Harlan Fairbanks of Tustin, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1840. For twenty two years he was engaged in the drug business, and in 1861 he entered the army in the Fifteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; was acting Sergeant; was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia, and discharged for disability at Philadelphia, in 1862.
In 1886 he became a citizen of California, where he has since been eminently successful in the real-estate business. In 1889 he built a drug store at the corner of D and Fourth streets in Tustin, having bought out C. W. Smith & Co. of Santa Ana. He was a charter member of G. A. R. Post, No. 10, of Worcester, Massachusetts; he now affiliates with Sedgwick Post, at Santa Ana. He was also one of the charter members of Tustin Lodge, No. 231, I. O. O. F.
In 1868 he married Miss Almira L. Lee, from Elmira, New York.