William Orton Harriman Sr. (1880 - 1945)

Born 16 Feb 1880 in Clark, Wisconsin, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Edith May (Anderson) Harriman — married 8 Oct 1912 in Vancouver, Clark, Washington, United States

Died 27 Mar 1945 at age 65 in San Diego, California, USA

Biography

William Orton Harriman, known as Will to his family and friends, was born on February 16, 1880, in Clark, Wisconsin, to Albert Harriman and Seville Barott.^[1]

At the time of the 1880 census, he was living in Weston, Clark County, Wisconsin, with his parents and older siblings:^[2]

1. Albert Carlton Harriman
2. Alice Maud Harriman
3. Grace May Harriman
4. Harry Winfred Harriman

As of 1900, he was living with his parents, Grace, and Harry Winifred, in Neilsville, Clark Wisconsin, with a servant, Mary Colburn.^[3]

By 1910, he had moved out on his own to Edwards, Ravalli, Montana, where he worked as a Forest Ranger.^[4]

He had brown eyes and brown hair, and was of medium height and build. He registered for the WWI draft on September 12, 1918, from Fort Rock, Lake County, Oregon, at which time he was a forest ranger with the Forestry service.^[5]

He was married on October 8, 1912, to Edith May Anderson in Vancouver, Washington.^[6]

As of the 1920 census, they were living at 425 E. Gering Avenue in Bend, Deschutes, Oregon, where he was a Deputy Supervisor with the U.S. Forestry Service. Their two children were also living with them here, as was his mother-in-law, Anne M Anderson:^[7]

1. Helen Mae Harriman ^[8]
2. William Orton Harriman, Jr.

At the time of the 1930 census, the family of four was still living in Bend, but had moved to 252 Georgia Avenue, where he was working as a Forest Supervisor.^[9]

By 1935, the couple, without their children, had moved to Lakeview, Lake, Oregon, where they were living at the time of the 1940 census, when he was working as the Supervisor of Framont Forest.^[10] He was still living here, but had retired from the U.S. Forest Service, at the time of the Old Man's Draft for World War II.^[11]

He died on March 27, 1945, in San Diego, California.^[12] He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery.^[13]

Marriage Announcement

From the Clark County Republican & Press 10/03/1912

Mr. William O. Harriman and Miss Edith May Anderson were married at Vancouver, Wash., Sept. 20, 1912, Rev. J.M. Cause officiating.

The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Harriman of this city. He graduated from Neillsville High School, attended four years and graduated from Lawrence University and later went west. For a time he taught school in Washington and clerked in a store in Spokane; then he entered the U.S. Forestry Service, in which he has continued to work, receiving promotions from time to time. He is a young man of whom Neillsville May well be proud. He has made good in every line and is a man of character. The bride’s home was at Crescent, Oregon, where her family lives and is engaged in business. She is a stranger to people here, but we can judge of her good sense and substantial qualities by her choice in marriage.

After Oct. 2, they will be at home at LaPine, Ore., which will be Mr. Harriman’s headquarters in the government service.

Education and Early Career

From the Alumni Record of Lawrence College:^[14]

657. WILLIAM ORTON HARRIMAN.

Born, Neillsville, Wisconsin, February 16, 1880.

Educated, Lawrence College, A. B. Degree.

Taught. Later clerked for railroad contractors in a store. Since 1909 in Forest Service U. S. Department of Agriculture. At present Deputy Forest Supervisor.

Forestry Service Record

From the History of the Fremont National Forest:^[15]

William O. Harriman. Supervisor William O. Harriman of the Ochoco National Forest at Prineville was transferred to the Fremont as forest supervisor on April 1, 1934, upon the transfer of Supervisor John F. Campbell to the regional office.

William O. Harriman was born at Neilsville, Wisconsin, on February 16, 1880, and was a graduate of Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin. He began his career as a forest guard on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana, August 4, 1909. He came to Oregon in 1910 as assistant ranger on the Deschutes. He served as ranger on the Paulina forest, as assistant supervisor on the Deschutes, and as supervisor of the Ochoco for five years.

During his term of office on the Fremont, many important projects were completed, including the Bly ranger station buildings, the Paisley ranger station buildings, and the Hot Springs shop and warehouse. Most of this construction work was done by CCC labor and financed by CCC funds.

After almost eight years as supervisor of the Fremont, Mr. Harriman retired and left Lakeview on December 8, 1941.

