San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN BURGESS HARELSON
Typical among the interesting
stories of worthy California pioneers always likely to engage the attention of
the historian and to inspire the American youth, is that of the late John
Burgess Harelson, a native of Kentucky, where he was born in 1818, who long was
highly regarded by his associates and contemporaries as a representative of the
Blue Grass State. In 1836, when still a
young man, he made an adventurous trip to South America, where he stayed,
however, for only a short time; and soon after his return, he migrated to
Wisconsin, where he settled at Lancaster, in Grant County. In 1850 he first visited California, crossing
the great plains to get here; and after mining along
the Sacramento and the American rivers, he went in for teaming and hauled
provisions to the mines.
In 1852 Mr. Harelson returned to
Wisconsin and there he married Miss Candace Graves, who was a native of
Missouri but had accompanied her parents to Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Harelson, in 1864, made their
way over the continent to the Golden state, and it is not surprising that with
Mr. Harelson’s knowledge of northern California, they
should settle in San Joaquin County, whither a brother, Edmund Harelson, had
preceded him. In 1865, he bought from
Captain Weber 120 acres of land on the Waterloo Road, six and one-half miles
northeast of Stockton, and there he continued to live the balance of his
natural days. He attained the fine old
age of 84 years; and his dear wife, who had so devotedly shared hard work,
hardships and even dangers, as well as joys and comforts with him, when she passed
away in 1918, was then 87. Mr. Harelson breathed his last on December 10, 1901,
esteemed as a successful grain farmer and beloved as a good provider to his
family, and widely honored as a public-spirited citizen.
Five children blessed the family
life of Mr. and Mrs. Harelson. Ella, the
eldest, became Mrs. J. B. Worley of Hanford; Martha L. is Mrs. Henry Irvine,
and resides at Henry, Nebraska; Lucy, the third-born, is Mrs. S. B. Overhiser
of San Diego; Flora became Mrs. J. L. Fulton of Waterloo; and there her sister
Miss Effie Burgess Harelson, also resides.
Ella and Martha and Lucy were born in Wisconsin, and the other two girls
entered the family circle under the sunny skies of California. Mrs. Worley has a family of eleven children;
Mrs. Irvine has one daughter; and Mrs. Overhiser has one son.
Flora, who lives with her sister on
the old home place, was married on March 12, 1904, to John L. Fulton, a native
of Illinois, who was a son of Levi Fulton, a New Yorker, and his good wife
Cynthia. In 1903, Mr. Fulton came to
California as a druggist; and after their marriage they moved to Watsonville,
and during their seven years there Mr. Fulton conducted a drug store. He also owned a ranch at Willows. He sold the store in 1910 and then they took
up their residence on his ranch of 80 acres in Glenn County; but he soon also
sold the farm, and after that they lived at Oakland, where he was taken with
pneumonia. He did not improve, and a
trip to Arizona was undertaken in the hope that he would find the change of
climate just what he needed; but even there he failed to mend, and to the
sorrow of all who had come to admire and love him and had found in him the best
of advisers, the most helpful of friends, he died in December, 1911, preceded
by the death in November of their only daughter, Lois, who died in Arizona.
A portion of the old Harelson ranch
is a souvenir of the days of ’65; and when Candace Graves Harelson died the
ranch was divided, and now the two sisters referred to as residing there own
some fifty-nine choice acres. They had
attended the Greenwood grammar school and the Stockton high school, and there
laid the foundation for that education to which they have ever since added by
wide, broad reading and study; and one could not wish for a more enjoyable hour
than in their company, their culture adding to the charm of the old-time
Harelson hospitality, now the more to be appreciated since in other sections
the once famous welcome of the Californians has become a tradition.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
396-399. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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