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The Harlans Head West
By William Keith Harlan
Image- Jacob Wright Harlan (1828-1902)
As Americans moved west, members of the Harlan family were often among
the first pioneers to blaze new trails and open up the frontier. They
would leave their family name on streams, mountains and hamlets across
the land – from a swamp in Maine to a rock off the Big Sur coast of
California. They also left a wealth of family stories about those early
adventurers.
So it was that when my brothers and I were growing up in California, we heard the story of our great-grandfather Elisha (#2995) who, as a boy, came across the plains in a covered wagon. Along the way, he ignored his parents’ warning, leaned too far out of the wagon, fell out, and was run over. He also got to sleep under a buffalo robe!
As we got older, we read accounts of the “Great Trek” in a book by Elisha’s cousin, Jacob Wright Harlan (#2984), titled California ’46 to ’88. It introduced us to our remarkable great-great-grandfather, George Harlan (#852), who led his extended family to California via a new route through the mountains and deserts of Utah and Nevada—the Hastings Cut-Off. Because the Harlans traveled the same trail with the ill-fated Donner Party, our family’s saga has become part of the lore of the West.
In 2006, my brothers Jim and Dick and I decided to retrace George Harlan’s trek along the Oregon, Hastings and California Trails. We drove over 1,600 miles from Kearney, Neb., to Sacramento, Calif., along interstates and over dirt roads, following the wagon train’s circuitous route. As we zipped along at 70 miles an hour, we tried to envision moving in slow motion, making only 15 miles a day in a creaking wagon pulled by oxen. We tried to imagine 8 year-old Elisha’s thoughts when he saw the same landmarks we now photographed. And, because we knew how the trip turned out, we speculated on 44-year-old George Harlan’s success, versus George Donner’s failure. Here area few of the high points from that memorable journey through time.
After traveling hundreds of miles over the apparently featureless Nebraska prairie, we approached two rock towers, incongruously set in the middle of a plain near Bridgeport. Even though Courthouse and Jail Rocks are miles from the Oregon Trail, which here followed the south bank of the Platte River, we, like our ancestors, detoured to gawk at the sight.
Then we traveled for two days through the stark beauty of southern Wyoming, following the Harlans’ path as they approached the Rockies and labored over the Continental Divide at South Pass. Occasionally we saw pronghorn antelopes loping through the sagebrush and imagined the young men hunting for fresh meat to supply the weary travelers, who had now been on the trail for over three months. The country was magnificent but dry – vast plains beneath snow-capped ranges. In place of buffalo herds, long trains carrying coal from the Powder River region rumbled by.
Finally we reached the oasis of Fort Bridger, in the southwest corner of the state. The emigrants’ accounts spoke of the many Indians and fur traders camped at the fort. Here they met Lansford Hastings, the incompetent trail guide with whom they entrusted their lives. With him, they left the Oregon Trail to blaze an unknown “short-cut.”
The first week on the Hastings Cut-Off went reasonably well. They had to hack a trail through sagebrush and willows, but the terrain was fairly level. They entered Utah through the spectacular Echo Canyon with its red rock cliffs. Then the wagons reached the swift-flowing, cold waters of the Weber River, high on the plateau of the Wasatch Mountains. The emigrants knew they had to get down to the Great Salt Lake, but their guide was nowhere to be found! So George made his fateful decision and turned right to follow the river through its narrow gorge.
As we zipped through the impossibly constricted canyon on Interstate 84, we passed some of the fearsome obstacles the Harlans had to overcome. They now had 57 wagons and a herd of cattle to get past Devil’s Slide and under Devil’s Eye! At one point it took them all day to go just one mile. The major barrier was Devil’s Gate, a rock wall a few miles east of what is now Ogden, Utah. It was a sheer precipice, 75 feet high, over which the Harlans hoisted those 57 wagons, one at a time. But highway and train construction in the gorge over the last 160 years had reduced it to a fraction of its former size.
The Donners reached the Weber River a few days after the Harlans, and they just stopped, waiting for someone to come and tell them which way to go. The delay proved fatal.