Supervisor Harriman was greatly interested in fish and game matters. California bighorn sheep existed in several areas in Oregon in the days of the early settlers. Steens and Hart mountains were probably the last places inhabited by them, but by 1916 there were none left in Oregon. The Wallowa Mountains were the last area occupied by the Rocky Mountain bighorn, but they were gone by the mid-1930s.

Supervisor Harriman was one of the people who wanted to restore the bighorn, and he sold the idea to Lakeview sportsmen in 1936. Arrangements were made through Stanley Jewett and Ira Bagrielson of the Biological Survey to obtain Rocky Mountain bighorns from the National Bison Range in Montana, and twenty-three animals were finally obtained and released on the west face of Hart Mountain in 1939.

The Grazing Service of the Department of Interior asked for the loan of Supervisor Harriman to help set up an organization to administer the Taylor grazing lands. The detail, beginning December 15, 1934, was for approximately two months. He traveled throughout the west with F. R. Carpenter, director of grazing under the Taylor Act, Assistant Regional Forester Ed Kavanaugh, and a party of experts. Meetings were held in Klamath Falls, Vale, Boise, Salt Lake, Burns, and Bakersfield, California. At the Bakersfield meeting the final stages of organization for the first grazing district were completed. At the last meeting held in Burns, the district boundaries for the various grazing districts in the state of Oregon were approved by the state-wide committee. (1935)

From the History of the Fremont National Forest:^[16]

William O. Harriman. The supervisor went on annual leave November 16, 1942, prior to his retirement at age sixty-two, effective March 1, 1942, after thirty years of service. A banquet was given for Mr. and Mrs. Harriman at the Lakeview Hotel on November 5, attended by approximately seventy-five persons representing the Fremont, Siskiyou, and Umatilla forests. On November 15, a regional stag dinner party was given for Mr. Harriman at Bend, attended by approximately fifty persons. (1941)

The Pilot Butte Inn, Bend, was the gathering place of fifty members of the Forest Service (without their wives) on November 15 to congratulate and honor Supervisor William O. Harriman upon his retirement. The regional office, Umpqua, Whitman, Ochoco, Deschutes, Rogue River, Malheur, and Fremont forests were represented. Retirees M. L. Merritt and Perry South attended.

After a good bullfest session, a fine turkey dinner preceded many enjoyable talks by both the older and new generations. Old skeletons were dug out of Harriman's closet. An old Model T. Ford was made to live and run again, although it broke down on several occasions; the old Paulina Forest was restored, homesteads refiled on, and many other instances recited.

A very fine time was had by all and especially Mr. Harriman who had an opportunity to verbally "spank" several members present and renew old acquaintances.

Mr. Harriman has discharged successfully the numerous responsibilities which confront a forest supervisor, but his outstanding accomplishment is the progress made in obtaining selective logging practices on the private lands within the Fremont Forest. The principles under which this program is being conducted were set up by Mr. Harriman and the promotion of it was his major interest during the last several years. Operators were requested to leave thrifty timber designated by the Forest Service and amounting to between 35 and 50 percent of the ponderosa pine inventory, with the understanding that in exchange for this land the Forest Service would grant cutting rights of value equivalent to the loss in income which the operator would suffer on account of removing 50 to 65 percent of the timber as compared with clear cutting. Under this system approximately 20,000 acres of private land have been or are in the process of being cut selectively within the Fremont Forest. Likewise, approximately the same acreage of national forest timber land has been developed for selective logging, and the trees most susceptible to attack from bark beetles have been removed. This procedure can be considered the initial step towards intensive management of pine timber resources and is indeed a happy contrast to the clearcutting which would have occurred on these privately owned lands through force of economic circumstances if it were not for Mr. Harriman's activities. Upon Mr. Harriman's recommendation, the Forest Service has given a very low priority to the acquisition of stripped, clearcut land, and this policy has been an important factor in bringing about the adoption of selective logging practices within the Fremont Forest.

The areas south of the Klamath Falls-Lakeview Highway, from Fishhole Mountain west and the Cottonwood Creek drainage, are the two outstanding tracts where this program has been put into effect. These tracts will be a lasting monument to Mr. Harriman's vision, persistence, and ability. They will form a permanent basis for lumbering activity in this vicinity. The Forest Service is grateful for the cooperation of the private timber operators which made this accomplishment possible. Mr. Harriman's ability to obtain this cooperation is a mark of the faith in his integrity which the operators placed in him. (Regional Forester Lyle Watt, November 28, 1941)

This preliminary work by Mr. Harriman prepared the way for the creation of the Lakeview Federal Sustained Yield Unit in 1950. He was also interested in the protection and development of all other forest resources and made a sincere effort to educate the public as to how this could best be done. He never spared himself to do the best possible job in accomplishing aims and objectives of the Forest Service.

