| Obituaries and notes on the W.R. Harlan family |
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| submitted by: Donna Phillipe -phillipe@lucent.com |
Obituary for W.R. Harlan posted in the Lenox, IA paper.
DEATH OF W.R. HARLAN
W. R. Harlan died in our city on Monday afternoon of this week after only a few days illness. His death resulting from kidney trouble from which he had been bothered for some time. Some weeks ago Mr. Harlan arrived here for a visit with old friends whom he had known when he lived here some forty years ago. He was one of the early settlers and of course he had been enjoying his visit greatly until last week when he became quite ill at the home of Mrs. Nellie Brown with whom he has been boarding. The best attention was given him but his frail body could not withstand the disease and the end came Monday.
Mr. Harlan was a Civil War veteran and was past eighty-two years of age and until quite recently had been enjoying good health. The writer had a very interesting talk with him recently and he seemed to enjoy telling us about when he lived in Lenox and about conducting the blacksmith shop in the old stand where the Eclipse Lumber Yard now is located. His brother-in-law, Robert Strain, of Hopkins, MO., had been here helping care for him the past few days previous to his death. He leaves a daughter, Julia Southward of Ouray, Colo., and a son, Earl Harlan at Lake City, Colo., besides a brother at Montrose, Colo. Mr. Harlan was a Mason and the local order have been very active in looking after matters. At the time of writing this article we have not learned just when the funeral services will be held or where the burial will be made
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Obituary for Dick Harlan – Unknown newspaper but I suspect it was from Lenox, IA.
DIED: -March 25th 1877, little Dick Harlan, aged 3 years and 9 months.
Gone to the dear and holy dead,
With the brown turf on thy bosom
And the gray stone at thy head.
Hints of the summer hours,
Just as the birds are singing
Their song of the coming flowers.
A child of more than ordinary mental power. His parents not having agreed upon the name that he should bear, when two years old he selected for himself the name of Dick; by this name he was known and doubtless would have gone through life with none other. Any elaboration of the name into Richard, or endearing or petting it into “Dickie” met with extreme displeasure. He was scarcely a child. His ways seemed mature and thoughtful. The sports of other children did not interest him. What was hid in the little germ we may never know.
Ah, well! for us all some great hope lies,
Deeply buried from human eyes,
And, in the hereafter, angels may
Roll the stone from its grave away!
The above article is written by a Paul Vane.
I cannot find the source of the first verse.
The last verse is written by John Greenleaf Whittier in his poem Maud Muller.
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Obituary for Minerva J. Strain Harlan – Wife of W.R. Harlan – Mother of Dick Harlan
Source unknown – a copy from a paper.
Died, at Ouray, Col., Feb 11, 1891, Minerva J. Strain. She was borne in Rockville, Ind. On April 4, 1851, and was married to W. R. Harlan, Dec. 25, 1868. The deceased was brought to Hopkins [Missouri] Sunday on the 12:25 train from St. Joseph [Missouri]. A short funeral service was conducted at the home of her brother-in-law, R. H. Wilfley, by Rev. F. Lonsdale. The remains were laid beside her mother’s in the Hopkins [Missouri] cemetery while family and friends stood by.
It’s been a puzzlement to me as to why she wasn’t buried with little Dick in the Lenox cemetery. I made a trip to Hopkins several years ago and was able to locate her final resting site. It is marked with a simple stone “MINERVA” in the Strain plot. A very large stone stands in this plot, near the road with “STRAIN” engraved on it. I always thought she was buried in Lenox, IA and was never told otherwise by my mother or my grandmother who was Minerva and W. R. Harlan’s daughter.
Obituary for Ann Strain – no source on this obituary either – I just have a copy of it. I do not know what year she passed away either nor the year of her birth. Ann Strain was Minera Strain Harlan’s mother.
Died: At her residence in Hopkins [Missouri], July 1st, Mrs. Ann, wife of Josiah Strain, the 55th year of her age.
Mrs. Strain was born in Rockbridge Co., Va. Whence she removed to Indiana in 1845. She was married to Josiah Strain in 1846. They began their life together when the state in which they made their home was on the frontier and together gave themselves to the work of making their new home. Indiana was their residence until l865, when they removed to Peoria Co., Ills., and thence to Hopkins [Missouri] in March 1875. Though she had long felt herself to be a Christian she had made no public profession of her faith till Oct., 1875, when she with her husband united with the Presbyterian church. On account of her attachment to home life, Mrs. Strain made but few acquaintances in her new home, but those who knew her irresistibly, by her kind motherly heart. During her last illness which was protracted and exceedingly painful, she proved the reality and fervency of her faith by her patient endurance of suffering and the calm and fearless manner in which she watched the approach of the messenger of death.
She leaves a large family to mourn her loss, who have the heartfelt sympathy of many friend. The funeral took place from the Presbyterian church last Monday morning.
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W. R. Harlan’s many friends here are sorry to learn of his death which occurred at Lenox, Iowa, on Monday. Mr. Harlan left here about two weeks ago for Lenox, his old home, where he planned to visit a short time before going to Illinois to visit his sister.
Mr. Harlan has spent a great deal of his time here the past twenty years and has become well known in and around Montrose. His home has been in Ouray [Colorado] for many years.
W. R. Harlan was born April 17, 1842, at Edwards, Illinois. During the Civil War he enlisted in the army and served throughout the war with Davidson’s Peoria battery, in which he enlisted as a private. After the war he moved to Iowa, and there resided at Lenox for a number of years. From there he came to Colorado in 1884, locating at Ft. Crawford and being there in the government employ.
In 1885 he moved to Ouray and there worked in the Ashenfelter repair shops for a short time. He was a mining man in Ouray and engaged extensively in that work. For the last twenty years he has not been active in his work, leaving it to his son, Earl Harlan of Ouray. He divided his time between Ouray and Montrose after this time, coming here to visit his brother, George Harlan, and his granddaughter, Miss Edwyl Redding when she was home.
When still a young man, Mr. Harlan was married. His wife passed away about thirty years ago and is buried in Hopkins, Mo. Mr. Harland leaves two children, Earl Harlan and Mrs. Julia Southward of Ouray. Mrs. Southward left Tuesday for Lenox [Iowa] to look after the father’s burial. He is also survived by his granddaughter, Miss Edwyl Redding, and three sisters, Mrs. S.E. Davis of Venice, Calif., Mrs. John Steer or Edwards, Illinois, Mrs. Joe Mendenhall of Grove, Kansas, and two brothers, Edward Harlan of California and George Harlan of Montrose.
Mr. Harlan was a member of the local G.A.R. post and on patriotic occasions was always seen marching with them. His death once more robs the ranks of the local post and few are left who wore the blue in ’64. Mr. Harlan was also a member of the Masonic fraternity, retaining his membership in the Lenox chapter. The Masons will be in charge of his funeral and burial will be in Lenox.
Mr. Harlan was a well loved man by all who knew him. His death will be greatly regretted. He had been in poor heath for some time, but his death is a shock as he planned to return here after a short visit in the east.
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