EDGAR S. HARLAN.

EDGAR S. HARLAN, president of the Cumberland Savings Bank, is a native of Atlantic, this county, where he was born in the year 1875. His father, John S. Harlan, was for many years connected with the banks of that city, and there also Edgar S. was educated. The latter received his first business training under his father, as a bookkeeper in the Commercial Bank, of Atlantic, and later was advanced to the position of cashier. Mr. Harlan continued in that position until 1905, when he came to Cumberland and organized the bank which he has since so successfully conducted. He is also, the owner and president of banks at Grant and Bridge Water, and is a stockholder in the Iowa Trust and Savings Bank, of Atlantic.

In 1901 Mr. Harlan married Ethel Waddell, daughter of William Waddell, one of the most prominent of the pioneers of Cass county. He was a New Yorker by birth, lost his father when a young boy, and from the age of sixteen was the sole master of his own destiny. Fortified with a good academic education and a sturdy body. Mr. Waddell came to this county in April, 1858, and in the following month (being then a man of twenty-six) was employed by the State Commissioners to select the swamp lands in the unorganized counties in the northwestern part of Iowa. On his return to Cass county, in the following autumn, he took charge of the public schools at Lewis, nd continued in that capacity nearly two years. Soon afterward, or, more particularly, April 6, 1860, William Waddell was married to Belle Johnson, of Lewis, Mrs. E. S. Harlan being one of the children by this union. In October, 1862, Mr. Waddell was elected clerk of the District Court of Cass county, and by two successive re-elections held the position until January, 1869. In this capacity he also acted as clerk of the Board of Suervisors, and upon his retirement from office that body passed a vote of thanks to him for his courtesy, honesty and efficiency, which is a part of the county records of which his family is justly proud. On retiring from the position named he entered the employ of F. H. Whitney, at Atlanta [sic Atlantic], as agent of the town company, and in May, 1870, moved his family to that place. In February, 1870, he had been appointed cashier of the Cass County Bank, in which capacity he served nearly ten years, when (January, 1880) he resigned the position to assume the duties of the county treasurership, to wich office he had just been elected. He served two terms, and then refused to be a candidate for re-election. Mr. Waddell was also the founder of the First National Bank, of Atlantic, was for several years a member of the Iowa Republican State Central Committee, and was in many regards, for more than a generation, one of the most able citizens of the county.

To Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Harlan have been born two daughters--Helen and Ruth. Mr. Harlan is a prominent Mason, being a K. T. and a Shriner. His marked success as a financier, at such a comparatively early age, has necessitated a complete concentration of his mind and energies upon the enterprises of which he is the head, so that, had he the inclination, it would have been impossible for him to devote any of his time to politics, or the management of public affairs. Judged both from the standpoint of personal qualifications and substantial family connections, Mr. Harlan's future in the financial world will stretch along a broad and honorable path.

Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018, from "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 354-355.