Mr. Harriman was intensely interested in people and made an effort to train his staff and other employees. He wanted his staff to learn not only their own jobs, but to be able to do tasks in other fields in order to be ready for advancement. He was the champion of the employees, although they did not always realize it at the time. In later years many said they finally realized how much they had learned from Supervisor Harriman and wished they had expressed their appreciation to him.

One of his favorite hobbies was etymology as it applies to proper names. If he did not already know the meaning of a visitor's name, he promptly looked it up.

Mr. Harriman passed away on March 27, 1947, as the result of a heart attack.

Obituary

From the Clark County Press 04/12/1945

Word reached Mrs. Maude Weller of Neillsville last week of the sudden death of her youngest brother, Will Harriman, in Vista, Cal., where he and his wife had resided on a fruit farm since he was retired about two years ago from the forestry service in Oregon. Funeral services were conducted March 31 in Vista. Burial took place in Engelwood cemetery, Los Angeles, on Easter Sunday.

Will Harriman, the youngest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Albert Harriman, was born on his parent’s farm near Christie, and was at death about 63 years of age. His parents moved to Neillsville, residing for many years in the home on South Grand avenue, now the home of Mrs. Weller. Will attended the Neillsville schools, and taught school in this community several years before entering the forestry service. He visited relatives here two years ago, soon after his retirement.

He is survived by his wife and two children, Helen, Mrs. Paul Kiepe, Los Angeles, and William, Jr., who has served for some time in the coast guard.

Also surviving are two sisters and a brother, Mrs. Weller of Neillsville; Mrs. Grace Callender, Victor, Mont., and W. H. Harriman of Madison.

Mr. Harriman’s death was very sudden. He had worked during the day on his fruit farm, and expressed the intention of taking a bath. As he did not return, his wife went to look for him, and found him lying dead on the bed.

Sources

1. ↑ Genealogy of the Barott and Haff Families. Guy Haff, 1941. Genealogy of the Barott and Haff Families - Page 74
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN4H-7R5 : 15 January 2022), Lee O. Hariman in household of Albert Hariman, Weston, Clark, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMKQ-TT4 : accessed 21 April 2022), Willie Harriman in household of Maud Lang, Neillsville city Ward 1-3, Clark, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 28, sheet 16A, family 305, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,781.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLCH-YZY : accessed 21 April 2022), William O Harriman, Edwards, Ravalli, Montana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 80, sheet 3A, family 40, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 833; FHL microfilm 1,374,846.
5. ↑ "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918". Registration State: Oregon; Registration County: Lake County. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6482 #27588999 (accessed 21 April 2022).
6. ↑ "Washington, County Marriages, 1855-2008", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZK-XL9K : 22 July 2021), William O Harriman and Edith M Anderson, 1912.
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4Z1-Z41 : 3 February 2021), William O Harriman, 1920.
8. ↑ "Oregon, Center for Health Statistics, Birth Records, 1903-1918", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CVQ2-S8W2 : 4 August 2021), William Orton Harriman in entry for Helen May Harriman, 1913.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC96-7WK : accessed 21 April 2022), William O Harriman, Bend, Deschutes, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 7, sheet 6B, line 85, family 156, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1942; FHL microfilm 2,341,676.
10. ↑ "1940 United States Federal Census". Year: 1940; Census Place: Lakeview, Lake, Oregon; Roll: m-t0627-03367; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 19-25. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #60644887 (accessed 21 April 2022). William Harriman (60), married, Supervisor Of Framont Torelt, head of household in Lakeview, Lake, Oregon. Born in Wisconsin.
11. ↑ "United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJT-PNN7 : 10 March 2021), William Orton Harriman, 1942; citing NARA microfilm publication M1936, M1937, M1939, M1951, M1962, M1964, M1986, M2090, and M2097 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
12. ↑ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPQX-TPM : 26 November 2014), William O Harriman, 27 Mar 1945; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
13. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25737160/william-orton-harriman : accessed 11 April 2022), memorial page for William Orton “Will” Harriman (16 Feb 1880–27 Mar 1945), Find A Grave: Memorial #25737160 citing Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California, USA ; Maintained by Janice Klafehn (contributor 46786078)
14. ↑ Alumni Record of Lawrence College 1875-1922
15. ↑ History of the Fremont National Forest - Chapter - 5
16. ↑ History of the Fremont National Forest - Chapter - 6

See Also:

• Family Search Profile for William Orton Harriman, Sr.