California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


HARLAND E. WRIGHT. Among the enterprising men of the younger generation in 
Kings county is Harland E. Wright, one of the organizers of the Hanford National Bank, and its 
present cashier and manager. Born in Wiscasset, Lincoln county, Me., May 22, 1863, he is 
the son of Sullivan Wright, also a native of that state and a jeweler by occupation. Sullivan 
Wright came of an old New England family, strong in patriotism and courage, and at the 
breaking out of the Civil war he endeavored to enlist as a soldier in the cause of the Union, but 
was rejected on account of physical disability. He lived to be only fifty-five years old. His 
wife, Maria L. Bailey, also born in Maine, of an old New England family, survives her husband 
and still makes her home in her native state. 

The boyhood of Harland E. Wright was spent in the parental home, during which years he 
attended the public schools in the pursuit of an education. He lost his father at the age of 
nine years, and at thirteen, with the self-reliance inculcated into the character of the sons of New 
England, he became dependent upon his own resources. Learning telegraphy, he followed this 
pursuit for a number of years, working for the Western Union Telegraph Company in Boston 
and different parts of Maine until October, 1882, in which year the great strike occurred. With 
a natural taste and inclination for the work he became an expert operator. During the same 
year, 1882, he came to California, securing employment with George P. McNear, banker and 
grain dealer of Petaluma, as bookkeeper, remaining in that position until the fall of 1892, when 
he resigned and removed to Hanford, becoming assistant cashier in the Farmers & Merchants 
Bank. Eighteen months later he was made cashier, which position he retained until March. 
1903. In the last named year he sold out his interest in this bank (being at the time the largest 
stockholder in the same), and in May organized the Hanford National Bank, opening for 
business on the 28th of July. This bank has a paid-up capital of $50,000, and a $5,000 surplus. 
November 1, 1903, a savings department was organized. Besides his interest in the bank 
Mr. Wright is the owner of a stock and dairy ranch of three hundred and twenty acres in 
Kings county, and also a fruit ranch of eighty acres six miles from Hanford. The success 
which has marked the career of Mr. Wright is due entirely to his own efforts, his native ability 
and inherited characteristics, supplemented by a practical training in the school of experience, 
where he early learned the lessons of self reliance, independence, honesty and earnestness. 

November 15, 1888, Mr. Wright married Etta Ranard, a native of Sonoma county, Cal., and 
they have one child, Fae. Mr. Wright is a Republican in his political preference and gives his 
influence toward the advancement of the principles he endorses. He has never, however, ac- 
cepted artificial recognition nor is desirous of a public career. Fraternally he is associated with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World.