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GEORGE GOODWIN HARRIMAN, son of David Landers and his wife, Hannah
(Goodwin) Harriman, was born January 2, 1842, in Conway, New Hampshire. In the early
boyhood of our classmate the family moved to Great Falls, now the city of Somersworth,
New Hampshire. In the schools of Great Falls, Harriman was fitted for college, and entered
our Class at the beginning of the second term, Freshman year, on the first of January, 186o.
Among Harriman's fellow-students in the public schools of Great Falls, there were no less
than six young men who entered college, though not all in the same year or at the same
college. Of these Williams had Charles P. H. Nason, Class of 1862, and it was his influence
that drew Harriman, James C. Foye, and Owen W. Davis, Jr., to the Class of 1863. At the
close of Freshman year, Harriman left our Class, taking a certificate from our college
officials which admitted him to the Sophomore class, Bowdoin College, without examination,
where he was graduated with the Class of 1863. At Bowdoin, he was a member of the Psi
Upsilon fraternity, and at one time its presiding officer.
After graduation, Harriman returned to Great Falls, and entered the law office of
Jordan and Rollins as a law student. He remained here till December, 1866, except that
during six months of the time he was acting principal of the high school at Belfast, Maine.
While, at Belfast, he continued his law studies in the office of ex-Governor Howard, of
Maine. He was also, during a part of the time he was studying law at Great Falls, principal
of this town's high school. In December, 1866, our classmate entered the Theological
Seminary (Baptist) at Rochester, New York, and completed the seminary course in July,
1868, receiving the certificate of graduation which today would constitute the degree of
Bachelor of Divinity. While in Rochester, Harriman was a member of a "Saturday Night
Club" of Greek enthusiasts for the critical reading of Plato's works in the original language,
with Dr. A. C. Kendrick as leader.
In September, 1868, Harriman was ordained to the ministry, and installed pastor of
the Baptist Church in Fisherville, now Penacook, New Hampshire. He remained in this
parish till August, 1873, when he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Urbana,
Ohio, and held this position till May, 1878. In October of this year, he became pastor of
the First Baptist Church, Tiffin, Ohio, and so continued till the close of his ministerial
profession, in June, 1882. Harriman made a good record as a minister, as was manifest in
the quickened life and improved social and financial condition of the churches he served.
He was especially active in educational matters and in works of reform. While at
Fisherville, he was secretary of the governing board of the New London (N. H.) Institute, a
denominational preparatory school.
In 1882, Harriman became interested in the Bell telephone, and controlled a
concession in central Ohio. In 1883, at the request of the Bell Telephone Company, he
went to Mexico, and since that date has made his residence in Morelia, state of
Michoacan, about one hundred and fifty miles west of the city of Mexico. The Mexican project of the
Bell telephone people was not a success, but with his knowledge of the language and
customs of the people, Harriman readily entered other lines of business. For the past
thirteen years he has been engaged in mining. At present he is principal owner and general
manager of the copper mining properties known as the "La Azteca" and "La Helena," both
located in Michoacan.
November 5, 1868, Harriman married Susan Isabel, daughter of Samuel and
Elizabeth (Scott) Fielden, of Great Falls. They have had four children.
1. George Archibald, born at Fisherville, New Hampshire, September 19, 1869. He
received his education in the public schools of Urbana, Ohio, entered business and is now
with the Urbana Woolen Mill Company. In 1893 he married May Virginia Phelps, daughter
of Captain F. Phelps of the United States Army. A daughter was born in 1895.
2. Elizabeth Scott, born in Newmarket, New Hampshire, August 16, 1872, and died
in Urbana, Ohio, May 8, 1875.
3. Helen Hoyt, born in Urbana, Ohio, November 8, 1874; was educated partly in the
Urbana schools and partly at home, being especially trained in modern languages,
particularly French, Spanish and German. In 1897-98, she was instructor of Spanish and
German languages in Stetson University, De Land, Florida. Till August, 1902, she was
teacher in the Spanish High School at San Juan, Porto Rico. In September, the eleventh
day, she was married to Thomas H. Briggs, Jr., professor of English literature in the
Southern Illinois Normal School, Charleston, Illinois.
4. Carolin Fielden, born September 24, 1880. She received her education at her
home in Morelia and at Stetson University, Florida. At present she is librarian in the office
of the Commissioner of Education, San Juan, Porto Rico.
Though with our Class at Williams less than a year, Harriman has a keen
remembrance of his mid-winter advent to our mountain environed college town, and of the
healthful and stimulating intellectual and moral atmosphere of the college. He writes: "My
entrance into the Class was on New Year's day of 1860, at the commencement of the second
term of the academical year, 1859-1860. Well do I carry in memory the ride with my chum,'
J. C. Foye, from North Adams on that bitterly cold New Year's eve; and, at Foye's
suggestion, our thawing out' with a hot whisky punch. In all his professional career
subsequently did he ever again propose a similar chemical formula? What may I say to my
brothers of '63, with whom I tarried so brief a period at Williams, as to the molding
influences I there received and retained from teachers, mates, and surroundings? Much
every way I owe to Williams. I was with you only two short semesters, yet I credit the most
permanent results of my life to impulses originating in Old Williams and the Class of '63.
I am willing to hold with Garfield, that a log with Mark Hopkins at one end and myself a
student at the other would be college for me. The few brief hours he gave us on Monday
mornings and the vital discourses in chapel have lasting power in their sway over me. To
Professor Phillips I owe any attainments I may have in languages, ancient and modern, and
to Professor Albert Hopkins and to that, to me an ever memorable day of Prayer for
Colleges, I owe that abiding change in life which is called conversion. And if there is
anything in my career that may occasion others who have met me to rise up and call me
blessed, the undying credit therefor should be set down to Professor Hopkins. I went among
you an inexperienced, callow country lad. How vividly I recall the ready ease in recitation
of our mates who came from Boston Latin School, and more especially of Doherty, and for
the first time realized the importance of steady drill! And when I saw the plodding industry
of such as Cleveland, who was bidding fair to outstrip Doherty, my own ambition was
awakened for similar effort. Today I am wondering where, in present results, I would be
ranked among the eighty-three who have been with '63 of Williams. Yet, if I have anything
of worth in the several languages where I have made excursions, the primary impulse comes
from Professor Phillips and my classmates of forty years gone by. The years at Bowdoin
were all too shattered for our class there by the rude opening of our civil strife. Two of our
professors went to the front to return generals J. L. Chamberlain and Eliphalet
Whittlesey; and a third, Egbert C. Smyth, went to Andover Theological Seminary. These belonged to
the teaching corps of Junior and Senior years. However, there were two instructors who
have left a visible impress on my character and life. I refer to William Smyth and Paul A.
Chadbourne; and this latter was also yours at Williams. So you will perceive how much I
owe to the college where I entered but remained for so brief a stay."
Source:
Class of Sixty-Three Williams College Fortieth Year Report, by
the Class Historian, Thomas Todd Printer, Boston, 1903
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