Harlan George Mendenhall was born in Coatsville, Pa., Apr. 12, 1851, the son of Washington B. and Susan Harlan Mendenhall. He was graduated from Lafayette College in 1874 and later from the Western Theological Seminary at Pittsburgh. Previously he had been on the staff of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1875. Mendenhall was pastor of churches at Fort Wayne, Ind., Pittsburgh, Mercersburg, Pa., and Grand Forks, N.D. between 1875 and 1889. In the latter year, he began a two year term as president of the Jamestown (N.D.) College. He then was called to Brooklyn as pastor of the Greene Avenue Presbyterian Church. Five years later he went to Kansas City, Mo., as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. In 1900, he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Perth Amboy, N.J. and four years later was called to the Chelsea Presbyterian Church in West 23rd St., New York City. In 1915, he became pastor emeritus. From 1911 to 1913 Mendenhall was president of the Presbyterian Ministers Association of New York City. He was president of the Presbyterian Union in 1918 and 1919. In 1916-17 he was Moderator of The Synod of New York and from 1916 to 1922, the Presbytery of New York. He was Stated Clerk of the Presbytery from 1922 to 1932, when he becmae States Clerk emeritus. For nine times he served as a commissioner of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States between 1892 and 1919. He was the author of Presbyterianism in Perth Amboy, and also an unpublished work on the History of the Presbyterian Church. In 1882 he married Mary Brewer, who died in 1883. In 1904 he married Lillian Peck of New York who survived him. Mendenhall had been a resident of Litchfield since 1913 and had until shortly before his death been engaged in a history of Litchfield. He died on May 15, 1940.

Note written by Litchfield Enquirer, May 23, 1940