Harvey Henderson Wilcox

Harvey Henderson Wilcox (1832 – March 19, 1891) owned a ranch west of the city of Los Angeles, which his wife Daeida named Hollywood, and that they founded together in 1887. Hollywood became the center of the movie industry of the United States in the early 1910s.

Harvey Henderson Wilcox born in New York State, probably in Monroe or Ontario County, the son of Aaron and Azubah (Mark) Wilcox. The family moved to Michigan during the 1830s and Harvey was raised on his parents' farm in Ogden Township, Lenawee County, Michigan. He contracted poliomyelitis in 1845 when he was about 13 years old and used a wheelchair the rest of his life. He is described as being a Kansas Prohibitionist in histories written after his death.

In September 1850 Harvey was described as being an apprentice shoemaker in the Horace Sheldon household in Blissfield, Lenawee County. His apprenticeship was probably because he could not do farm-work. He completed his apprenticeship during the 1850s and in 1860 he was living near Edgerton, St. Joseph Township, Williams County, Ohio, and working as a shoemaker. On December 26, 1861, he married Ellen E. Young in Bryan, Williams County, Ohio. He got into politics in Williams County and ran for, and was elected to, several local offices, including County Recorder in 1860, Justice of the Peace (Magistrate) in 1860, and Notary Public for Williams County in 1866.

He gave up shoemaking to deal in real estate in Bryan, in the firm of Wilcox & Langel, a career that he would follow the rest of his life. Elon Langel later moved to Topeka, Kansas, and died of tuberculosis.

The local Bryan newspaper says in April 1868 that Harvey and Ellen Wilcox were moving to Topeka, Kansas, where, in October, 1869, Harvey published "H.H. Wilcox's Real Estate Publisher" and in July 1870 he was described as a real estate agent and his wife a housekeeper. Before March 1875 they had added G.M. Stanley, the son of Ellen's sister, Alvira, to their family, but they never had any children of their own. In June 1880 Harvey was still in real estate and Ellen was running their boarding house on Kansas Avenue.

...
Wikipedia