Sacramento Valley Biographies

Helm Harden Harlan

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, March 2009.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

            Helm Harden Harlan, a resident of Williams, Colusa county, and
one of the prominent stock-breeders in the Sacramento valley, was born in
Bear valley, near Leesville, December 19, 1872, a son of Thomas Helm and
Martha Jane (Haynes) Harlan. His father is a native of Kentuky (born
November 17, 1834, a son of George W. and Johanna [Helm] Harlan), and his
mother was born near Peyton, Mo.
            Thomas H. Harlan, in company with his brother Joseph, crossed
the plains to California with ox teams in 1853. For about three years he was
engaged in mining in Grass valley and at Yuba, but in 1856 he located on
Grand Island, where he turned his attention to stock-raising. From there he
removed to Bear valley, where he confined his efforts to the raising of hogs
and sheep for a time, subsequently devoting a portion of his land to
agriculture. Selling his property he purchased six hundred and forty acres
of land lying at the southern end of Glenn valley, about ten miles west of
Williams, where he now resides, and there he continued stock-raising upon a
much larger scale. He introduced in that locality the breeding of Angora
goats, in which he attained a high reputation, and at the age of seventy-one
years he is still actively interested in the breeding of goats in company
with his son. His wife is still living and is now in her sixty-first year.
Thomas H. and Martha J. Harlan have had a family of seven children, namely:
Helm Harden, of this review; Thomas W., who is now residing in Williams;
Mattie Joanna, deceased; Joseph, now a resident of San Francisco; Christian
Madison, who is residing at Cooks Spring; George B.; and Susan, who lives
with her parents in Glenn valley.
            Helm Harden Harlan was educated in the district schools. He
remained at home assisting his father until he leased the homestead, having
charge of the property for a year. He next engaged in the livery business at
Colusa, carrying on the Fashion Stable for about a year, after which he went
on the road for a San Francisco house, traveling through California, Oregon
and Idaho. In the meantime his stock had been leased to other parties, but
at the expiration of this time he re-established himself in the
stock-raising business at Cortina on Sand Creek. He subsequently rented a
portion of his father's property, still retaining his range of Sand Creek,
where he keeps on an average of two thousand sheep during the grazing
season, and has since been engaged in raising Merino sheep and Angora goats.
In the breeding of the latter, which is his specialty, he has the advantage
of the long experience of his father, who was one of the first breeders of
Angora goats in California, and their practical knowledge of this particular
variety is, in all probability, superior to that of all other breeders on
the Pacific coast. On their extensive ranges is to be found a herd averaging
about two thousand five hundred head, bred from the best Turkish stock of
the original Gilmore importation, and the high standard of excellence has
always been zealously maintained. They have taken many premiums, most of
them at the California state fairs, and their reputation as breeders of this
special variety of stock is widely known through-out the entire coast
region. In addition to their ranges in Glenn valley and on Sand Creek they
have a large summer range located on a spur of Snow Mountain, at the
head-waters of Big Stony creek. For the past ten years Mr. Harlan has
resided in Williams. He is secretary of the California Angora Goat-Breeders
Association, whose headquarters are in Sacramento, and is a member of the
American Angora Goat-Breeders' Association, which met at St. Louis in
October 1904.
            Mr. Harlan was married in Glenn valley to Miss Mattie May
Vanderbilt, who was born near Brodhead, Green county, Wis., daughter of
Daniel Webster and Harriet Caroline (Clark) Vanderbilt. Her father was a
native of Green county, Wis., and her paternal grandfather, who came from
New York state, settled as a pioneer in Wisconsin. She came to California in
1874 with her parents, who first settled near Williams and later removed to
Glenn valley. In 1904 they went to Oregon and settled in the vicinity of
Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. Harlan have two daughters, Erma Alene and Elise
Amelia. Fraternally Mr. Harlan is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, California," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 398-399.