Looping south of the enormous lake of salt water the next day, we recalled what Hastings had told his weary charges: once they got to the salt flats they would be “home free” because the waterless surface could be traveled quickly. They were advised to travel at night because of the heat, and told that two nights and one day would get them over the waterless 40-mile expanse.
On a rise west of Skull Valley, near the last brackish waterhole where the emigrants had stocked up, we looked out over the gleaming surface of the flats and knew the dreadful truth. It was closer to 80 miles to the shimmering mecca of Pilots Peak on the Utah–Nevada state line, where next potable water was to be found.
The heavy wagons sent up clouds of blinding dust and the wheels broke through the crust in places. But worst of all were the glare and the thirst. On the third day, the animals began to die or run mad. The emigrants had to unhitch the surviving oxen from the wagons and drive them the last 20 miles to the cold water springs on the mountainside, now 15 miles north of Wendover. It took three days to restore the animals sufficiently to go back and retrieve the wagons.
The same thing happened to the Donners, now several weeks back on the trail, but they had to leave several wagons, claimed by salt until archeologists excavated their remains over 100 years later.
West of Pilot’s Peak the emigrants pushed on, trying to reach the next major waterway, the Humboldt River, where the Hastings Cut-Off would rejoin the established California Trail. First, they faced the East Humboldt and Ruby Mountains. If the Harlans had had more time or a knowledgeable guide, they might have found a quicker way to traverse this next barrier, as the interstate does now. But they had neither. It was late in the season, and Hastings was about to leave them, so they started a 100-mile detour south around the mountains.
We drove south along a dirt road at the base of the snowcapped peaks, the kind of lonely route where people came out from their isolated ranch houses to wave as we sped past. In places the late spring rains and melting snow had washed away the roadbed. We finally turned west to climb the steep eastern face of the Rubies on a narrow track. On the other side, we turned north to follow the Huntington Branch of the Humboldt River. In its narrow canyon, the current had swept one of the wagons away. We were struck by the magnificent vistas of the Rubies, but we breathed a little easier once we were across.
West of Lovelock, Nev., we crossed another stretch of desert, then reached the Truckee River at Fernley. The emigrants said this was the toughest part because the animals and people were so exhausted. Hundreds of bodies have been found here, forlornly left in hastily scratched, shallow graves, a reminder that about a tenth of the emigrants perished on the trail.
Like the Harlans, we followed the river past what is now Reno and up into the Sierras. Higher and higher we climbed. The last part of the ascent, the snow-covered granite outcroppings of 7,000 foot Donner Pass, above the peaceful beauty of Donner Lake, seemed impossible for wagons and oxen to traverse. It must have taken the last bit of strength of people and animals to make it over. We smiled as we remembered how impressed we had been by Courthouse and Jail Rocks. They seemed like anthills compared with what we had since seen and climbed.
In a few days the Harlans would be able to look down on the welcoming confines of Sutter’s Fort. The Donners, who had fallen behind, spent months starving at the lake, unable to make that last few miles before the snows.
At the end of our journey, easy compared to theirs, we were glad to be
home in a place our ancestors prepared for us in those heady days when
they finished their Great Trek.
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The Harlan Record
The Harlan Family in America
E-mail to: C. J. King, Editor or mail to the organization’s address shown above. Editorial Board: John L. Harlan, Diana Harlan Wells, Ed Wynn
If you want an electronic version of The Harlan Record,
e-mail your request to:
[email protected]
The e-mail newsletter will be sent close to the time that printed newsletters are mailed. The Harlan Record is also available on the Harlan Web site: www.harlanfamily.org under the link “Newsletter” |
Order Genealogy Book
A reprinted copy of Alpheus Harlan’s History and
Genealogy of the Harlan Family, originally printed in 1914, is
available.
