Alameda-Contra Costa-Sonoma County CA Archives Obituaries.....Harlan, Minerva Jane (Fowler) March 24, 1915 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Steve Harrison raleighwood@juno.com February 26, 2008, 4:55 am Livermore Herald, March 27, 1915 “ANOTHER PIONEER OF 1846 PASSES AWAY. Mrs. Minerva Harlan of San Francisco Dies at Home of Daughter. Another pioneer of 1846 has passed away. Mrs. Minerva J. Harlan, wife of Joel Harlan and sister-in-law of Mrs. Mary A. Smith, who also came to the State in that year, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Addie Stolp, in Oakland Wednesday [March 24]. The remains were brought to Livermore in an automobile hearse Friday [March 26] afternoon and laid away in the old pioneer cemetery on Oak Knoll. The funeral party included representatives of most of the pioneer families in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. Mrs. Harlan’s maiden name was Minerva Fowler. She was a daughter of Wm. Fowler, who was a pioneer of pioneers. He went to Oregon with his son William in 1841 but did not remain. They came to California and established a home in Sonoma county. The son went back to Missouri in the fall of 1845 to bring out his mother, three sisters, one of whom was later Mrs. Harlan, and a brother, Henry, who in later years became very prominent in the public affairs of Napa county. In the spring of 1846 the Fowler family with many other emigrants from the Middle West gathered at Lexington, Missouri, where they organized into trains for better protection against the Indians, who were numerous and troublesome along the route traversed. The Fowlers joined the train headed by George Harlan, father of Mrs. Mary Smith of this place. This train crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains just ahead of the ill-fated Donner party, which came to grief by leaving the established emigrant trail to seek a shorter route into the Sacramento valley by way of Donner Lake. The families in the Harlan party separated after the train reached Sutter’s Fort. The Harlans, Smiths and others came to Alameda and Contra Costa counties while the Fowlers went to the home already established in the Napa valley. The intimate association of the young people on the long emigrant trail led to an attachment between Joel Harlan and Minerva Fowler that culminated in their marriage at Sonoma on April 2, 1849, by L. W. Boggs, Alcalde. Mr. and Mrs. Harlan lived in various parts of the State for a number of years but settled in the San Ramon section about fifty years ago and it is still the family home. Deceased was 82 years old, celebrating her birthday at the home of one of her daughters in Oakland about two weeks ago. She leaves her husband and five children – Elisha Harlan and Mrs. Mary Lewellyn of San Ramon, Mrs. Fred Osborne and Mrs. Addie Stolp of Oakland and Fred Harlan of San Ramon.” END Additional Comments: Livermore Herald (Livermore, Alameda county, California). March 27, 1915 (Saturday). Page 1. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/alameda/obits/h/harlan3578gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb