By Bobby Bice
This month’s photo is a very early 1890’s cabinet card and shows the Benjamin Tyson Harmer, Jr. Family.
Known as ‘Tyce’, he was the oldest child of B.T. Harmer Sr., who came to Shinnston in 1852 as a wagon maker. Tyson Jr. grew up learning the trade from his father and eventually became proficient in both wagon and coffin making, as coffins were made by skilled woodcraftsmen. He eventually took on the role as the town auctioneer as well. Along with his brother, William J.S. Harmer, Tyce operated the Harmer Brothers Wagon Shop on upper Main Street.
Another brother, Lloyd Moore Harmer, was also involved in the business, but pneumonia took his life as a young man in 1899. William J.S. Harmer is the one who eventually took on the ownership and operating skills of the family business and it is William J.S.’s descendants who now own/operate Harmer Funeral Home.
Shown seated with Tyson Jr. is his wife, Florence Etta (Nay) Harmer. She was the daughter of Oliver and Minerva (Fortney) Nay. Regular readers may remember an article I wrote on Oliver Nay in December 2023. Oliver served for the Union cause during the American Civil War and worked on army horses as a farrier. Oliver was captured as a prisoner by the confederate army while he and his detachment were taking a bath in the south branch of the Potomac River near Springfield, WV in Hampshire County. He was eventually sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia where he contracted disease. He died in a Union Army hospital in December 1864 when Florence was just seven years old. Sadly, her mother, Minerva, died less than six years later. Florence and her siblings were then raised by their uncle and aunt, John and Elizabeth (Fortney) Nay.
The children in the photo are Abbie, Tom, and Paul. Abbie grew to marry Harry Carder, a baker who operated the Shinnston Bakery for many years. It is interesting to note that Harry Carder was the first merchant in Shinnston to provide a delivery service for his baked goods when he purchased an International delivery car in 1911. Harry and Abbie had no children together as she sadly died from an infection at the young age of 29.
The middle child, Howard Thomas “Tom” Harmer (shown at right in the image) was the originator of Shinnston Plumbing Company, once known as the H.T. Harmer Plumbing Shop. He began the practice in 1896. He married the former Edna Smell, whose parents were the original owners and operators of a once well-known hotel in Shinnston named Hotel Royal. Located at the northwest corner of Pike and Rebecca Streets, the hotel passed through several other owners over the years with each owner operating the hotel under a different name. The structure was eventually purchased by Noel Riley and became Riley Funeral Home. Tom and Edna had one child, Harriet Harmer. Harriet was known by many as the Secretary at Shinnston High School.
Tyce and Florence’s youngest child, shown standing between them, was Paul Stanley Harmer. Paul went into the plumbing and heating business with his brother, Tom, in 1897. He married later in life to Hazel Rowand, a daughter of Lafe and Ida (Nay) Rowand. Paul and Hazel’s maternal grandfathers were brothers, making them second cousins to one another.
Harriet Harmer, the only grandchild of Tyce and Florence (Nay) Harmer, died in 2010. She did not marry nor have children. Therefore, there are no living descendants from the group pictured in this month’s story behind the photo.
