California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

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


ALEX F. HARMER.  That Southern California, "where every prospect pleases," was by very nature of its 
being destined to challenge the brush of the artist was a foregone conclusion incident upon the march 
of development and progress, but that this idyllic section of a great state should have gained so able 
and loyal an art exploiter of its manifold charms as Alex F. Harmer, the revered pioneer and 
distinguished exponent of California art production, was a matter that rested upon the favor of the 
gods. What he has done for California through the medium of his masterly canvases is a matter for 
enduring gratitude on the part of the state and also of all lovers of true art. He has not been of the 
dillitante but has shown definite mastery of his art, for the sake of which he has endured much and 
wrought gallantly. He is today one of the revered and influential members of the California art colony, 
maintains his home in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara and it is specially gratifying to be able to 
accord him recognition in this publication. From an appreciative estimate 'of the life and labors of Mr. 
Harmer are taken the following extracts, which are well worthy of perpetuation in this connection:  
 
Whether by shrewd deliberation or by natural gravitation, Alex F. Harmer has made a field peculiarly 
his own. No other painter has given so much attention to California of the old times, and for that 
matter, no other painter knows the subject one-half so well. The plausible suggestion that a great 
master might have done more with the marvelous art material of our southwestern border is, after all, 
impertinent; for the great masters have not cared to risk their skins where Mr. Harmer learned his 
material. Nor is the invidious to Mr. Harmer. The fact that he led an uncommon life and has taken his 
higher education in art where few other artists would dare to go, does not by any means indicate that 
his work needs such apology. The simple fact is that it greatly enhances the value of his art. To his 
technical skill, which is, within certain limitations, far from ordinary, is added the rare distinction of 
accuracy beyond that of anyone else who has presented like subjects. He is particularly and 
indisputably the artist of the Apaches and the old- time Californians, with many handsome successes 
in other lines. His sympathy with these specific motifs is unmistakable and his experience with them 
has been long and romantic. I know of no one else, with half his talent as an artist, who has had a tenth 
of his touch with this frontier life, one of the most picturesque the world has ever seen. A sensitive 
boy who would enlist as a common soldier that he might get to what was then, indeed, the Far West 
and paint it, had something in him."

Breaking the narrative from which the above quotations have been made, there may be entered a 
brief review of the earlier stages in the life history of Mr. Harmer, but later, without distinctive 
evidence of quotation, further recourse will be taken to the splendid tribute from which excerpt 
already has been made.

Mr. Harmer was born at Newark, New Jersey, on the 21st of August, 1855, and is a son of S. B. and 
Matilda (Ward) Harmer, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Harmer family was founded in America in 
the colonial era and representatives of the same served as patriot soldiers in the Revolution. Josiah 
Harmer was the first adjutant general of Pennsylvania, in the time of General Washington, and closely 
allied to the family was the fine old Quaker family named Sharpless.

The mother of Mr. Harmer was a decendant of one of the early Holland Dutch families of colonial 
Pennsylvania.  
 
