Solano-El Dorado County CA Archives Biographies.....Harvey, Joel A. ************************************************ 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: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 4, 2007, 10:07 pm Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891) JOEL A. HARVEY, County Clerk and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, dates his first residence in California in 1859. During that period, however, he has passed some years in the mining region of Nevada. He was born in Herkimer County, New York, in 1838, and was brought up on a farm. At the age of seventeen years he taught school two terms, and then went West, settling in Elgin, Illinois, where for two years he ran a livery stable, in the warehousing business, and also operated as a clerk in the postoffice. In 1859 he came to California across the plains, assisting a cousin to bring a herd of cattle from the prairies of Illinois. Starting in April, they reached California September 30, following, and he remained in the mountains for a short time. Next for a few months, during the winter of 1859-'60, he clerked in a Placerville hotel. The next June he crossed to Nevada, settling in Genoa, Carson Valley, then a part of Utah Territory and under Mormon control. He there engaged in dairying, in which business also he had been brought up in New York. At the end of two seasons he sold out, and then, in December, 1861, on the organization of the Territorial government of Nevada, he was appointed County Clerk of Douglas County, by Governor James W. Nye, Genoa the county-seat; and on the organization of the State he was elected to the same office, and he was subsequently re-elected several times up to 1867. Meanwhile he was agent for Wells, Fargo & Co., and held the office of Notary Public and Commissioner of Deeds for California. Was then admitted as an attorney at law in that State, he began the practice of the profession, after a trip to the East; but soon he became agent for Wells, Fargo & Co., first at Wadsworth, Nevada, and then in 1869 at Vallejo, California, for a year. He then established and operated until 1874 the San Francisco & Vallejo Express, and at the came time conducted a brokerage business. In 1873 he was elected County Clerk of Solano County, taking his office in 1874; he was re-elected in 1875, and held the office until March, 1878. In the fall of 1877 he was a candidate for the office of County Judge, but, with many others on the same ticket, was defeated. He then practiced law for some time, when he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention which framed the present constitution of California. He was then again engaged in his profession until he was again elected County Clerk in 1880, which office he held until January 8, 1883. He was a member of the State Assembly at Sacramento in 1883-385. After practicing law for two years more, he was again elected County Clerk in 1886, and re-elected in 1888, and that position he now holds. He has always been a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and his popularity is demonstrated by his frequent re-election. He was married in 1862, to Miss Almeda L. Hubbard, a native of Canada, and a daughter of Tily and Hulda (Parish) Hubbard, the former a native of Vermont, and the latter of New York; they left Michigan for California in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have six children: Joel H., now Deputy County Clerk of Solano County; Amanda L., now the wife of T, M. Doyle, of Vallejo; May A., Inez A., Blanche L. and Maud F. The family reside in Vallejo. Additional Comments: Extracted from Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California. Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of Prominent Citizens of To-day. "A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendents." – Macauley. CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1891. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/solano/bios/harvey1182nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 4.5 Kb