J. Borden Harriman
Encyclopedia
Jefferson Borden Harriman (September 20, 1864-December 2, 1914) was a New York financier and member of the Gilded Age’s
“hunting set.” He was best known as the supportive husband of Florence Jaffray Harriman, a socialite who became a progressive social activist and (after his death) a United States Ambassador to Norway
during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
. He was a cousin of railroad tycoon Edward Harriman, who was the father of statesman and diplomat W. Averell Harriman
. A lingering gastrointestinal problem led to his early retirement and death.
businessman Oliver Harriman and Laura Low Harriman. Oliver was a partner of a dry goods commission house, which evolved into Low, Harriman & Co. (and then Harriman & Co.), an investment banking
firm located on Worth Street
, and later 111 Broadway
, in Manhattan. Laura was the daughter of James Low, Oliver’s business partner.
In addition to brothers James, Oliver Jr., Joseph, and Herbert, J. Borden had three oft-married sisters—Emeline Harriman Dodge Olin, Anna Harriman Sands Rutherfurd Vanderbilt, and Lillie Harriman Travers Havemeyer.
In 1901, his mother died. Later that year, he and his siblings successfully petitioned a New York court to declare their 70-year-old father incapable to manage his affairs due to senile dementia. At the time, his father’s wealth was estimated at over $5 million. His father died the following year.
in 1885, he joined his father’s business, becoming an investment banker.
On November 13, 1889 he married nineteen-year-old Florence Jaffray Hurst, daughter of shipping executive (and former Civil War
Union
blockade
runner) F.W.J. Hurst
. The list of attendees at their wedding included past and future president Grover Cleveland
, railroad tycoons Cornelius Vanderbilt
and Edward Harriman, John Jacob Astor IV
, and J. P. Morgan
.
They had one child, Ethel M.B. Harriman, born on December 11, 1897.
His 1903 bid for a seat on the New York Stock Exchange’s governing committee was thwarted by an outside candidate, even though Harriman had received the committee’s nomination, and all other regular nominees prevailed.
J. Borden Harrimen left the Bank’s board of directors in January 1911, when the Day and Night Bank developed an intimate relationship with Merchants’ National Bank of New York but changed its name to the Harriman National Bank (reflecting the continued influence of other members of the Harriman family in the bank’s ownership and management). Twenty-two years later, after the bank failed in the financial crisis of 1932-1933, its longtime president Joseph Wright Harriman
, formerly of Harriman & Co., was convicted by a federal jury of misappropriating bank funds, and served 25 months in prison.
appointed Mrs. Harriman as a member of the first U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations
. After President Wilson's appointment, the couple moved to Washington D.C., keeping a residence in New York City while donating their Mount Kisco, New York
estate for use as a tuberculosis
sanitorium.
In early 1914 he lent his yacht, “The SS Mohican
,” to German prince Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich, who had been chosen by other European monarchs to rule as William, Prince of Albania.
Harriman, his wife and daughter found themselves in the middle of Europe as World War I
erupted in the summer of 1914. Hoping that the healing waters in the Bohemian
spa in Karlsbad
would benefit his health, the family travelled to Europe in June 1914. After meeting with leading British and French officials while relations between the European powers deteriorated, they traveled through France to Karlsbad (then a part of Austria-Hungary
), and were there when Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia
in late July. After leaving Karlsbad on the last train crossing the frontier through Germany to France, they eventually returned, without their belongings, to New York on an armed British vessel, the RMS Adriatic
.
His health continued to deteriorate, and he died in Washington on December 1, 1914. His prolonged illness, the resulting lack of income, and the expense of maintaining several homes had reportedly consumed nearly all of his net worth.
Their daughter Ethel worked on Broadway
and in Hollywood, as an actress and writer (as Ethel Russell or Ethel Borden). She died in 1953.
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
“hunting set.” He was best known as the supportive husband of Florence Jaffray Harriman, a socialite who became a progressive social activist and (after his death) a United States Ambassador to Norway
United States Ambassador to Norway
Prior to 1905, Sweden and Norway were politically united. The United States Ambassador to Sweden thus was the US representative for Norway as well as Sweden. In 1905 Sweden and Norway peacefully separated and Norway became an independent constitutional monarchy. On November 14, 1905, the US State...
during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. He was a cousin of railroad tycoon Edward Harriman, who was the father of statesman and diplomat W. Averell Harriman
W. Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic Party politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York...
. A lingering gastrointestinal problem led to his early retirement and death.
Parents and siblings
J. Borden Harriman was one of eight children of New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
businessman Oliver Harriman and Laura Low Harriman. Oliver was a partner of a dry goods commission house, which evolved into Low, Harriman & Co. (and then Harriman & Co.), an investment banking
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
firm located on Worth Street
Worth Street (Manhattan)
Worth Street is a two-way street in the Manhattan borough of New York City. It runs from Hudson Street, TriBeCa, in the west to Chatham Square in the east. Past Chatham Square, the roadway continues as Oliver Street, which runs one-way north- and westbound. Between West Broadway and Church Street,...
