Harkness, Elisha

Born: 1820-XX-XX Ohio

Died: 1860-07-03 Bloomington, Illinois

Flourished: Champaign County, Illinois

Elisha Harkness was a merchant, county treasurer, and county judge. He emigrated from Ohio with his wife Rebecca to Champaign County, Illinois, sometime before 1845 and settled in Urbana, where he established himself as a merchant and had at least one child. In 1850, he was working as a retail merchant in Urbana and owned real property valued at $1,700. In the 1850s, Harkness opposed the plans to replace Urbana as county seat, and from 1851 to 1853, he served as Champaign County treasurer. From 1853 to 1857, Harkness was a Champaign County judge. In 1856, he represented Champaign County as a delegate to the Illinois Anti-Nebraska Convention.

History of Champaign County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1878), 30, 31; Ezra M. Prince, ed., Meeting of May 29, 1900 Commemorative of the Convention of May 29, 1856 That Organized the Republican Party in Illinois, vol. 3 of Transactions of the McLean County Historical Society (Bloomington, IL: Pantagraph, 1900), 149, 164; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Champaign County, ed. by Joseph O. Cunningham (Chicago: Munsell, 1905), 2:685, 736, 763; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Champaign County, IL, 97; Gravestone, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, IL.