Mahlon Harvey 1844-1912

HARVEY, COPLAND, HOUGHTON, BUCHAN, BLOUNT

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 3/5/2007 at 21:53:05

Biographies from the 1914 "Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties of Iowa"

MAHLON HARVEY.

Among the successful, self-made men of a past generation in Osceola County, Iowa, whose efforts and influence contributed to the material upbuilding of the community, the late Mahlon Harvey occupied a conspicuous place. Being ambitious from the first, but surrounded with none too favorable environment, his early youth was not especially promising, but, resolutely facing the future, he gradually surmounted the difficulties in his way and in due course of time rose to a prominent position in the commercial, agricultural and financial circles of his community, besides winning the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact, either in a business or a social way, and for years he stood as one of the representative citizens of the locality honored by his citizenship. Strongly in contrast with the humble surroundings of his youth was the high position which he eventually filled in the life of his community. He realized early that there is a purpose in life and that there is no honor not founded on worth and no respect not founded on accomplishment. His life and labors were worthy because they contributed to a proper understanding of life and its problems. The strongest characters in our national history have come from the ranks of the self-made men to whom adversity acts as an impetus for unfaltering effort, and from this class came the lamented gentleman whose narqe initiates this memorial.

The late Mahlon Harvey, a distinguished citizen of his county and a representative to the state Legislature at the time-of his death, was born August 26, 1844, in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York, and died on December 21, 1912, eleven days before the expiration of his third term in the Legislature. His parents. Freeman and Evelyn (Copland) Harvey, were of Scotch descent and natives of New York state.

Mr. Harvey was given a good, common school education and early in life taught school for a time. He learned the cheese-making trade in his native state and upon coming to Iowa, in 1875, ne followed that trade for a time. He also taught school in Iowa for a time after coming to the state, and made his first purchase of land in section 28, East Holman Township, buying one hundred and sixty acres, at a cost of three dollars an acre, land which is today easily worth one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. After buying his farm and making some temporary improvements he returned to New York state and brought his family back the next year. When he first came to Iowa he experienced the same trouble which befell all of the settlers in the northwestern part of Iowa in the latter seventies. He had to contend with the grasshoppers, which were so thick that they practically ate all of the crops. Many of the farmers became discouraged and left the county, but Mr. Harvey had the foresight to see that the land would one day become very valuable and stayed with his farm. He has always been a heavy breeder of sheep and has always had from three to five hundred head of sheep on the farm. At one time he branched out into the breeding of pure bred hogs, but later decided to devote his attention to his sheep.

Mr. Harvey was twice married. His first wife, Helen Houghton, died in 1889, leaving two children, Mabel and Elmer, the former of whom died before her father, while the son is now living upon his father's farm. Elmer married Jeannette Buchan, and has one son, Lloyd. In 1893. Mr. Harvey was again married to Alice Harvey, his cousin, who was born August 6, 1864, in Colton, St. Lawrence County. New York, and is the daughter of Norman and Adelia (Blount) Harvey. In 1892 she came to Iowa as a school teacher and a year later was married to Mahlon Harvey. To this second union was born one daughter, Rachel, who died at the age of thirteen years.

Mahlon Harvey always made his home on the farm and was regarded as one of the most progressive farmers of the county. He was a public-spirited man in the fullest sense of the word and was highly respected by every one who knew him. In politics he adhered to the Republican faith and received several offices at the hands of his party. Having been a school teacher early in life, it was natural that he should be interested in educational work. Accordingly, he was school director and was secretary and treasurer of the school board of his township for more than twenty years. In 1896 he was nominated by his party as state representative from his county and was elected. He gave such excellent satisfaction that he was re-elected for two more terms, holding from 1906 until 1912. While in the Legislature he was particularly interested in all the bills of an educational nature. He was the father of the bill forbidding treating in saloons. He was a strong advocate of every bill which he felt would benefit the general welfare of the people of the state. He was a sturdy exponent of clean living and high thinking and exerted a wholesome influence in the community where he spent so many active years. He gave to the world the best of an essentially loyal and noble nature. He was true to the highest ideals and principles of life and was one of the world's noble army of workers.

© 2005 Osceola County Iowa USGenWeb
Return to Osceola Co., USGenWeb