My Genealogy Hound

J. S. HARRINGTON, merchant and real estate dealer of Kearney, Buffalo county, is an old settler and prominent business man of his locality. He settled in Buffalo county in 1872, and has resided in that county and the city of Kearney since, and during all those years has been actively identified with the best interests of his adopted home and community. Mr. Harrington is a native of Vermont, having been born at Hyde Park, in the “Green Mountain” State, March 26, 1842. He comes of New England parentage, his father and mother both being Vermonters also by birth. His father, Elisha Harrington, was born and reared in Middlesex, Vt., and passed all his years in his native place, being an industrious, useful and highly respected farmer. His mother, Hannah Wisnall, also lived and died there.

The subject of this sketch is the second of three children born to his parents. He was reared in his native place, and received a good common-school education in the schools of Hyde Park, finishing with a course of three terms at the Morrisville academy, at Morrisville, Vt. In May, 1861, at the age of nineteen, he entered the Union army, enlisting in Company E, Third Vermont infantry. He belonged to one of the “Three Hundred Fighting Regiments” of the Union army and saw much service in the field. His regiment left the state in the fall of 1861 and moved at once to the front. On April 16, 1862, occurred the remarkable action at Lee’s Mills, on the Warwick river, one of the defenses of Yorktown. Four companies of the Third — D, E, F and K — forded the stream in the face of the enemy, with a view of making a reconnoissance in force. Through mismanagement and lack of support they were driven back, with a loss of eighty-nine killed and wounded out of the one hundred and ninety-two officers and men that crossed. The detachment was ably commanded by Capt. Samuel E. Pingree, who was wounded twice during the fight.

The regiment crossed the Rapidan May 4, 1864, with about six hundred effectives, under command of Colonel Seaver. On the following day, in the battle of the Wilderness, it lost thirty-eight killed, one hundred and sixty-seven wounded, and six missing; total, two hundred and eleven. At Spottsylvania it lost twenty-one killed and fifty-three wounded. At Cold Harbor the gallant Seaver, who commanded the regiment at Marye’s Heights, and in most all its battles, again led them in a bloody assault, and, though there were less than three hundred in line there, the casualties were fourteen killed, fifty-three wounded and five missing. On July 16, 1864, the remnant of the regiment was mustered out, the recruits and re-enlisted men having been consolidated into a battalion of six companies, which remained in the field. The regiment participated in eighteen of the leading battles of the war, and was present also at ten other principal engagements. Out of an enlistment of seventeen hundred and forty-eight it lost six hundred and seventy-nine in killed and wounded.

At the battle of the Wilderness Mr. Harrington received a severe wound and being disabled from active service in the field was place on hospital duty at Montpelier, Vt., and continued there until peace was declared. At the close of the war he, purchasing a farm near Montpelier, settled down to the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. In 1869 he decided to immigrate West and at that date moved to Iowa and settled in the town of Red Oak, where he was alternately engaged in farming, butchering and merchandising. In 1872 he moved to Nebraska and settled in Buffalo county, taking a homestead of 160 acres seven miles northeast of Kearney. Remaining there one year he moved into Kearney and began to invest in real estate. Recently, in 1887, he opened a mercantile establishment in Kearney, since which time his interests have been real estate and merchandising combined. He is known to be one of the heaviest investors in real estate in the city of Kearney, and has probably erected more buildings than any other one man in the city. He has been actively identified with many of the leading enterprises that have sought favor in his community, and he has given liberally of his means towards their support and encouragement. He is a man who believes in growth and development, and he has attested his faith by his acts. His career has been that of a business man strictly, and he is an indefatigable worker. He has never aspired to any public position; and with the exception of the position of city councilman, he has never held any public office.

Mr. Harrington married in 1866, the lady whom he selected to share fortunes being Miss Sarah A. Eastman, a native of New Hampshire, and like himself a descendant of old New England stock; Four children have been born to this union — Francis L., a leading hardware merchant of Kearney; Clarence Eugene, a merchant at Stanley, Buffalo county; Wilbur J., clerk in his father’s store, and Elmer E.

In politics Mr. Harrington is independent, reserving the right to vote for men and measures according to their merits.