, and later 111 Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, in Manhattan. Laura was the daughter of James Low, Oliver’s business partner.
In addition to brothers James, Oliver Jr., Joseph, and Herbert, J. Borden had three oft-married sisters—Emeline Harriman Dodge Olin, Anna Harriman Sands Rutherfurd Vanderbilt, and Lillie Harriman Travers Havemeyer.
In 1901, his mother died. Later that year, he and his siblings successfully petitioned a New York court to declare their 70-year-old father incapable to manage his affairs due to senile dementia. At the time, his father’s wealth was estimated at over $5 million. His father died the following year.
College, marriage, and investment banking
After graduating from Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1885, he joined his father’s business, becoming an investment banker.
On November 13, 1889 he married nineteen-year-old Florence Jaffray Hurst, daughter of shipping executive (and former Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
blockade
Union blockade
The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...
runner) F.W.J. Hurst
F.W.J. Hurst
Francis William Jones Hurst , a native of the British West Indies, was a major figure in the cross-Atlantic shipping business in the 19th century. During the American Civil War, he captained ships that ran the Union blockade of Confederate ports...
. The list of attendees at their wedding included past and future president Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, railroad tycoons Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt , also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history...
and Edward Harriman, John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War and a member of the prominent Astor family...
, and J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
.
They had one child, Ethel M.B. Harriman, born on December 11, 1897.
His 1903 bid for a seat on the New York Stock Exchange’s governing committee was thwarted by an outside candidate, even though Harriman had received the committee’s nomination, and all other regular nominees prevailed.
The Day and Night Bank
He and several brothers and cousins were founding directors or officers in the Day and Night Bank, established in 1906 as the world’s first 24-hour bank. Once open, the owners added further innovations -- a separate branch reserved for women customers, and an automobile “safe on wheels” that would pick up cash and valuables from depositors’ homes. In 1910, after four years of 24-hour operations, it began to restrict its weekday hours, closing from midnight to 8 am.J. Borden Harrimen left the Bank’s board of directors in January 1911, when the Day and Night Bank developed an intimate relationship with Merchants’ National Bank of New York but changed its name to the Harriman National Bank (reflecting the continued influence of other members of the Harriman family in the bank’s ownership and management). Twenty-two years later, after the bank failed in the financial crisis of 1932-1933, its longtime president Joseph Wright Harriman
Joseph Wright Harriman
Joseph Wright Harriman was the longtime president of Harriman National Bank and Trust Company, nephew of railroad tycoon Edward H. Harriman and cousin of diplomat, statesman and future New York Governor W. Averell Harriman...
, formerly of Harriman & Co., was convicted by a federal jury of misappropriating bank funds, and served 25 months in prison.
Illness, war in Europe, and death
J. Borden Harriman became seriously ill in January 1913 with what newspapers described as a lingering “digestive troubles.” He retired the next month (at age 48) from Harriman & Co.Later that year, newly elected President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
appointed Mrs. Harriman as a member of the first U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations
Commission on Industrial Relations
The Commission on Industrial Relations was a commission created by the U.S. Congress on August 23, 1912. The commission studied work conditions throughout the industrial United States between 1913 and 1915...
. After President Wilson's appointment, the couple moved to Washington D.C., keeping a residence in New York City while donating their Mount Kisco, New York
Mount Kisco, New York
Mount Kisco is a community that is both a village and a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,877 at the 2010 census.- History :...
estate for use as a tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
sanitorium.
In early 1914 he lent his yacht, “The SS Mohican
USS Mohican (SP-117)
The third USS Mohican , later USS SP-117, was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919....
,” to German prince Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich, who had been chosen by other European monarchs to rule as William, Prince of Albania.
Harriman, his wife and daughter found themselves in the middle of Europe as World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
erupted in the summer of 1914. Hoping that the healing waters in the Bohemian
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
spa in Karlsbad
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
would benefit his health, the family travelled to Europe in June 1914. After meeting with leading British and French officials while relations between the European powers deteriorated, they traveled through France to Karlsbad (then a part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
), and were there when Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
in late July. After leaving Karlsbad on the last train crossing the frontier through Germany to France, they eventually returned, without their belongings, to New York on an armed British vessel, the RMS Adriatic
RMS Adriatic (1907)
RMS Adriatic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships measuring over 20,000 tons, dubbed The Big Four, the ship was the only one of the four which was never the world's largest ship however, she was the fastest of the Big Four...
.
His health continued to deteriorate, and he died in Washington on December 1, 1914. His prolonged illness, the resulting lack of income, and the expense of maintaining several homes had reportedly consumed nearly all of his net worth.
Legacy
Mrs. Harriman immediately resumed her public and political service, which continued for several decades. She survived her husband by over fifty years (living 97 years until her death in 1967), but never remarried.Their daughter Ethel worked on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and in Hollywood, as an actress and writer (as Ethel Russell or Ethel Borden). She died in 1953.