Harlan P. Towner was born at Byron, Michigan, in Shiawassee county, April 1, 1841. He is the sone of Isaac B., a native of New York, and Julia (Epley) Towner, whose mother was a native of Germany. Our subject's father came to Michigan with his parents in the early days, where he learned the trade of carpenter and millwright. Our subject's grandfather, Daniel Towner, served in the Revolutionary War. A brother of Daniel Towner bought Long Island from the Government and owned it for several years.

Our subject's parents were married in Pickney, and for several years his father was engaged in his trade at that place. He build the mill at DeWitt, Clinton county. Isaac Towner bought forty acres of wild Government land in Bath township, and afterwards sold this and bought one hundred and eleven acres near Pine Lake in Meridian township, where he lived until his death at the age of sixty-nine years. He was a Democrat, though never an office holder. He was a member of the U. B. church, while his wife a Methodist.

Harlan Towner was the second of a family of eleven children: William D., left home at nineteen and became a minister in the U. B. church, and died in 1862; our subject; Alonzo, lives in Locke township, Ingham county. His first wife was Frances Abe;, and the second, Eva Gundman. There was one child by the first marriage and four by the second; Frances E., died at the age of fifteen years; Olive, married first, William Troop, who was killed in the war, and after Richard Reynolds. She has one child by the first marriage and three by the second; Etta, the wife of George Bisbee, a Baptist minister in Georgia; Chrles Towner lived in Bath township, married Nora Smith, and has four children; Rose, the wife of Charles Peterson, lives in Meridian on a farm and had eight children; James I., a Baptist minister at Mayville, Tuscola county.

Our subject lived with his parents until twenty-one years old, working on the farm in the summer and attending school in the winter. He bought forty acres of wild land in Bath township, Clinton county. March 28, 1864, he enlisted in Co. D., 4th Michigan Infantry, and served sixteen months and was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., discharged at Detroit, and was in the battles of Jonesboro, seige of Atlanta, Bentonville and Goldsgerg, N. C. After the war he sold the ( find ending)




Taken from:
"Past and Present of the City of Lansing and Ingham County, Michigan", by Albert E. Cowles.
Published by The Michigan Historical Publishing Association Lansing, MICH., 1905.
Pages 501 - 502

Biographies Michigan Biographies Project

Sondra Higbee