Volume 10 , Issue 1

Pioneer George A. Harbaugh - Alva, OK

George A. Harbaugh was what some might call back in those early days of Alva, Oklahoma as, "the sterling and popular citizen ..... whose is distinctively one of the representative and influential business men of the thriving little City of Alva, county seat of Woods County, needs no further voucher than the statement that he is here president of the Central State Bank and also of the Alva Roller Mills, which represent two of the most important business enterprises in Woods County."

This and the following information was derived from the 1916 history book of Oklahoma, A Standard History of Oklahoma, pg. 1530, by Joseph Thoburn.

George A. Harbaugh was born on the homestead farm of his father in Washington County, Iowa, on August 27, 1870. His parents were among the pioneers of Iowa, Eli and Catherine (Engle) Harbaugh, both natives of Ohio. Eli Harbaugh was born in 1825 and Catherine Engle was born in 1827. Both Eli and Catherine were educated in the old Buckeye State and their marriage was solemnized in the year 1848. They were early settlers in Washington County, Iowa, where they established their home in 1850, when that section was on the very frontier of civilization, and where the death of Eli's wife, Catherine, occurred in 1872.

Eli Harbaugh learned in his youth the trade of cabinetmaker in Ohio. After his removal to Iowa, within about two years after his marriage, he found demand for his services as a skilled artisan at his trade. In 1884 Eli removed to Barber County, Kansas, where he purchased a farm and he continued his residence until his death, in 1907, at the age of 82 years.

George A. Harbaugh acquired his education in the schools of his native county and was a lad of about 14 years at the time of the family moved to Barber County, Kansas, where he was reared to adult age on the homestead farm and continued his studies in the public schools. George worked with his father in the management of the home farm until 1893, when he participated in the "run" into the Cherokee Strip Outlet of Oklahoma Territory. George entered a claim to a tract of government land 7 miles from the present City of Alva, Oklahoma and gained the distinction of becoming one of the pioneer settlers of Woods County. George acquired another section of land nearby and established one of the extensive stock ranches of the county. In 1898 George Harbaugh moved from is ranch to Alva, where he engaged in the live stock and grain business and became one of the leading representatives of this line of enterprise in this northwest section of the territory. In 1916 George Harbaugh was still the owner of one of the largest and valuable land estates in Woods County.

George was a a staunch supporter of movements advanced to obtain statehood for the territory and in the meanwhile gained precedence as a steadfast and influential business man and public spirited citizen.

In 1906 Geore Harbaugh purchased the controlling interest in the Alva Roller Mills, which he was president and had maintained the active management. In 1914 this corporation purchased and shipped 3,500,000 bushels of wheat, handled from its chain of thirty elevators, at eligible points in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. The Alva Roller Mills were essentially modern in equipment and facilities. The products found a wide demand and were known for superiority, and the business, as conjoined with the extensive grain trade controlled by the operating company, represented one of the most important industrial enterprises of Northern Oklahoma.

In 1913 George became associated with Henry E. Noble and others in the organization of the Central State Bank of Alva, of which he had been president and of which Mr. Noble was cashier.

In politics George A. Harbaugh was aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party, but he was essentially a business man and had manifested "no predilection for the honors or emoluments of political office."

At Alva, Oklahoma Territory, on November 1, 1899, George A. Harbaugh solemnized his marriage to Miss Mary Devin, who was born at Princeton, Gibson County, Indiana, in which state were also born her parents, Alexander N. and Melissa Devin. George and Mary Harbaugh had three children:

Paul A., born September 7, 1901;

melissa kathryn, born October 8, 1905;

Helen E., born February 2, 1912.

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