The book contains historical information about early English
Harlands in the 1600s, the move of some to Ireland, the
arrival of brothers George and Michael Harlan in America in
1687, and their many descendants. |
2007 Reunion Patrons - Donations received from Sept. 1, 2006 - Feb.1, 2007
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AZ - Jim & Sue Harlan
CA - Virginia Harlan Covey CO - Howard & Julie Harlan |
IA - Phyllis & George Luckinbill NC - Steve & Donna Harrison OR - Dale & Estle Harlan
TX - J. Martin Grady
VA - Jean H. & James Simmons WI- Helen L. Allan Thanks for your support! |
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Harlan Family in America
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Harlins Come Home Again — House Becomes a
Café
Image- Missy, Chris, John and Linda Harlin with granddaughter
Faith.
Not pictured is Abbi, Faith’s sister.
When Chris Harlin was 11, he offered to buy back the house his
great-grandparents built from the owners, Gainesville, Mo., attorney
Charlie Brown and his wife Penny. He offered them a dollar, and of course,
they turned him down.
In 2001, Chris tried again. This time it was a serious offer. He was CEO
of the local bank. And other Harlin relatives
were in on the offer, including Chris’s dad, John Layton Harlin, who
remembered playing in the house as a kid. This time, the offer was
accepted.
The house is now a mixture of family home, museum, and restaurant. The exterior has been restored as close as possible to how it looked when Chris’s great-grandparents, John Conkin and Clara Layton Harlin built it in 1912, while the inside has been adapted to serve as a restaurant on the first floor and a family home upstairs.
The inside walls are a gallery of family history, adorned with photos, keepsakes and the Harlin family coat of arms. Three dining rooms, as well as the dramatic wrap-around porch in nice weather, allow for elegant dining in a casual setting.
Missy, Chris’s wife, is the restaurant manager, and Missy’s brother, Aaron Workman, is the chef. Lunch is offered weekdays, and dinner on Friday nights. The house is located, appropriately, on Harlin Drive.
But the Harlin family’s influence on this community goes well beyond preservation of a historic house and serving as hosts for a delicious meal.
Chris Harlin’s family line is as follows (numbers from the Alpheus Harlan book): George (#3); Aaron (#8); Samuel (#40); George (#189); Samuel Harling (#688); James Harling (#2319); John William Harlin; John Conkin Harlin (who built the house); Hugh Tan Harlin; John Layton Harlin; Chris Harlin.
Samuel (#688) was a farmer born in Union District, S.C., in 1778. He married Nancy Fitzpatrick around 1800, then moved to Monroe County, Ky., in the south-central part of the state. His grandson, John William Harlin, married Mary Conkin and moved to Gainesville in 1869.
Two of their sons, Jim and Tan, decided in 1894 to open a bank in Gainesville, as it was a business center and had no bank. Their brother John Conkin Harlin was first an assistant cashier and later the bank president. In 1912, he and his wife, Clara Layton Harlin, built the house that is now called the Old Harlin House Café.
Each of the succeeding generations listed above – Hugh, John L., and Chris – has served as the bank’s leader in turn. It is now called Century Bank of the Ozarks.
Hugh Tan Harlin also honored his family’s contributions by building an exact replica of the Harlin house, now on display at the bank. He also wrote and self-published a book on the family, titled The Harlins of Ozark County.
If you’re ever in south-central Missouri, be sure to stop by the
house, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For more
information, go to the “Historical Sites” link on the Harlan Web site:
< www.harlanfamily.org > or visit <
www.oldharlinhouse.com >
Old Harlin House Cafe: 403 Harlin Drive, Gainesville, Missouri; (417) 679-0061; open year-round: Mon.–Fri., 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Fri., 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Reservations recommended.
NOTICE
A number of opportunities are available for Harlan Family members to serve
in committee and board positions. We are particularly interested in
hearing from those who have interest in serving on the editorial board for
the semi-annual newsletter, those with Web site experience and those with
a special interest in genealogy.
If you are attending the Harlan Reunion in July, look for sign-up forms or drop a line to the Harlan Family address (see page 2).
Order ASAP If You Want Shirts/Caps
Sue and Jim Harlan have agreed to handle orders for Harlan-themed
T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baseball caps for those who wish to have the
clothing before the 2007 Harlan reunion in July. Prepaid orders for shirts
and baseball caps must reach Sue before April 30, with delivery in early
June.
