Harlan P. Packard Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1217-1218 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HARLAN P. PACKARD. 

	Harlan P. Packard, secretary and general manager of the Merchants 
Mutual Insurance Association, is one of the most distinguished and 
prominent residents of Redfield, South Dakota. He has been a resident 
of this state since 1881, but his early home was in the east, for he 
was born in Madrid, St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 2d of June, 
1845, and comes of a very old and prominent family of English origin. 
The first to locate in this country was Hiram Packard, who crossed the 
Atlantic in 1638, on the ship Vigilant, and settled in New England. Our 
subject is a direct descendant of John and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden, 
and his grandfathers on both sides were identified with the 
Revolutionary war. He is today a member of the Sons of the Revolution 
and also the Mayflower Descendants. His parents were Hiram and Caroline 
(Dimick) Packard, who spent their entire lives in New York and at their 
death were laid to rest in the cemetery at Madrid. The father was a 
farmer by occupation and died when our subject was only two years old. 

	Harlan P. Packard was reared and educated in the Empire state and 
was graduated from the Potsdam Academy in 1863. Feeling that his 
country needed his services, he immediately enlisted after leaving 
school as an engineer in the Fiftieth New York Engineer Corps, with 
which he served until honor ably discharged when hostilities ceased. 
Returning to his home, he engaged in clerking in a dry-goods store in 
Canton, New York, and then in Ogdensburg, New York, where he remained 
until 1868, when he started west and located in Janesville, Minnesota. 
There he embarked in the dry-goods business on his own account and 
conducted a store there until removing to Redfield, South Dakota, in 
1881. There he carried on the same business for some years, having 
established the first general store in that section of the state. The 
lumber used in the erection of his store building had to be hauled from 
Huron with ox teams. Success attended his efforts as a merchant and he 
continued in the dry-goods business until 1.895, when he disposed of 
the same and organized the Merchants Mutual Insurance Association, to 
which he has since devoted his entire time, making it one of the safest 
and most reliable institutions of the kind in the state. He is a man of 
exceptional business ability and sound judgment and has been able to 
carry forward to successful completion whatever he has undertaken. He 
is today the owner of considerable property in Redfield, having erected 
the present Central Hotel and two store buildings, besides the building 
now occupied by the Watkins Hardware Company. 

	At Janesville, Minnesota, on the 29th of March, 1876, Mr. Packard 
was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Wentworth, a daughter of Mrs. 
Virginia Wentworth and a representative of a very prominent family of 
that state. To them have been born five children, namely: Harlan, who 
is now treasurer of the Merchants Mutual Insurance Association; 
Franklin H., a druggist of Redfield; Lillian, the wife of C. L. Holton, 
an electrician of Minneapolis, Hazel, a graduate of the Cumnock School 
of Oratory, at Evanston, Illinois, and now teaching dramatic art in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Clayton, attending the University of 
Minnesota. 

	His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have 
called Mr. Packard to public office and for four years he most 
acceptably served as mayor of Redfield. He has also represented his 
district three times in the state legislature and for four years served 
as a member of the state board of charities and correction. While a 
member of the legislature he was instrumental in securing the location 
of the Home for the Feeble Minded at Redfield. He has always done 
everything in his power to promote the interests of the city and is 
justly regarded as one of its representative and most influential 
citizens. He is one of the most prominent members of the Grand Army of 
the Republic of South Dakota and served as department commander. He 
belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is a member of the Mystic Shrine 
and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.