Norman Wait Harris
A. N. Marquis Co.
Harris, Norman Wait, banker; b. Bershire Co., Mass., Aug. 15, 1846; s. Nathan Wait and C. Emeline (Wadsworth) H.; direct desc. Of the 39th generation of Charlemagne, Frankish King and Roman Emporor, by his wife Hildegarde, also descendant in the 26 generation of Countess Adelicia, the Fair Maid of Braband, daughter of Godfrey (, who married Henry I, King of England, and whose second husband was William d’Albini, 2d earl of Sussex and Arundel; also desc., of the 7th generation of Thomas Harris of Eng. who settled in Mass. Bay Colony, 1630; ed. Westfield, (Mass) Acad., 1863; m. Jacyntha Vallandingham, Jan. 1, 1867 (died 1873); m. 2d, Clara Cochnower, 1875 (died 1876); m 3d, Emma S. Gale, Apr. 1879. Aided in organizing, 1867, and sec., 1867-80, Union Cent. Life Ins. Co., Cincinnati; organized, 1882, banking house of N. W. Harris & Co., Chicago, New York, and Boston; Harris Trust & Saving Bank, Chicago, 1907-1913; also of Harris, Forbes & Co., New York, and N. W. Harris & Co., Inc., Boston. Many years mem. Internat. Com. of Y.M.C.A. to which he has been a large financial contrb.; v.p. trustees Y.M.C.A., Chicago; pres. trustees Chicago Training School for Home and Foreign Missions (largest training school of it kind in the country to which he gave the land upon which its principal buildings are located and erected its chapel and one of its main buildings known as Harris Hall); thereto $100,000 and it pres. trustees thereof; trustee Northwestern U. Donated $250,000, in 1911, to Pub. Sch. Extension of Field Mus. of Natural History, Chicago; also, 1913, $250,000 to Northwestern U. to erect and maintain a building known as Harris Hall of Political Science and History. Home: Chicago, Ill. Died July 15, 1916.