An order form for available items can be found on the Harlan Web site:
www.harlanfamily.org under the link “Store.” (Scroll down to the end of the Store articles.) Some items
display the Coat of Arms emblem, and others have the Family in America
logo.
Ten per cent of all sales go to The Harlan Family in America.
For further information, contact Sue: 602-992-8364 or [email protected]
Letter to the Harlan Family in America
Dear Harlan Family,
On behalf of the Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House at Iowa Wesleyan College, I want to express our gratitude to The Harlan Family in America for your support over the past ten years for our work to improve and develop the Harlan-Lincoln House. We are making steady progress. Your organization's membership and memberships from individual Harlan families has been important to our success.
I invite you to come and see us. If you’ve been here before, you will see significant changes. For example, Mary Harlan Lincoln’s wrap-around porch has been reconstructed. Planning and fund raising for landscaping is now underway. Volunteers from the local Master Gardeners group have designed landscaping for the grounds using Victorian plantings. They tilled the soil last fall and will plant the first stage of the design around the House this spring.
The State Historical Society of Iowa has finished stabilizing the Civil War flag that is part of the Harlan-Lincoln House collection. The 3.5 foot by 8.5 foot flag was hand sewn by a group of women for Northern troops to carry into the Battle of Athens, Mo., (northernmost battle of the Civil War). Local Questers chapters and the Questers of Iowa provided funds to carry out the stabilization. The flag has been returned to the Harlan-Lincoln House. An open house to view the flag was held on Veterans Day.
Last year, two donations of Harlan-Lincoln memorabilia were made to the house. Betty Hickey of Elkhart, Ill., gave many valuable letters, books and personal objects, connecting the Lincolns with Sen. James Harlan. She is the widow of James Hickey, former curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Illinois State Historical Society. Mr. Hickey developed a friendship with Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, the last Lincoln descendant, and before his death in 1985, Beckwith gave the items to the Hickeys in appreciation of their longtime friendship.
Dean and Linda Hicks of Knoxville, Iowa, gave Jack Lincoln's pencil box. Abraham II or “Jack” Lincoln (1873-1890) was the son of Mary Eunice Harlan and Robert Todd Lincoln. During his childhood Jack spent many summers in Mt. Pleasant. On the underside of the lid an inscription reads “Jacky Lincolns (sic) box. Given me by his mother Mrs. Mary Harlan Lincoln, 1896, Je.7.” The inscription reads “by Lizzie Arrow-smith,” who according to local historian Donald Young, lived in Mount Pleasant and helped care for sick and dying soldiers at Camp Harlan, near Mt. Pleasant, during the Civil War.
In an effort to raise funds and encourage continued strong associations with the Harlan-Lincoln House, miniatures of the House are available for $20–$25. Contact me if you are interested in purchasing one of these.
Recent events organized by the Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House have included two well-received campus presentations in October by C.J. King, author of Four Marys and a Jessie: The Story of the Lincoln Women. Hundreds of people attended, and copies of the book were sold out.
In January, the Friends presented an exhibit by photo historian Paul C. Juhl that included works by the local Leisenring Brothers Studio, who took photos of the Harlans and the Lincolns.
Several brown bag lectures were offered in March, including one by Donald Young entitled “The Story of Camp Harlan, Mount Pleasant’s Civil War Training Camp.” In mid April, we are hosting the Association of Lincoln Presenters’ national convention.
If you have never visited Mount Pleasant, we encourage you to come and experience life in small town Iowa. Please notify me ahead of time if you would like to come and tour the Harlan-Lincoln House, as we are open by appointment only.
Sincerely,
Lynn Ellsworth, Director
Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House
Iowa Wesleyan College
601 North Main Street
Mount Pleasant, Iowa 52641
319-385-6320 [email protected]
Tim & Linda Harlan Honored in Columbia, Mo.
The Historic Preservation Commission of Columbia, Mo., recently honored selected property owners around the city. Included in the honorees were Tim and Linda Harlan.
Tim is an attorney and has served in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was featured in The Harlan Record, Issue #14, for his expertise in Cajun cooking. A recipe for Texas Ribs was included.
