In the autumn of 1827, a young married couple, John and Hetty Harbine hitched a team of horses to a wagon carrying all their worldly possessions and set off from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 460 miles to their new home in the wilderness of Western Ohio. John, shown here, eventually would use the proceeds from his tavern and distillery to build one of the first industrial complexes in the state and amass a fortune valued in today’s dollar at $4.7 million.
The Harbine family (sometimes spelled “Harbein”) was of old Huguenot stock, driven out of their native France by discriminatory laws and seeking a place where they could worship in freedom. Family members arrived about 1700 settling in several Eastern States. John was born in Washington County, Maryland, in 1804, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Reber Harbine. Shown here, the log cabin in which he was born still stands as a historical site. John received his education in Maryland schools and at an academy (high school) in Pennsylvania where he had relatives.
In Pennsylvania John met Hetty Herr, daughter of Rudolf and Magdelene Kauffman Herr. When they married in August 1827, John was 23 and Hetty 21. They would raise a family of eight children, four boys and four girls, born between 1830 and 1845. Hetty was a stalwart pioneer woman, accustomed to hardships, and a partner to her husband in his enterprises. Shown here later in life, Hetty, although carrying a cane, still bears a youthful continence. A biography called her “estimable.”
The destination of the couple was a small settlement in Beaver Creek Township, later to become part of Greene County. With his family members it had been founded by General Benjamin Whiteman, a veteran of the American Revolution, Whiteman’s dwelling was a rudimentary log structure, shown below, that served as residence, tavern, and eventually as the first courthouse in Greene County. The site also had a grist mill. When the Whitemans decided to move to another Ohio town, the property was sold to Hetty’s father who ceded it to the newlyweds.
Although evidence of the couple’s early days in Ohio are scanty, it appears that for a time the couple operated the tavern, while living in the cramped quarters above it, and tended to the mill. Soon Harbine began to see other opportunities to expand. He recognized that area farmers were producing an excess of corn and needed a new outlet for its sale. With his millrace providing the water necessary for making corn whiskey, Harbine constructed a distillery at the site shown above left. 
As an archeological map shows, the facility grew into a complex that appears to have had three ancillary buildings as well as a still-house (Structure A). The function of the building (Structure B) situated immediately north of the still-house is unknown. Archeologists speculate it could have been used as a malthouse or to fill barrels with whiskey. The largest building on the site was of frame construction set on limestone footers (Structure C). Over half of the interior flooring of this building was designed to support a great deal of weight, as evidenced by a series of heavy piers which braced the floor. Assuming Harbine aged his whiskey on site, it was the storage facility. However, archeologists speculate that the structure could have also been used as a mashing and fermenting room, processes that would also have required a sturdy floor. The use of Structure D is unclear, possibly a cooperage. By 1850 Harbine’s distillery could produce up to 28,000 barrels of corn whiskey annually. The profits from making whiskey gave the pioneering entrepreneur the resources to expand into other enterprises.
He added a flour mill, branding the first barrel “Alpha.” The name stuck as designating the rapidly expanding village, the first in Beavercreek Township. Over the next few years Harbine would expand the grist mill and add a saw mill and woolen mill. In 1850 Alpha received a U.S. Post Office. Tracks for the Panhandle Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Cincinnati, Hamilton, & Dayton Railroad arrived in 1853. Harbine donated land for a train station. An 1850’s map shows the extent of his holdings in and around Alpha.
With the coming of the railroads, Alpha moved from being a wilderness town to what observers called “a lively manufacturing center” with Harbine’s enterprises as the centerpiece. In 1854 with his friend and neighbor William J. Needles, Harbine decided to put Alpha officially on the map and hired a surveyor to set its boundaries and plat it. He added an oil mill, shown above. It was located somewhat distant from Alpha, because of the odors. He built two mills on the Miami River and erected the first cotton factory in the region. Harbine also was buying tobacco from local farmers and shipping it by rail to all parts of the United States.
Harbine expanded his manufacturing and sales empire into the nearby county seat of Greene County, Xenia. He was assisted by a sibling who had joined him from Pennsylvania, B. F. Harbine. John called the company, Harbine and Bro., Manufacturers of Flour and Whiskey…And Dealers in Flour, Grain, Flax Seed and Feed. The store was located at the corner of Detroit and Second Street in Xenia. He also built a series of houses along what became known as Factory Road near Alpha for the workers and their families at the flour mill and distillery.
Following the couple’s early residence in the log tavern/courthouse, once they began a family my guess is they lived in other quarters until Harbine built a mansion home. Shown above, it was handsomest dwelling in Greene County. The house stood just behind the location of the original log cabin, the remnants of which could be seen in the front yard. The interior of the house, now maintained as a historic site, was characterized by its elegance in those pioneer times. Among accoutrements were carved marble fireplaces.
Although he had always counted on family help in his business empire, as he aged Harbine installed his sons as the managers of specific plants. His second son, Jacob ran the flour mill, and his third, John T., the oil mill. Young Ben Franklin “Frank” Harbine was working in the flour mill. The 1870 census found the family living in their spacious home, along with two female servants. That census asked questions about property values. Harbine estimated his to be worth $212,000, a phenomenal amount for the times, equal today to approximately $4.7 million. He had become one of the richest men in Ohio.
Three years later John Harbine died in June 1863 at the age of 68. He was buried in Xenia’s Woodland Cemetery. Hetty, his wife and partner of 46 years, died ten years later and was laid beside him. An 1890 biography remembered the pioneer entrepreneur for his work in transportation and education: “Mr. Harbine became one of the leading men of this section and was largely interested in the development of the turnpike system, besides being instrumental in securing the building of the Little Miami Road. He was warmly interested in the establishment and maintenance of schools, and labored to bring about the teaching of Greek, Latin and mathematics in the common schools.”
Not long after Hettie’s death the remaining Harbines faced a disaster when the largest fire ever experienced in Beavercreek Township erupted from one of their barns, cause unknown. A southerly wind blew embers that ignited and destroyed the flour mill and distillery, a corn crib and several dwellings. After the fire, the family did not rebuild the distillery and the outbuildings became warehouses.
Note: This post was gathered from a variety of accounts, with two principal sources: First, an extensive biography of John Harbine that appeared in the 1890 document at right. Second, an online publication of the Beavercreek Historical Society, Spring 2014, Vol. 23, No. 2. The photo of Harbine is from his genealogy post on ancestry.com.
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