The Harlan Family
In 1687, brothers George and Michael Harlan brought their families to the New World. George, at first, lived in New Castle, Delaware until he moved up the Brandywine in Kennett Township (now Pennsbury) where his neighbors were "a settlement of Indians who lived in the 'Great Bend' of the Brandywine." In 1701, he obtained a warrant 200 acres of the former Indian settlement "in regard for the great trouble and charge he had borne in fencing and maintaining the same for said Indians while living thereon." That was where he built his house that his family lived in for over 200 years. His cousin Joshua built a log house not too far away from his home.
When Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were marking the border between Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, they used the Harlan home as their winter quarters "to assure themselves of the uniformity of their measurements." Their work is preserved by the Stargazer’s Stone in Embreeville. Here the astronomers constructed a place to measure from using the stars.
Michael, meanwhile, married in the New World after settling in London Grove Township, PA. His family began to spread out in Chester County until his grandson Joel Harlan was born in Newlin Township where he started his family.
Richard Harlan: Paleontologist, Anatomist, and Physician
Richard Harlan (1796-1843) was born in Philadelphia to Joshua and Sarah Harlan. He was three years old when his family relocated back to Newlin Township where his younger brother Josiah was born. Richard graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's medical school, and then became a surgeon for the British East India Company.
When he returned to Philadelphia in 1818, he taught anatomy at Penn and comparative anatomy at the Philadelphia Museum while holding a collection of 275 skulls. In 1825 he published Fauna Americana; being a Description of the Mammiferous Animals inhabiting North America. An extinct muskox is named for him as identified in his book. In 1834 he identified an early form of whale known as basilosaurus. Richard, in his day, was famous, but not exotic.
List of his published works:
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Anatomical Investigations and Inquiry into the Functions of the Brain in Man (1824)
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American Herpetology Or Genera Of North American Reptilia: With A Synopsis Of The Species (1827)
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Critical Notices of Various Organic Remains Hitherto Discovered in North America (1834)
Josiah Harlan, the American King of Afghanistan
Josiah Harlan (1799-1871) was born in Newlin Township, PA, and the younger brother of Richard Harlan. He and Richard grew up in a "strict and pious" Quaker home. He coped with his mother’s early death by study of classical literature, botany and Christianity. At age 21, Josiah decided to follow Richard with the British East India Company that said to Calcutta, Canton and Shanghai, leaving behind his sweetheart Elizabeth Swain. During his second voyage to India, he signed up as a surgeon with the British East India Company, despite having little to no medical experience like Richard. He served in Burma both as a physician and a gunner during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
Josiah returned to India where he read Mountstuart Elphinstone's account of Afghanistan. He became infatuated with the land that in 1826, he quit the British East India Company to explore the land and the monarchy there. He migrated to Punjab in the north and sought permission to work with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh. While waiting for permission, Josiah met the deposed king of Afghanistan, Shuja Shah al-Mulk, and became his "secret agent" to take back his thrown from Dost Mohammed Khan.
With financial support, Josiah arrived in Kabul in 1827. When he met Dost Mohammed Khan, he was charmed by his personality. He fell in love with the city of Kabul, its flora, its brothels and its culture. After allying with several different leaders Harlan decided that perhaps he should rule Kabul, thus adopting the name "Prince of Ghor." After finding out Ranjit Singh was a hypochondriac, Josiah seized the opportunity to use his medical skills on the Mahajara. As a result, in 1829, he was appointed governor of the kingdoms of Nurpur and Jasrota, earning the trust from the Mahajara.
After finding out Josiah was greedy and disrespectful while his health was declining, Ranjit Singh banished him from his kingdom. He returned to his Quaker roots outside Philadelphia.
One of the British who witnessed this transition in power was a young Rudyard Kipling. His book, The Man Who Would Be King was published in 1888 and chronicles a story quite similar to Harlan’s.
Bibliography
Harlan, Alpheus Hibben. History and genealogy of the Harlan family : and particularly of the descendants of George and Michael Harlan, who settled in Chester County, Pa., 1687, Volume 1. (Baltimore : Lord Baltimore Press, 1914): 139, 335.
"Samuel George Morton." Penn Museum. Accessed February 1, 2025. https://www.museum.upenn.edu/sites/morton/life.php.
Singh, Sarbpreet. "How a Quaker from America gained fame and fortune in Ranjit Singh’s court (and was then banished)." Scroll.in. Last modified April 26, 2019. https://scroll.in/article/920395/how-a-quaker-from-america-gained-fame-and-fortune-in-ranjit-singhs-court-and-was-then-banished.
Spamer, Earle E. and Richard M. McCourt. "Richard Harlan." Discover Lewis & Clark. Accessed February 1, 2025. https://lewis-clark.org/people/richard-harlan/.