Solano County Biography
Honorable Joel Ainsworth Harvey
Honorable Joel Ainsworth Harvey - The subject of this memoir was born on June 24,1838, at Herkimer, in the county of that name, State of New York. His early days were passed on the slopes of the Hassancleaver Hills, and at the Failfield Academy, New York, where he was grounded in that education which has, in after life, so well fitted him for the prominent positions which he has since maintained, with credit to all. In 1857 he left the Eastern States, and located in Elgin, Ills., which, after a residence of about two years, he left for California, in the spring of 1859, taking the route across the Plains, and arriving in the Golden State in the fall of that year, at Placerville. At the time the great Washoe excitements of 1860 were the talk of every one and stirred all into a phase of excitability, recalling the halcyon days of the earlier discoveries, he with the rest penetrated into Nevada, but not having a like fortune with others, he drifted back with the unlucky, and finally halted at Genoa, in Carson Valley, then the capital of Western Utah. When the Territory of Nevada was first organized, Mr. H. was appointed Clerk of Douglas county, of which Genoa was the county seat, and retained the position, from term to term, until the first month of the year 1867. While retaining this responsible office, he studied law with such success that he was admitted to its practice, and during the following year removed therefrom, and resided successively at San Francisco, Reno and Wadsworth, being employed at the latter place as agent for Wells, Fargo & Co., whence, in 1869, he was transferred to their Vallejo office. In 1871 Mr. Harvey organized the Vallejo and San Francisco Express, the affairs of which he managed until 1874, when he was elected to the County Clerkship of Solano county, which distinguished position he held for two terms, and was then nominated by the Republican party for County Judge, but was defeated by the present holder, Judge John M. Gregory, Jr. In March, 1878, he resumed his practice at Vallejo, where he now resides. The honorable career of Mr. Harvey has thus far culminated in his being sent to the Convention, in June, 1878, as county delegate, he having received the largest majority of any delegate on the Republican ticket. He married August 13, 1863, Alameda L. Hubbard at Carson City, N evada, by whom he has one son and five daughters, viz: Joel H.; Amanda L.; Mary A.; Inez A.; Blanche L., and Maude F.
History of Solano County, California
Pages 354-355
Transcribed by Julie Appletoft, February 2008
Solano County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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