Mr. Harmon was born at Olean, N. Y., on October 8, 1841, the son of Luther N. Harmon, who was born in Suffield, Conn., a member of the same family as the Hon. Judson Harmon, ex-Governor of Ohio. Two Harmon brothers came from England to America in 1645, and John was the progenitor of this family. While in Erie County, New York, Luther Harmon married Miss Martha Hall; and he being a hatter, and she a tailoress, they were able somewhat to work together in times that were hard. It is no wonder that with a state of affairs when there was little or no money, the effect of the discovery of gold in California was such as to induce the elder Harmon to migrate to the Pacific Coast and to try his fortune here. He set out from Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1850, mined for gold successfully, and had the good fortune to be here early enough to vote upon the admission of the state. But he did not reach that goal without adventures that might have cost him more than they did. On his first trip across the plains in 1850, the Indians stole his horses, and he had to travel 300 miles afoot. Later, however, he went back to Michigan, and in 1852 brought his family here.
Jonathan Harmon grew up in Petaluma, and early worked in the mines in the northern part of the state, and at Petaluma, in 1870, he was married to Miss Martha E. Warren, a native of Lorain County, Ohio, who came to California with her parents in 1864. In Sonoma County Mr. Harmon cleared a farm of the stumps and improved the place, and little by little set out orchards until he had one of the show places in Sonoma County, with a large, beautiful residence and farm buildings. He had a variety of fruit trees, and at the Sonoma County fair took the sweepstake premium for the finest exhibit of fruit from one farm. However, wishing to locate in Southern California, he came south to Santa Ana, in what was then Los Angeles County, in 1888, at the height of the boom, and bought sixty acres of land; and to this he has added from time to time by subsequent purchases, so that he is now owner of 140 acres of the most desirable land. He has sunk wells and equipped a pumping plant not only sufficient to irrigate his own ranch, but furnishes water for irrigation to several of his neighbors. His ranch is equipped with cement pipe lines, this complete irrigating system making it one of the most valuable ranches in the district.
He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Santa Ana, as was Mrs. Harmon, who died in 1918, at the fine old age of seventy-two years. Two children bless their fortunate union: Edward W., a successful dairyman on a part of the Harmon ranch, and John W., an orchardist at Nuevo, in Riverside County.
As a Republican, Mr. Harmon voted for Abraham Lincoln--the first vote he ever cast--an incident of which not so very many men living can boast; but he is really nonpartisan, especially in his attitude toward local men and measures, and always endeavors to satisfy his conscience, and to base his action on principle. In recent years he has favored Prohibition.
