Is it true that the Harley-Davidson company was founded by Russian emigrants Kharlamov and Davydov?

For many years now there has been a rumor that two immigrants from Russia were at the origins of the legendary American motorcycle manufacturer. We checked whether this was really the case.

The story of how two merchants Kharlamov and Davydov (it is often specified that they were residents of Odessa) either before or after the revolution fled to the USA, where they changed their surnames and founded one of the most famous motorcycle manufacturing companies, can be found in more than one printed publication. She was reported by the magazine "Capital" (1992), newspapers "Arguments and Facts" (1995) and "Situation" (1998), as well as the famous publicist Yuri Ekishev in his book "Russia in Captivity" (2009). This fact is periodically mentioned on various services. questions And answers.

As you can easily see, an interesting biographical fact about American industrialists appeared in Russian-language publications in the first half of the 90s, and already in the 2000s it practically ceased to be mentioned. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" leads one of the most detailed versions of the legend:

“On the threshold of the new, twentieth century, two talented Russian guys from Odessa, Kharlamov and Davydov, poked around in their native land in search of a better life, but could not find a worthy use for their strengths. They proposed various inventions, but the bureaucracy did not need new Kulibins. And then, in their hearts spitting on their native Richelieu embankment and Lanzheronovskie beaches and giving up on the whole of Russia, friends set off for new shores in the hope of realizing their talents overseas. America, a country of emigrants, welcomed them with open arms, just as it welcomed other talented people from all over the world. Odessa residents settled in the state of Milwaukee and gradually naturalized: Kharlamov became Harley, Davydov became Davidson. Here no one put a spoke in their wheels, and they began American life by inventing... the bicycle. But - with a motor. Since the bicycle had already been known to mankind for a long time and there was no point in inventing it again. Thus was born one of the most famous motorcycles in the world - “Harley-Davidson” (the name “Harley-Davidson” took root in Russian).”

It's hard to argue with the cult following of this brand. It is enough to just name several films, in which Harley-Davidson motorcycles were used: “Terminator 2”, “Easy Rider” and “Pulp Fiction”. In Victor Pelevin’s novel “Generation P” the main character reads script for an advertisement for famous motorcycles and comes across the slogan: “Harley motorcycle. It couldn’t have happened without Davidson.” Therefore, it is obvious that the biographies of the heroes of the story are covered quite widely in the media. Firstly, they did not invent the motorcycle as such - it is believed that Gottlieb Daimler back in 1885. As for the rest, this is what tells us official website Harley-Davidson Motor Company:

“You might have thought that Harley-Davidson was founded by two guys named Harley and Davidson, and you were partly right. It was actually one Harley and three Davidsons, and all four worked together to create a brand that revolutionized transportation and America. <...> The Harley-Davidson Company was founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was officially incorporated in 1907, when Walter Davidson became its first president, Arthur Davidson became its first general sales manager and secretary, and William Davidson became its first production manager. At the same time, William Harley became chief engineer and treasurer. Given the ratio of three Davidsons to one Harley, you might wonder why the company wasn't called Davidson-Harley. Since the original idea for the motorcycle came from William Harley, the company felt it was fair to put his name first. Who were the founders of Harley-Davidson? William Harley was only a year older than Arthur Davidson. The two boys grew up just a couple of houses away from each other in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thus began their lifelong friendship.”

What follows are short biographies of the main characters in history, from which we learn that William Harley’s father emigrated to the United States from England in 1860. And a resource dedicated to the Davidson family reports We know that the father of three brothers, William Sea Davidson, was born in 1846, also in Albion, Scotland, and as a child moved with his family to the New World. Moreover, back in 2002 in the Russian magazine "Echo of the Planet" the words of one of the modern Davidsons were published in the wake of a local legend: “As far as I know, my ancestors come from Scotland, I have not heard about Russian roots.”

As we can see, the founders (of whom there were four) of the famous company have no connection with Russia, and the legend has become just another invention from the “Know Ours” series. Similar common bike calls another automaker, Andre Citroen, the son of an Odessa Jew, although Levi Citroen lived all his life in Amsterdam.

Cover image: Wikipedia

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1.      Is Mihailo Duda the grandfather of Andrzej Duda? Fake!
2.      Is it true that German Chancellor Scholz is the grandson of a former SS Gruppenführer?