The couple’s son, Brook, is a chef, and an article about him appeared in The Harlan Record, Issue #27.
Tim’s father, Lane Harlan, helped organize what is now The Harlan
Family in America. His uncle, Ridge Harlan, created the Family’s
mission statement and was coordinator of the 1997 national Harlan reunion
held in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Sale of Jacob Wright Harlan’s California 1846-1888 will Benefit Harlan Family in America
Seminar on book will be given at reunion in Reno
A new edition of the popular and previously out-of-print book by Jacob Wright Harlan is being reprinted in time for this summer’s Harlan family reunion in Reno, Nevada.
Jacob Wright Harlan’s California 1846-1888 is being published in its entirety. Also included in the book will be additional information on the Harlan family history. The repackaged book is titled Eyewitness to the Settlement of the West: Jacob Wright Harlan’s California 1846-1888.
The book is being published by Squire Cheyney Books with the cooperation
of The Harlan Family in America. Part of the proceeds of each sale of the
book through the Harlan family organization will be donated to The Harlan
Family in America.
Also, Bruce Mowday, owner of Squire Cheyney Books and husband of Harlan
Family in America board member, Katherine M. Harlan, will be giving a
seminar on Jacob Wright Harlan during the family reunion in Reno.
Jacob Wright Harlan was born in Wayne County, Ind., on October 14, 1828, and died on March 7, 1902, in San Leandro, Calif. During his seven decades of life, Jacob took part in many of the historic events that led to the settlement of the West, including the gold rush and the fight for California independence. He was also a member of the Donner party. His eyewitness accounts of the settlement of the West are an important part of our nation’s history.
The book is scheduled to be released during the first week of April 2007, and advance orders are being taken by Squire Cheyney Publishing. The cost of the book is $19.99, and shipping/handling is an additional $3.01 for a total of $23.00.
A check for $23.00 for each book should be sent to:
Squire Cheyney Books
P.O. Box 439
Downingtown, PA 19335
Make sure to include your mailing address. Books will also be available at
the reunion.
You never know when you’ll meet a cousin
...
Image- Aretta Adams and Connie Harlan Ward
The evening was festive! About 40 of us (members of the Northwest Ohio Tai Chi society) had gathered at a restaurant to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Across the table from me was Aretta Adams, a member of my class and the person who makes sure attendance records are kept, takes our money, etc.
As we talked, the conversation turned to places where we had lived and then, how our ancestors came to this country. Aretta said, “My ancestors came from England.” My response, “So did mine!”
Then, my friend said that they were originally from England but had spent about nine years in Ireland before coming to the U. S.
Again, I said, “So did mine!!” Aretta then asked my maiden name and when I said “Harlan,” she exclaimed, “That was my grandmother’s name!!!”
When we discovered we were both in George’s line, we went to the
Alpheus Harlan book. Aretta descends from John, #208, and I, from Isaac,
#207. How much fun we’ve had with this discovery, how nice to call my
friend, my cousin!!!!
—Connie Harlan Ward, OH
Sara Jo Reynolds of Plant City, Fla., has a new neighbor who happens to
be family as well. David Harlan is still tracing his line.
Please put “Harlan” in the subject line when e-mailing Harlan information or inquiries.
90 Plus Club Gains Two New Members
Frances Mason Harlan Wright is one of 17 children born to George Mason Harlan (#6100) and wife. Frances began teaching piano lessons at age 16 and continued until she retired at age 80. Music is her passion, and she still enjoys playing while living on the original homestead in Slaton, Texas. She had one son, now deceased.
Max B. Harlan lives in Cumberland, Va., hwere he was a bank manager before retirement. He served in World War II for 32 months. He and his wife, Virginia, were married for 60 years and are parents of two daughters.
The Harlans - A Huguenot Family
Editor’s Note: Those of us who descend from George, Michael and
Thomas Harland may never have considered that there were Harlans in
other countries besides England and Ireland. Our German cousin, Ingrid
Buchloh, offers a new perspective.
