Belknap Family

Jerry P. Belknap, son of John D. and Mary Weaver Belknap, was born on March 10, 1859 near Napoleon, Ohio. His parents had moved from Butler County, Ohio to Henry County in 1850.

John Belknap enlisted in Company F. of the 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned a first lieutenant on April 22, 1861. He was killed on July 15, 1861 at the age of thirty-four years. John left his widow and three children: Emma E. (married Harry Lemon); Charles H. and Jerry P.

Jerry entered the Napoloen Signal office to learn the printers trade in 1876. In 1880 he went to Guthrie County, Iowa and published the "Stuart Ledger" for a year and a half and then published the Portland, Michigan paper for four years. He returned to Napoleon and published the Napoleon Signal from 1885 until 1891. In 1891 he went to Chicago and established, with a partner, the Chicago Stockman paper. Jerry brought his family to Holgate in 1894 and published the Henry County Review.

He had married, on April 15, 1881, Carrie L. Hartman, daughter of N.H. Hartman. Jerry and Carrie Belknap had three children: Laura, Marion and Nathaniel Belknap.