Alex F. Harmer attended the public schools until he was twelve years of age and his later educational 
discipline has been that gained in the college of his own work and experience. As a mere boy he gave 
evidence of his artistic talent, and at the age of eleven years he sold his first oil painting, for which he 
received the munificent sum of two dollars. By working as a telegraph messenger boy he saved a few 
dollars, and when but thirteen years of age he set forth for the West, a land of veritable enchantment 
to him. By degrees he finally made his way to Lincoln, Nebraska, and it is needless to say that his 
experiences were varied during this adolescent adventure. When fifteen years of age he determined 
to study art, and with this purpose in view he began working his way back to the East. At Cincinnati, 
after a vain search for work, he enlisted in the United States Army, for a term of five years. After some 
time had elapsed he was assigned to Troop B, First United States Cavalry, then stationed at Benecia, 
California, but he was held on detached service at headquarters. Thus he had occasion to serve as 
hospital steward at Benecia and later at Halleck, Nevada, and after two years' service he was granted 
an honorable discharge, this having been requested by him in order that he might pursue his art 
studies, from which adverse circumstances had deflected him. At the age of nineteen years he made 
the return journey to the East, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and in the City of Philadelphia he 
obtained employment in a photograph studio. In the meanwhile he gave every possible moment to 
drawing, and finally his work attracted the attention of William T. Richards, the later famous Joseph 
Pennel and also Sartain, the great engraver. Through the good offices of these representative men 
and through recognition of his ability, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and 
after two years of earnest application in this institution he decided to go to the Southwest and "paint 
something. Not having financial resources adequate to compass this object, he again enlisted in the 
army, with the understanding that he should be assigned to active service in Arizona, where the 
Indians were then habitually upon the war path. There he passed two very active years. As a member 
of Troop L, Sixth Cavalry, for one year, he did not lack adventure and opportunity to study the Indians 
and the frontier at first hand, and he was then assigned to duty at the headquarters of the great 
Indian fighter, Gen. George Crook, the "Grey Fox," who had as high right-hand man Capt. John B. 
Bourke, famous as a scientist as well as a soldier. In the great campaign of 1883, when General Crook 
penetrated the Sierra Madre of Mexico and brought out the wily Geronimo, Mr. Harmer was the only 
enlisted man from headquarters to be selected as a member of this expeditionary party. On the 
return from this historic incursion he was, by his personal request, transferred to the command of 
Captain Crawford, at the San Carlos Indian Reservation, where he continued his study of the Apaches. 
A few months later, through the efforts of General Crook, he procured his discharge from the army, 
and he then returned to Philadelphia for another course at the academy. Defraying his expenses by 
his work as an illustrator, he continued his studies at the academy a little more than one year, and then 
his old friend Captain Bourke, prevailed upon him to go again to Arizona - this time not as a soldier but 
as a friend and companion. At this time Mr. Harmer was enabled to make interesting trips through the 
territory with General Crook, and later he enjoyed similar privileges in company with J. Armstrong 
Chanler, of New York.  
 
Finally Mr. Harmer established his residence in Los Angeles and began his intimate and appreciative 
study of the old Spanish missions and the incidents and conditions of early California life. Later he 
passed a year in the interior of Mexico, and finally, in 1893, after another term in the academy at 
Philadelphia, where he studied under the famous artist Thomas Elkins, he established his permanent 
home in Santa Barbara, California, where the passing years have recorded his production of many fine 
canvases depicting California scenery and frontier, Indian and army life. Many of his paintings have 
found place in the homes of wealthy and distinguished families in the different sections of the United 
States, and his fame as an artist rests secure in results accomplished and in the originality not only born 
of genius but of broad and uncommon experience. Within the years of his life in the West Mr. Harmer 
made a most comprehensive and valuable collection of Indian relics of various order, and this fine 
collection was displayed in the Hopkins School of Art, in the City of San Francisco, which was later 
destroyed by fire. The people of California delight to do honor to this sterling and talented artist, and 
here his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.  
 
Mr. Harmer gives his allegiance to the republican party, but the arena of practical politics has never had 
any lure for him, though he takes a loyal interest in all things pertaining to the community welfare and 
that of his native land. In the metropolis of the old Keystone State he holds membership in the 
Philadelphia Sketch Club, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World.  
 
In 1893 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Harmer to Miss Felicidad E. Adabie, who was born and 
reared in Santa Barbara County, a representative of one of the early French and Spanish families of 
California, and a daughter of Domingo Adabie, who was the owner of one of the large ranches of Santa 
Barbara County and who was murdered in the early '60s. Mrs. Harmer is a woman of culture and 
gracious presence and is a popular factor in the representative social life of her native city and county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Harmer have seven children, Ynez, Alexander B., Ernest, Helen, Ethel, Olga and Alfred S.