James Harlan b. 26 Aug 1820 Clark County, Illinois, United States d. 5 Oct 1899 Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, United States: Tangled Roots

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1820 - 1899 (79 years)

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Name	James Harlan
Born	26 Aug 1820	Clark County, Illinois, United States [1]
Gender	Male
History / Bio	1850 [2]
	Biographical Directory of the American Congress (Washington D. C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1950)., p1268
	HARLAN, James, a Senator from Iowa; born in Clark County, Ill., August 26, 1820; when four years of age moved with his family to Indiana; attended the rural schools and assisted his father until 1841, when he entered college; was graduated from Indiana Asbury (now De Pauw) University, Greencastle, Ind., in 1845; moved to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1845; superintendent of public instruction in 1847; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced practice in Iowa City; declined the Whig nomination for Governor of Iowa in 1850; president of Iowa Wesleyan University, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 1853-1855; presented credentials as a Whig Senator-elect to the United States Senate and took his seat December 31, 1855; owing to irregularities in the legislative proceedings the Senate declared the seat vacant on January 12, 1857; reelected as a Republican in 1857 to fill the vacancy thus created; reelected in 1861 and served from January 29, 1857, until May 15, 1865, when he resigned to accept a Cabinet portfolio; Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Andrew Johnson from May 15, 1865, until July 27, 1866, when he resigned; again elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1867, to March 3, 1873; delegate to the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861, in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalist Convention in 1866; presiding judge of the court of commissioners of Alabama claims 1882-1885; died in Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, on October 5, 1899; interment in Forest Home Cemetery.
Died	5 Oct 1899	Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, United States [1]
Buried	7 Oct 1899	Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, United States [3]
	Address: Forest Home Cemetery
Person ID	I8100	TangledRoots
Last Modified	22 Oct 2021

Father	Silas Harlan, b. 26 Mar 1792, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States , d. 31 Mar 1868, Parke County, Indiana, United States (Age 76 years)
Mother	Mary E. Conley, b. 20 Mar 1796, Maryland, United States , d. 15 Jul 1896, Parke County, Indiana, United States (Age 100 years)
Married	20 Jan 1818	Warren County, Ohio, United States
Family ID	F3196	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Ann Eliza Peck, b. 1824, Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky, United States , d. 4 Sep 1884, Fort Monroe, Hampton City, Virginia, United States (Age 60 years)

Married 9 Nov 1845 Putnam County, Indiana, United States [4]

Children

1. Mary Eunice Harlan, b. 25 Sep 1846, Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa, United States

, d. 31 Mar 1937, Washington, District of Columbia, United States

(Age 90 years)

Last Modified 16 Jan 2022

Family ID F3292 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Notes

HARLAN, James, statesman, was born in Clark county, Ill., Aug. 26, 1820; son of Silas and Mary (Conley) Harlan. The Conleys came from Maryland and the Harlans from Pennsylvania, both emigrating to Warren county, Ohio, and there Silas and Mary were married, removed to Clark county, Ill., and settled on a farm. In 1824 they removed to the forests of Indiana, where they cleared a farm and made a new home. In May, 1841, James received his freedom and a gift of $100 from his father. He entered Indiana Asbury university, Greencastle, Ind., and was graduated with the highest honors in 1845, receiving his A.M. degree in 1848. He paid his way through college by farm work and teaching a district school. He was married in 1845 to Ann Eliza Peck, and in 1846 they went to Iowa City, where he had received the appointment as principal of the Iowa City college. In 1847 he was elected on the Whig ticket as state superintendent [p.88] of public schools, and in 1848 was admitted to the bar. He stumped the state for Gen. Zachary Taylor in 1848; and declined the nomination of his party for state senator in 1849, and for governor of the state in 1850. He was the first president of Iowa Wesleyan university and also filled the chair of mental and moral sciences, 1853-55. He was U.S. senator, 1855-65, and resigned his seat during the special session of the senate, May 13, 1865, to take his seat in the cabinet of President Johnson as secretary of the interior, having been nominated by President Lincoln in March, 1865. He was again elected to the senate in 1866 and resigned from the cabinet, March 4, 1867, to take his seat for a third senatorial term. He was a candidate for a fourth term, but was defeated by W. B. Allison. At the close of his term, March 3, 1873, he retired to his home at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He was presiding judge of the court of commissioners of Alabama claims, 1882-85. His fame as an orator and debater was second only to Webster and Sumner, and in the reply to the latter in the Santo Domingo question his speech attracted wide attention as an example of convincing oratory. He was for a time editor of the Washington Chronicle. He received the degree of LL.D. from Indiana Asbury (Depauw) university in 1858. Senator Harlan's mother died in 1896 in Park county, Ind., aged one hundred years and five months. He died in Mr. Pleasant, Iowa, Oct. 5, 1899. [Source: The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol.5, p.87]

HARLAN, JAMES, journalist, lawyer, college president, congressman, United States senator, was born Aug. 25, 1820, in Clarke county, Ill. He was superintendent of public instruction for Iowa in 1847; and was president of the Iowa Wesleyan university in 1853. He was elected a senator in congress from Iowa in 1855; and was re-elected to the senate for the term ending in 1867. In 1865 he resigned his seat in the senate and entered upon his duties as secretary of the interior. In 1866 he was again re-elected to the senate for the term commencing in 1867 and ending in 1873. In 1869 he was appointed president of the Iowa university, and after leaving the senate in 1873 became proprietor and editor of the Washington Chronicle. [Source: Ancestry Reference Library, Ancestry Incorporated, Orem, Utah. 1998 edition, a collection of genealogical reference works reproduced on CD, Thomas William Herringshaw, Encyclopedia of American Biography, p.449]

Harlan, James (1820-1899) was a United States senator from Iowa fro 1855 to 1865. He first ran as a member of the Free Soil Party and later as a Republican. He became secretary of the interior in 1865 but resigned in 1866 because he opposed President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies. He reentered the Senate in 1867 and voted to convict Johnson in an impeachment trial. Harlan served in the Senate until 1873. Born in Clark County, Illinois, he graduated from Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) in 1845. He was president of Iowa Wesleyan College from 1853 to 1855 and from 1869 to 1870. A statue of Harlan represents Iowa in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D. D. [Source: "World Book 2001", H-vol.9, pg. 61. Chicago: World Book Encyclopedia 2001]

James Harlan[1]

James Harlan^[1]