Ingrid recently published a book on the German Huguenot Harlans, and
while the book is in German, she has some summary information in English
on her Web site: (www.i-buchloh.de). What follows is information from that Web site, plus general
information about the Huguenots, about the author, and about ordering
her book. (If anyone would like to pay for an English translation of any
of this material, contact Antje Ruppert at: [email protected].)
The Harlans were farmers and citizens of Lille, France (70 miles southeast of Calais), from the 14th - 17th centuries. Jean Harlan and his two brothers became Huguenots. Huguenot was the name given to French Protestants in the 1500s. The Huguenots were persecuted as severely as any of the sects that broke from the Catholic Church. In the two centuries after 1517 and Martin Luther’s famous revolt, many dissident sects broke with the Church, and much turmoil ensued.
John Calvin helped increase the number of French Protestants. As their numbers grew, so did political opposition, and eventually several civil wars were fought in France. After much fighting, King Henri IV finally signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598, allowing religious freedom, but that freedom lasted less than a century. The edict was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV, and during his reign, many Huguenots fled to other European countries and to North America.
Jean Harlan and his brothers left their homeland in 1685 after the abolition of the “Edict of Nantes.” One of them emigrated to South America and his descendants came to Philadelphia, where they became Quakers. The other two emigrated to Germany.
Jean Harlan established himself as manufacturer of tobacco in Schwedt (Brandenburg). His descendants contributed decisively to the economic development of the city and became members of the upper class. They were highly respected.
Jean Harlan II, one of Jean Harlan’s sons, went to Stolp (Pommern), where he and his descendants established themselves in the profitable amber business, which they later expanded into Königsberg in East Prussia. The East Prussian descendants found a new social role as lawyers, thus entering the higher ranks of civil servants. As officers they fought in the war of liberation against Napoleon and in the war against France 1870-71. Although they emphasized their French cultural background and stuck to their French language, they proved themselves by contributing significantly to Prussia’s economic growth.
Ludwig Eduard Harlan went from Königsberg to Saxonia and made a fortune as a textile merchant in its capital, Dresden. He rose in the economic and social ranks with some help from the still functioning Huguenot network. His son Otto became the owner of a bank and consul of Columbia.
The descendants of Otto’s eldest son Walter became artists. Walter’s son is the film director Veit Harlan, and his granddaughter Christiane is the wife of film director Stanley Kubrick.
Ingrid writes that, “Even though these Harlans followed very different courses geographically, economically and socially, they all lived deliberately according to the French-Huguenot tradition. Up to the beginning of the 19th century, they were deeply rooted in their Huguenot faith. Their religious heritage prompted high ethical values and a broad tolerance towards other beliefs.”
Ingrid studied history and French language at university and wrote a doctoral thesis about the National Socialist Party’s seizure of power in 1933-34. But she is also very interested in family history, especially the Harlans on her mother’s side. “My grandmother and her sister told me much about this family. So I also knew that we were related to the Dresden Harlans,” she writes. “I contacted them and subsequently received extensive material on this branch of the family.
Later I tried to find some members of the French family.
“Returning from a journey to Paris, I had a stopover at Santes, from where the Harlans originated. There I found Jean Marie Bourrez, a member of the French Harlan family, who had pursued genealogical research for 30 years and had tracked the Harlans back into the 14th century. Thereafter I began to collect further information in archives and by interviewing a lot of family members.
“From the American Harlans I heard that there was a connection between General Josiah Harlan [Harlan Record, Fall 2004, “The Man Who Would Be King”] and Gottlieb Ephraim Harlan, my ancestor. They became acquainted in 1841 in Königsberg, when the general stayed there for some days before going to St. Petersburg in Russia. They found out that they were cousins and remained in contact for some time by letters.”
To order The Harlans: Ways of a Huguenot Family, contact Ingrid Buchloh at mail@i-buch loh.de, visit her Web site at www.i-buchloh.de, or contact the Huguenot Association, which distributes the book (www.hugenotten.de). Cost: about 20 euros, or about $25. The book appendix includes family trees of the French and German Harlans, plus information about Harlans in the USA. There are also numerous family photos, documents of marriages and births and others, genealogies from the 14th to the 20th centuries, and geographical maps, which plot the migrations of the Harlans.
