Woodbury-Benton-Johnson County IA Archives Biographies.....Harrington, Thomas F. 1857 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Debbie Clough G-erischer Bare67deb@aol.com and Mari Modlin ddmmjm@netins.net July 27, 2005, 4:23 am Author: NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION VOLUME II 1804-1926 T. F. Harrington Among the men who are closely and prominently identified with the financial interests of Sioux City, none takes precedence over Thomas F. Harrington, who has long been recognized as a man of more than ordinary business capacity and acumen and who has contributed in a very large measure to the prosperity and commercial advancement of this community. Mr. Harrington was born near Cedar Rapids, Benton county, Iowa, in 1857, and is a son of William and Bridget (Guinan) Harrington, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They emigrated to the United States with their families at the respective ages of eighteen and thirteen years, settling in Ohio. After their marriage they came to Iowa, locating first in Iowa City, Johnson county, and subsequently in Benton county, where they were among the pioneer settlers and where William Harrington followed the occupation of farming for many years. Subsequent to the death of his wife he retired and moved to Cedar Rapids, where he spent the remainder of his life. Thomas F. Harrington pursued his early education in the public schools of Benton county and continued his studies in Tilford Academy at Vinton. At the age of nineteen years he came to Woodbury county and engaged in teaching, his first school being four miles northwest of Kingsley. He taught through five winters and then bought a farm three miles east of Moville, which he operated for three years, when he again engaged in school teaching and county work for about three years. On the expiration of that period he purchased another farm near Kingsley, to which he devoted his attention for seven years, and in 1900 he came to Sioux City and for four years was connected with the Lockwood Land & Emigration Company. In 1904 he formed a partnership with Ed M. Hunt, with whom he operated in the land business under the firm name of Hunt & Harrington until 1907, when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Harrington continued in the land business independently until 1911, at which time he sold his interests to James F. Toy and became associated with the Farmers Loan & Trust Company and the Farmers Trust & Savings Bank. He served as vice president of the Farmers Loan & Trust Company for two years. About 1912 the Farmers Trust & Savings Bank was made a national bank and the name of the institution was changed to National Bank of Commerce, of which Mr. Harrington soon afterward became the president, in which capacity he continued until the fall of 1914. At that time Mr. Harrington and his associates organized the Continental National Bank and the Continental Mortgage Company and he was made president of both corporations. In 1921 the Continental National Bank was merged with the Sioux National Bank, of which Mr. Harrington is vice president. he is president of the Leeds Bank of Sioux City and was formerly interested in a number of country banks. In all these relations he has shown superior capacity in financial matters and in business circles of this community he is highly esteemed as a man of high ideals and progressive principles. In 1884, at Kingsley, Iowa, Mr. Harrington was married to Miss Maria O'Leary, daughter of Patrick O'Leary. They are parents of the following children: Anna, who is the wife of E. J. Culligan, of St. Paul Minnesota; Mary, who is a graduate of the University of California and who is now in the service of the Continental Mortgage Company of Sioux City; Vincent, a graduate of Notre Dame College, who was a member of the 1924 Notre Dame football team and who is now teaching and coaching in Columbia University of Portland, Oregon; Thomas F., Jr., who is identified with the Leeds Bank of Sioux City; Gerald, a graduate of the Sioux City high school; and Zeta. Politically Mr. Harrington is a democrat and he belongs to the Knights of Columbus. He is also a member of the Sioux City Golf and Country Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Columbia Luncheon Club. Unassuming in manner, but genial and friendly in his social relations, he is widely acquainted and is deservedly popular in all the circles in which he moves. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 5.0 Kb