Biography
James Harmon was born 29 September 1801 in Boonesborough, Madison County, Kentucky to Stephen Harman (1779-1850) and Lucy Joslin (1779-1854) and died 14 September 1851 Auburn, Placer County, California of unspecified causes. He married Mary Ann Blanks Smithson (1808-1897) 1828 in Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina.
Mormon Converts
The Harmon family was contacted by John Brown (1820-1896) and other missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1843-1844. Their last two children were named for prominent leaders of the church (Josephine/Joseph Smith and John Taylor).
Mississippi Saints 1846 Pioneer Company
Numbered amoung the participants in the Mississippi Saints 1846 Pioneer Company, a early Mormon pioneer wagon train that left Mississippi in 1846 to join the Mormon exodus to Utah. This group Brigham Young's vanguard company and spent the winter of 1846/47 at Fort Pueblo where the were joined by soldiers of the sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion. They reached Salt Lake City in late summer of 1847.
En route from Mississippi to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1846 James and his family stopped at Pueblo, Colorado for the winter. In 1847 they continued on in company with members of the Mormon Battalion Sick Detachment under the leadership of James Brown (see the Book of the Pioneers entries for sons James Bartlett Harmon, John Taylor Harmon and daughter Josephine Evans--vol. 1, p 226, 304 and 305.) Their father (James) was rebaptized at Salt Lake City 6 August 1847 but died at Auburn, California where he had gone to work the gold fields.
After the family reached the west and settled in the Gold Fields, James returned to Mississippi to get daughter Mary Eliza. It is not known why she didn't come with them to begin with. He died shortly after their return from a disease picked up while crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
Children
Siblings
Residences
See Also
- James Harmon
- Harmon in Monroe County, Kentucky
- Harmon in Anderson County, South Carolina
- Harmon in Placer County, California