Henry Clayton Landon was born on July 11, 1860, in Massachusetts. Landon was a civil engineer who moved to North Carolina to pursue a career constructing and overseeing the operations of a lumber railway from Wilkesboro to Grandin in the early 1900s. Following the flood of 1916, which destroyed his rail, he established and maintained an orchard on the outskirts of North Wilkesboro; he remained a resident there until his death on March 20, 1931. During World War I, he oversaw the operations of the local Red Cross chapter and served as publication chairman of the Wilkes County Council of Defense.