Joshua H. Higdon was born in Franklin County, Indiana, June 25, 1845. He is the son of Peter W. Higdon, a native of Ohio, and was reared and educated in his native State. He learned the blacksmithing business in Decatur county, Illinois, and worked at that trade in connection with farming until the outbreak of the ” War between the States.”
He enlisted in October, 1863, in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-third Regiment Indiana Volunteers and served bravely in the cause of the Union throughout the war. He was engaged in the battles of Chattahoochie, Kenesaw Mountain, Columbia and Nashville, besides numerous skirmishes; was discharged from the army at Washington, D. C., June 20, 1865. Returning to Indiana disabled and unfitted for work, he came west in 1869 and located at Chillicothe, Missouri, near which place he farmed during eight years. He came to Jamesport March 5, 1880, and established the blacksmithing and agricultural implement business, which he at present conducts so successfully, in company with Mr. Seth H. Powers.
Mr. Higdon was married to Miss Emma J., daughter of William R. Humphrey, a native of Virginia. Mrs. Higdon was born in Decatur, Indiana, November 1, 1847. The issue of this marriage is two children now living: William Edwin and Ora Albert. Mrs. H. is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.