John Wright Larimer, born in Perry County, Ohio on June 24, 1846, was the second son (and fifth child) of farmer Isaac Larimer, Jr. (1808-1874) and his wife, Margaret Ray Larimer (1813-1873).

At age 17, on February 23, 1864 in Bremen, Ohio, John enlisted as a private in the Union Army. He served with Company B of the 17th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, participating in the Atlanta Campaign, Pine Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Lost Mountain, Chattahoochee River, Peachtree Creek, Battle of Jonesboro, “Sherman’s March to the Sea,” the siege of Savannah, Campaign of the Carolinas, and other actions. His regiment took part in the Grand Review of the Armies on May 24, 1865 in Washington, D.C., and he was mustered out on July 16, 1865.

Meanwhile, John’s parents and some of his siblings had moved to Greenville, Darke County, Ohio in 1865, where he rejoined them. In 1870, John was living at home and working as a farm laborer. On November 12, 1872, John married Margaret Caroline Mowen (1847-1929) in Greenville, Ohio. John’s mother died two months after John and Margaret’s first child was born in the fall of 1873, and John’s father died only a few weeks after that.

John and Margaret were the parents of five children: Pearl, Isaac, Ethel, Sarah, and Mary Virginia. For decades, he farmed in Richland township, Ohio, then moved back to Greenville later in life, where he was active in the Champion Lodge (Odd Fellows) and a past commander of the Greenville Post of the GAR. By 1910, he was receiving a Civil War invalid pension and working as a tobacco buyer.

John Wright Larimer died of liver problems and heart disease at his home in Greenville on November 10, 1926, and was buried in Greenville Union Cemetery, survived by his wife Margaret, four children, and four grandchildren. Margaret Mowen Larimer died of heart disease on August 13, 1929, and was buried alongside her husband in Greenville Union Cemetery.

Sources: Civil War service summary, pension record, obituary in Palladium-Item (Ohio) newspaper (11 Nov 1926), U.S. Census records, Ohio marriage records, death certificates, J.C. Work author of "Larimer Family, 1740-1959".

John W Larimer