 1821. The Wheelock Q. M., licensed him to preach in 1822. In 1825 he was ordained.

From the time of his marriage until he entered the ministry he had farmed at Lyndon, Vermont. His obituary speaks of his preaching first in Vermont; then he went to Littleton, New Hampshire, for one year, returning to Vermont. Thence to Barnston, in Stanstead county, Canada, Province of Quebec. A call came to Rev. Erastus Harvey to preach to a congregation at Woodstock, Champaign county, Ohio which was gladly accepted and he moved his family to that place sometime about the year 1838. He purchased a farm in the woods and soon a log house was built and some land cleared. He preached to Baptist congregations in Champaign and Union counties, and for a while at Pitchin, in Clark county. After six or seven years he sold this farm and purchased one in Perry township, Logan county, Ohio, near North Greenfield. He continued to preach and acted as Q. M. clerk "making full proof of his ministry." After a residence of about five years here, he sold this farm and purchased another near Walnut Grove. After a long illness from dropsy the wife and mother died on the Walnut Grove farm July 31, 1855. In a month or two the father sold the farm and with his sons, William and Albee, he moved to Castalia, Winneshiek county, Iowa.

In 1857 he married Mrs. Hannah Sargent, who was a native of Vermont. He preached to a number of congregations in northern Iowa and did so occasionally till a few days before his death. "As a preacher Brother Harvey was earnest, animated and spiritual. He had received and had retained the Holy Anointing which gave him strength and boldness in the presence of the people. His sermons were eminently Scriptural, evangelical, and comforting to the saints. He succeeded well as a pastor

He died August 27, 1872, of bilious diarrhea and was first buried in Mt. Grove cemetery; but was later removed to Pleasant View cemetery, Castalia, Iowa.

Condensed from Rev. Erastus Harvey and His Descendants 1912, pages 7-9