Ellsworth Harvey
The son of an honored pioneer family of Indiana, Ellsworth Harvey is recognized among the representative business men of his native county and he has long been a resident of Marion, where he holds the position of cashier of the Marion National Bank, one of the most solidly established financial institutions of the county. Mr. Harvey has made his way in the world unaided by outside influences, but rather through the application of his native ability and inherent character, so that he today enjoys a pleasing place in the city of his residence.
Born on a farm in Franklin Township, six miles southwest of the city of Marion, in Grant County, Ellsworth Harvey claims November 22, 1863, as his natal day, and he is a son of Sidney and Jane L. (Thomas) Harvey. The father was born in Morgan County, Indiana, and the mother in Grant County, where her parents were early settlers in the pioneer days, the family having been conspicuously identifi4ed with the growth and development of the county. The father, Sidney Harvey devoted himself to the farming industry, and he was successful and prosperous in his chosen work. Today he is reckoned among the most venerable and honored pioneer citizens of the county, where he is living practically retired from active business, enjoying a well earned rest after long years of strenuous life on the farm.
He was a boy of about nine years when his father, William Harvey, came to Grant County and settled upon a tract of wild land some three miles west of the present village of Fairmount, and there he finally evolved a productive farm from his wilderness land. He was of English ancestry, and the family is one that had its foundation in America in early colonial days. Born in North Carolina and there reared, William Harvey came as a young man to Clinton County, Ohio, removing to Indiana in an early day. He passed the last years of his life in Grant County, and was known and esteemed as one of the solid men of the agricultural industry in the county. It was son his place that Sidney Harvey, his son, was reared to maturity, but for more than forty years past he has maintained his home on his own place of one hundred acres, six and a half miles from Marion. Mr. Harvey is a man of considerable influence in his community, taking a genuine interest in the political and civic activities of the township and county, and he at one time served as county assessor. A Republican in his politics, he gives his support to that party, and with his wife has membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their children, Alvin and Minerva are deceased; Ellsworth, of this review, was the third born; Roscoe C. is a farmer in Franklin Township; and Gulie Elma is the wife of H. P. Cline, a farmer residing in the vicinity of Jonesboro, Grant County.
Ellsworth Harvey was reared to farm life and in the home of his parents he early learned lessons of practical import that have stood him in excellent stead in the more mature years of his life. He attended the district schools, continuing his studies there for eight years. Thereafter he was a teacher in Fairmount Academy for one year.
In August, 1893, Mr. Harvey was appointed to the post of Deputy County Treasurer, and the long period in which he held this office indicates something of the character of his services. He continued to serve in his capacity as Deputy until January 1, 1901, when he assumed the duties of county treasurer, to which office he had been elected on the Republican ticker in the preceding autumn. His service here was likewise a praiseworthy one, sufficiently so as to gain to him his re-election in 1902, so that he served two full terms as County Treasurer, administering the fiscal affairs of the county in a highly creditable manner.
Soon after his retirement from the office of County Treasurer Mr. Harvey was chosen Assistant Cashier of the Marion National Bank, and here again the character of his services was such as to merit recognition which came in the form of his advancement to the post of Cashier, in February, 1911. He has since that time continued in the office, with all of satisfaction to the directors of the institution and with credit to himself.
Mr. Harvey has like his father, been a stanch Republican since he came to years of maturity, and with his wife he is a member of the Society of Friends. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He is the owner of a small but well improved farm in Franklin Township, which claims a share in his attention.
On September 6, 1899, Mr. Harvey was married to Miss Susan Emma Higgs, of Richmond, Wayne County, this State, where she was born and reared, and where her family has been long and favorably known to the public. Her parents are Robert and Eliza Higgs, both of whom were born in England. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have two children -Robert Sidney, born on November 8, 1902, and Mildred Elizabeth, born May 25, 1906.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.