Remembering Patricia McCurdy
August 13, 1923 - November 17, 2006
With the death of Pat McCurdy, of Tulsa, Okla., the Harlan Family lost a special lady, a wonderful friend, supporter and photographer.
Pat first met her Harlan “cousins” in New Castle, Del., in 1987 and attended every Harlan reunion until 2002 when health problems interfered. She so had her heart set on attending the 2007 Reno reunion, and it was the focus of her conversations. Pat traveled with the Harlans to England on each trip, and it was on the first trip in 1994, she became our “official” photographer.
Pat adored her Harlan family, and those who knew her, adored her also. She befriended everyone she met and would light up a room with her beautiful smile, Oklahoma drawl, happy and cheerful attitude. She will be terribly missed by her friends and family, as well as her animal family in Safari Park. —Becky Hines, IN
Change in Process for Genealogy Updates
The Harlan Family in America wishes to say “Thank You” and expresses deep gratitude to Esther Harlan Wells of Indiana for her contribution to the Harlan association in the genealogy field.
In 1996, while attending the Indiana Harlan Family Reunion, Esther decided to take on the task of gathering genealogy updates to Alpheus Harlan’s book, The History and Genealogy of the Harlan Family in America, originally published in 1914. This was a tremendous task for Alpheus in the late 1880s and early 1990s, and Esther wanted to continue Harlan Family lines by keeping records of the family history. Through the Harlan Family’s newsletter and its Web site, she asked Harlan-kin to send their updated information to her which she entered on a database.
This has been a “labor of love” for Esther. She has obtained a great number of updates and even brought copies of them to the 2002 Reunion. The time and effort that Esther has put into this project has been a wonderful gift to the Harlan Family.
Due to health issues, Esther has recently turned this project over to
Fred J. Harlan of Pennsylvania. You may reach him at:
< [email protected] >.
#6168-3 Beatrice “Dovie” Harlan m. Lional Austin Williams
Contributed by Leslie Ann Williams
News from Texas Harlan Family at Blue Ridge
2007 Dates
May Day Sing - May 6
58th Harlan Reunion - October 7
On the first Sunday of May each year, the descendants of Dr. Isaiah Harlan gather at the Blue Ridge Baptist Church along with its church members to join in the Annual May Day Sing. This year’s service will be May 6, begin at 10:00 a.m. and break for lunch at noon. The afternoon will end with the semi-annual cemetery association meeting.
The first Sunday of October, October 7, has been set for the weekend when Harlan descendants will gather for their 58th Annual Harlan Family Reunion. While descendants of Dr. Isaiah Harlan have called Blue Ridge Baptist Church home since land for the church was deeded in 1873 by Dr. Harlan’s son, George Harlan, many more Harlans also came to Texas. In the spirit of “family,” we hope all Harlans in Texas will join us for a day of worship and reunion.
Blue Ridge Baptist Church is located about ten miles east of Marlin, Texas, on FM 1771.
For more information, please contact:
Claudia Martin (214-692-0878)
[email protected]
Carol Addy (817-251-4310)
[email protected]
Robert Powers
[email protected]
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Mailing List e-mail address:________________________________
Mail to: The Harlan Family in America - P.O. Box 1654 - Independence, MO 64055 Name_____________________________________ Address___________________________________ City_______________________ State______________ Zip___________ A Membership & Contribution Form that can be printed |
| Harlan Record No. 29, Fall 2006 | Harlan Record No. 28, Srping 2006 |
| Harlan Record No. 27, Fall 2005 | Harlan Record No. 26, Spring 2005 |
| Harlan Record No. 25, Fall 2004 | Harlan Record No. 24, Spring 2004 |
| Harlan Record No. 23, Fall 2003 | Harlan Record No. 22, Spring 2003 |
| Harlan Record No. 21, Fall 2002 | Harlan Record No. 20, Spring 2002 |
| Harlan Record No. 19, Fall 2001 | |
Return To Harlan Family Home Page |
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comments or suggestions to Ruth Harlan Lamb
[email protected]