Ellen E. Harvie

Ellen E. Harvie, a daughter of Daniel Lockhart Harvie (1811-1851) and Sarah Lewis Harvie née Lavers (1820-1875), was born on 16 Feb 1848 ¹ in Newport, Hants Co., Nova Scotia; died 18 Jul 1907 ^1, in Salem, Marion County, Oregon, USA; buried Mt. Crest Abbey Mausoleum, Salem, Marion County, Oregon. She married on 18 Dec 1866 ¹ in Linn's (Lynn's) Valley,  Kern County, California, Joseph Meyers, born 24 Jun 1837 ¹ in Hesse-Cassell, Germany-Prussia; died 29 Jan 1911 ¹ in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon; buried in Mt. Crest Abbey Mausoleum, Salem, Marion Co., Oregon, son of Lavi Meyers.

        Following the death on 29 Jul 1845 of his first wife Jane Burton (the mother of his children Walter & Jane), Daniel Lockhart Harvie married Sarah Lewis Harvie nee Lavers, the widow of his brother Andrew Harvie who had died in 1841. There were three children from the second marriage - Ellen E., Caroline Susan (Carrie), and Danielena (Lena) ^{4, 6}.
        Their father Daniel Lockhart died circa 1851 as a result of injuries received in an accident in a gypsum mine he part-owned and the three sisters subsequently moved to California as did their half-brother William Andrew Harvie - only child of their mother's first marriage ^{7, 8}. They went to California to join their uncle on their mother's side David Lavers who initially emigrated about 1846 from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts from where in 1852 he and a cousin moved to California by traveling around the Horn to San Francisco. In 1855 he became a pioneer settler in Linns Valley near Glennville in the Greenhorn Mountains near Bakersfield in Kern County where he was later joined by his parents, his brother John, and the cousin. The site at "Lavers Crossing" where David Lavers about 1864 built a three story Hotel and Stage Barn is marked with a plaque titled - California Historical Landmark No. 672 (note plaque says 1859) ^{9, 10}.
        The writings of Californian Lavers family genealogist Florence Myers imply Ellen emigrated to Linns Valley in Kern County one year after she stated her sister Carrie had emigrated there ca. 1858 and that Ellen had come to the Valley in the company of her uncle John Lavers. However it seems likely as the eldest of the three full sisters Ellen came to California before Carrie. As neither appeared there in the Lavers household in the 1860 census they obviously emigrated after that date. Ellen likely came in the mid 1860s in company with half-brother William Andrew Harvie, who appeared with occupation given as miner with Ellen and Joseph Meyers and grandparents William and Susan Lavers in the same household at the 1870 census. William Andrew's subsequent fate is unknown. He may have still been in the general area at the time of the 1880 census but as that census is presently (in 1998) only indexed for households with families in which there were children aged no older than 10 years only an examination of the actual returns might find him. The 1890 census was destroyed and the soundex index of the 1900 census of California does not contain the name of anyone with the Harvie/Harvey surname who matches with William Andrew Harvie.
         Ellen's husband Joseph Meyers came to the United States before the age of twenty 5. On 3 Dec 1866 he was appointed Postmaster at Linn's Valley taking over from David Lavers. The post office at Lavers Crossing closed on 20 Nov 1872 and was re-established on 11 Nov 1874 as Glennville about a mile east of the previous location with Joseph Meyers re-appointed as the Postmaster ^{2, 3}. In 1895 Glennville had a population of 85 and at the time of this compilation in 1998 is a small community on Route 155 from Delano to Lake Isabella best known in California for its annual rodeo. The Post Office re-established by Joseph Meyers in 1874 in 1998 still remained open for business.
        About 1879 Ellen and her husband moved to the adjoining northern State of Oregon where they appeared in the 1880 census of Marion County in East Salem Precinct. Following the move Joseph Meyers prospered considerably and in Portland was the owner of a Department Store chain named named "Miller's Dept. Store". Following the death in 1907 of Ellen he remarried Zenaide DuRette in 1910 in Portland, Oregon and upon his death in 1911 his estate was divided equally between his 2nd wife and the earlier surviving children ⁵.

Children of Ellen E. Harvie and Joseph Meyers were:-
1.   Josephine Meyers,  born 21 Jul 1868 in Glennville, Kern Co., California ; died 6 Apr 1877 ⁵.

2.   Henry Wilson Meyers,  born 2 Jun 1869 in Glennville, Kern Co., CA ; died 24 Mar 1939 in Oregon. He married on 25 April 1894 in Salem, Marion County, Oregon, Helen Chapman ⁵.

3.    Milton Latham Meyers, born 15 Apr 1872 in Kern Co.; died Nov 1958. He married on 28 Sep 1898 in possibly Salem, Oregon, Alice May Steiner ⁵.

4.    Charley Edwin Meyers, born 26 Oct 1878, Kern Co.;  CA ; died 20 Jul 1956 in Oregon; buried in Mt. Crest Abbey Cemetery, Salem, Marion Co. Oregon. He married on 13 Jul 1903 Evaline Roena Cooper ⁵.

5.    William Arthur Meyers, born 24 Apr 1882; died after 1918 in World War I (missing in action - never found) ⁵.

6.    George Henry Meyers, "Harvie" was born 14 Jul 1884; died 1915 in Oregon; buried in Mt. Crest Abbey Cemetery, Salem, Marion Co., Oregon ⁵.

7.    Lena Meyers, born 13 Dec 1885 in Oregon; died 9 Sep 1886 in Salem, Oregon;  buried in Mt. Crest Abbey Cemetery,  Salem, Marion Co., Oregon ⁵.

8.    Joseph Donald Meyers, born 17 Oct 1891 in Salem, Marion Co., Oregon: died 31 May 1975 in Salem, Marion Co., He married on 22 Oct 1919 in Le Grande, Union Co., Oregon, Bessie Dare Allinson ⁵.

Descendants of Daniel Lockhart Harvie

SOURCES:
¹    Family Records and Ellen E. Myers bible in the possession of Ellen Nelson, Metford, Oregon, USA
²    Eugene Burmeiter, The Golden Empire of Kern County California .
³    John Williams, California Town Postmarks 1849-1935.
⁴    Distribution of Personal Property Order, 23 Apr 1866, Judge Bowman - Court of Probate, Windsor, Hants County.
⁵    Oct 1998 emails from Tonya Sarver, Metford, Oregon (genealogy researcher/compiler for Ellen Nelson).
⁶    Leland H. Harvie, The Harvie/Harvey Family of Hants County Nova Scotia, (Hantsport, Nova Scotia, 1984).
⁷    Rev. McLeod Harvey, From Old Scotia to New Scotia - A Family of Harveys, Hants Journal Press, Windsor, Nova Scotia (abt. 1945).
⁸    Hants County Nova Scotia, Deeds, Vol. 35 document 264 & page 302, and Vol. 36 document 370 & page 420.
⁹    California Historic Landmarks Plaque #672  at Lavers Crossing, near Glennville, Kern County.
¹⁰  For Linns Valley history see - Guy Hughes, Lynn's Valley Tales and Others, (1976).