Wabaunsee County History
Henry Harvey, namesake of Harveyville
From the files of the Kansas Historical Society:
Henry Harvey, for whom Harveyville, Wabaunsee county, was named, was a missionary
to the Shawnee Indians. He had been placed in charge of the Friends' mission at Wapaughkonnetta, Ohio, in 1830, and after this band moved to Kansas, leaving their Ohio home about
September 20, 1832, he visited them twice. In 1840 he and his wife were made superintendent
of the Friends' mission among the Shawnees in what is now Johnson county, remaining there
until 1842, when they returned to Ohio and he began his "History of the Shawnee Indians, 1681-1854," which was published in 1855. He returned to Kansas, making an early settlement on
Dragoon creek, and was a delegate in 1855 to the free-state convention from his district, which
embraced not only his own county, then called Richardson, but Shawnee, Davis, Wise and Breckenridge counties; the last three now known by their modern names of Geary, Morris and Lyon
counties.
In 1858 Mr. Harvey was appointed chairman of supervisors for Mission creek district, Richardson county, and when the name of the county was changed to Wabaunsee he was one of the first
county commissioners, elected in March, 1859.
His wife, Ann, sometimes called Anna, who had been an able assistant in his work with the
Indians, died July 8, 1858. Mr. Harvey returned to his old home in Ohio in 1860, and died there
sometime during the war.
Return to Wabaunsee Co. KHHP
|
This website created July 10, 2011 by Sheryl McClure.
© 2011 Kansas History and Heritage Project
|