Oliver Harriman Sr.

Oliver Harriman (September 16, 1829 – March 12, 1904) was an American businessman and one of the founders of the Harriman business dynasty.

Early life Oliver Harriman was born on September 16, 1829, in New York City. His parents were Orlando Harriman and Anne Ingland. His brother, Orlando Harriman, was the father of railroad tycoon Edward H. Harriman and grandfather of New York Governor W. Averell Harriman.

His grandfather, William Harriman,

Career Harriman began his career in the dry goods commission house of McCurdy, Aldrich & Spencer. They had five sons and three daughters who were prominent in New York and Westchester society: who married Elizabeth Templeton Bishop, daughter of Heber R. Bishop Emmeline Harriman (1860–1938), who married, successively, William Earl Dodge III, Stephen H. Olin, and Howland Spencer. Anne Harriman (1861–1940), who married, successively, Samuel Stevens Sands Jr., Lewis Morris Rutherfurd Jr., and William Kissam Vanderbilt Oliver Harriman, Jr. (1862–1940), who married Grace Carley in 1891. Jefferson Borden Harriman (1864–1914), who married Florence Jaffray Hurst in 1889. Joseph Harriman (c. 1865–1925), who married Eugenia "Jean" McLane. Herbert Melville Harriman (1873–1933), who was married to Isabella Hunnewell in 1894. They divorced in 1906 and in 1908, he married Mary Madeline Brady. After their divorce in 1921, he married Sarah Jane Hunter in the same year. Lillie Harriman (1870-1953), who married William Riggin Travers Jr., son of William R. Travers in 1889, and Frederick Christian Havemeyer IV, son of Theodore Havemeyer in 1906. She filed for divorce from Havemeyer in 1925.

He was the owner of a residence in Riverdale, Bronx. His will stipulated that his wife would inherit their house in Riverdale as well as US$500,000 annually, while his sister, Rosamond H. Owen, would receive US$25,000.

Descendants His granddaughter, Mary Bishop Harriman was married to Count Pierre Lecomte du Noüy (1883-1947).