Harlan Family Ninety-Plus Club

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR HONORED
NINETY PLUS CLUB MEMBERS !!!!

The Officers and Board of Directors of The Harlan Family in America established a “NINETY-PLUS CLUB” which includes living members of the Harlan/Harland/Harlin family who are 90 years of age or older. Let us know if you or a relative qualifies. Send your message to Ruth Harlan Lamb whose e-mail address is: harlamb@aol.com

MABEL WEIGLE HARLAN was born October 9, 1902. She married Willard Harlan (d. 4/20/1989), son of Samuel W. Harlan #9329. Mable was born and raised near Harlansburg, PA.

ILA VIVIAN HARLAN LOWDER MASTIN was born December 24, 1908, in Cecil, Franklin County, AR, the daughter of James Henry Harlan and Anna Frances Wood Harlan. Her paternal grandparents were Fountain Pitts Harlan #6911 and Mary Bybee Harlan. Her maternal grandparents were John Wesley Wood and Elzzie Homan Harlan. There were eight children in her family. She married Curtis Lorance Lowder February 3, 1933.

DOROTHY WILLENA HARLAN DONER was born March 6, 1909, at Purdy, Barry County, MO. She is the granddaughter of Zibe Brown Harlan #10104, shown on page 911 of The History and Genealogy of the Harlan Family. She has two sisters, one being Jewell May Harlan Stewart, also a member of the Ninety-Plus Club, and three brothers, all currently living. There are 68 descendants and 34 spouses of these six Harlan "kids": Jewell, Dorothy, Olan, Fay, Leon and Russell. The family has a local family reunion every two years. The last one was September 4, 1999; forty-four attended. Fay celebrated her 80th birthday August 28 at the reunion. They also had a big 90th celebration for Dorothy in March.

CHERRY STARR HEIN was born June 30, 1911, in Braggs, Okla., and as a young adult, she moved to Southern California. She now lives in Simi Valley. Cherry descends from Ellis Harlan (#121) who was married, twice, to full-blooded Cherokee women. Cherry married Henry Hein, Sr., and they had three children.

FRANCES MASON HARLAN WRIGHT was born May 31, 1912, and is listed in Alpheus Harlan’s genealogy book. Her father was George Mason Harlan (#6100), and she is one of his 17 children. Frances began to play the piano at an early age and went on to become a piano teacher, with membership in the National Piano Teachers Guild and Who’s Who in Piano. She attended West Texas State College, married James Austin Wright in 1936 and later completed her education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The couple had one son, James Harlan Wright (1943-1982), four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Frances continued to teach piano until she retired at the age of 80 and still enjoys playing. She continues to live on the original homestead in Slaton, Texas, and cherishes her family heritage.

JANICE SMITH NUFER was born April 25, 1913. She lives with her husband of 69 years in Tucson, AZ. They have three daughters, Sharon Williams, (Davis, CA); Mary Tullis (Joplin, MO); and Becky Nufer (Clovis, NM). Her line is: James I, George 3, Aaron 8, Samuel 40, George 189, George, Thomas Cowlie, James B., Thomas Henry, Hazel Harland.

MAX B. HARLAN, JR. was born September 2, 1916. Max served in World War II for 32 months, and on his way home from the service on a Greyhound bus, he proposed to his beautiful girlfriend, Virginia Morrison. They married and had 60 happy years together. Two daughters were born to the couple. Max was a bank manager in Cumberland, Va., where he resides, and has been active in his Methodist Church.

BARBARA GLEW HAYTHORN was born March 30, 1918, in Creston, IA, during the peak of the pneumonia epidemic, and her mother spent 13 weeks in the hospital after contracting pneumonia. Her mother, Mary Harlan (Mamie), is #10037 in Alpheus Harlan’s book. Barbara married J. Willis Haythorn, and they lived 32 years in the Chicago area before retiring to Tryon, NC, in 1978. She has two sons and four grandchildren.