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E. H. Harriman

Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive.[2][3][4]

E. H. Harriman

Edward Henry Harriman

(1848-02-20)February 20, 1848
Hempstead, New York, U.S.

September 9, 1909(1909-09-09) (aged 61)

Orange County, New York, U.S.

St. John's Church Cemetery, Arden, New York

  • Financier
  • Railroad tycoon

Harriman Alaska expedition

Mary Williamson Averell (m. 1879)

Mary Harriman Rumsey
Henry Neilson Harriman
Cornelia Harriman Gerry[1]
Carol A. Harriman
William Averell Harriman
Edward Roland Noel Harriman

Anne Harriman Vanderbilt (cousin)
Oliver Harriman Jr. (cousin)
J. Borden Harriman (cousin)
Herbert M. Harriman (cousin)

Early life[edit]

Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergyman, and Cornelia Neilson.[3] He had a brother, Orlando Harriman Jr.[5] His great-grandfather, William Harriman, had emigrated from England in 1795 and became a successful businessman and trader.


As a young boy, Harriman spent a summer working at the Greenwood Iron Furnace in the area owned by the Robert Parker Parrott family that would become Harriman State Park. He quit school at age 14 to take a job as an errand boy on Wall Street in New York City. His uncle Oliver Harriman had earlier established a career there. By age 22, he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange.

(1881–1934), who married Charles Cary Rumsey (1879–1922), a sculptor, in 1910.[12]

Mary Harriman

Henry Neilson Harriman (1883–1888), who died young.

Cornelia Harriman (1884–1966), who married Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. (1877–1957) in 1908.[13]

[1]

Carol Averell Harriman (1889–1948), who married Richard Penn Smith Jr. (1893–1929) in 1917.[15] After his death, she married W. Plunket Stewart, who had previously been married and divorced from Elsie Cassatt, the daughter of Alexander Cassatt, in 1930.[16]

[14]

(1891-1986), the Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman, the 48th Governor of New York, the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union and U.S. Ambassador to Britain. He was married three times: First to Kitty Lanier Lawrance (from 1915 until their divorce in 1929), then Marie Norton Whitney (from 1930 until her death in 1970), then lastly Pamela Beryl Digby Churchill Hayward (from 1971 until his death in 1986)[17]

William Averell Harriman

(1895–1978), who married Gladys Fries (1896–1983) in 1917.[18]

Edward Roland Noel Harriman

In 1913, his widow created the to recognize outstanding achievements in railway safety. The award has been presented on an annual basis since then.

E. H. Harriman Award

writes in the book Our Crowd that "Ned" Harriman was considered one of the most disagreeable men of his period. The book quotes James Stillman of the National City Bank calling him "not a safe man to do business with, yet the Illinois Central run by Harriman was one of the best-run and most profitable in the country."[19]

Stephen Birmingham

Harriman is the topic of a verse in the song "" (1908) that concerns the war of succession with Stuyvesant Fish over the Illinois Central Railroad around 1906.

The Yama Yama Man

Harriman is mentioned in the movie (1969), as the commercial baron whose agents become the title characters' nemeses. In the film's second train robbery, a railroad employee ascribes his refusal to cooperate with the robbery to his obligations to Harriman personally, and one of Butch and Sundance's intimates describes Harriman's hiring of famed outlaw-hunters to track down the gang's leaders.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

In the movie (1969), a railroad official named Pat Harrigan serves as a stand-in for Harriman.

The Wild Bunch

Harriman is a playable character in the video game series .

Railroad Tycoon

Harriman is one of the several prominent industrial figures who serve as inspiration for Leviticus Cornwall in the 2018 video game .

Red Dead Redemption 2

Science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein’s stories feature a “robber baron” character named D.D. Harriman, a probable reference to E.H. Harriman.

Future History

List of railroad executives

254 photographs from 1899 of Edward Harriman's scientific expedition to Alaska, including images of Alaskan Native Americans and their villages, scenic views of the coastline, glaciers and Alaskan towns.

University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899

at Internet Archive

Works by or about E. H. Harriman