Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing
Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",
published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
HENRY HARDER, who was born in
Holstein, Germany, on March 23, 1841, is now residing two miles east from
Reardan on a fine estate of four hundred acres, which his labors have made
a model farm, well improved and productive of gratifying dividends.
He is a man of worth and stability and has the distinction of being one
of the earliest pioneers of the territory that is now embraced in Lincoln
county. His parents, Hans Henry and Meta H., were natives of Germany,
where they remained until their death. The father was a stone cutter
by trade. Our subject was educated in the schools of his native land
and remained at home until about twenty-three, variously employed, then
went to Hamburg. When twenty-four years of age, it being the spring
of 1866, he came to New York and journeyed thence to Chatsworth, Illinois.
He was occupied in a sugar beet factory for a time and then went to St.
Louis. Afterward, we find him again in Illinois, this time at Bellville
in a coal mine. He left there and came via St. Louis and the Nicaragua
route to California. In the spring of 1868, we find him farming in
the San Joaquin valley where four years were spent. In 1872 he journeyed
to Germany by way of Panama and New York, making there a visit of three
months. He again went to California and for five years was in the
San Joaquin valley. In 1878, in the fall, he took a homestead in
what is now Lincoln county and the same farm is a part of his present estate.
Since then, Mr. Harder has given his entire attention to dairying and general
farming and has won excellent success in his labors.
In New York state, on August 1, 1872, Mr.
Harder married Miss Wilhelmina Hard a native of Germany. To them
the following children have been born, Meta, Annie, Clara, Rosa, Henry,
Hulda, Emma, Adolph and Carl. Mr. and Mrs. Harder belong to the Lutheran
church and have hosts of friends in this section.
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