Harry Overfield Harman - BHS Class of 1924

Harry Overfield Harman

Bainbridge High Class of 1924

 

 

Harry Overfield Harman, 16 years

"The Echo", 1924

 

 

Harry Overfield Harman  was born 9 August 1907 in Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, the eldest child of Martin Wilson and Anna Susan (Allen) Harman.  He grew to manhood in Bainbridge where he attended Bainbridge High School (class of 1924).  Following graduation he attended Hamilton College in Clinton, Oneida County, New York (class of 1930).  He then went on to a prestigious career in business and finance, culminating with his appointment in 1961 to the position of New York State deputy commissioner of taxation and finance and state treasurer.  On 21 August 1937, when he was 30 years of age, he married Jessie Connell Boyd (b. 2 October 1907) the daughter of Roy Douglas and Nell Boyd.  Jessie worked for many years as a music teacher in the  Fort Plain, Montgomery County, New York elementary school.  Harry and Jessie were the parents of a son (Roy Douglas Boyd) and daughter (Patricia Ann).  Mr. and Mrs. Harry O. Harman had been married for 33 years when Jessie died 11 December 1970.  Harry died 13 January 1971 at the age of 63 years, having survived Jessie by only one month and two days.  They were buried in Greenlawn cemetery, Bainbridge.

Birth Announcement, 1907:  Born, on Friday morning last, to Route Carrier and Mrs. Martin Harman, of Pruyn Hill, a son.  [Bainbridge Republican, Aug. 15, 1907]

 

Marriage, 1937:  Today at noon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. Douglas Boyd, 104 Prospect avenue, their daughter, Jessie C. Boyd and Harry O. Harman, of Oneonta, son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Harman of Bainbridge, were united in marriage.  The ceremony, for members of the families, was performed in the living room by the Rev. F.L. Decker, D.D. of the First M.E. Church.  The bride wore a dark brown suit of silk gabardine, with accessories to match and a corsage of gardenias.  The couple was unattended.  Following the ceremony luncheon was served.  Later Mr. and Mrs. Harman left by motor for a trip through the New England states.  They will make their home at Oneonta.  The bride is a graduate of Gloversville High School and attended the Virginia Inter Mont college and Crane Institute and is a graduate of the Eastman Conservatory of Music at Rochester. She is a member of the Delta Gamma Sorority, Kappa Clio, Sigma Pi Sigma and the Phi Sigma Mu.  For the past three years she has been supervisor of music in the public schools at Avon.  Mr. Harman is a graduate of Hamilton college and a member of the Chi Psi fraternity.  He is connected with the Associated Gas & Electric Co. of Oneonta.  Guests at the wedding, besides the bride's parents, were the bridegroom's parents, his brother, Allen, of Bainbridge; his sister, Mrs. C. Foster June [sic] and her husband, of Newark N.J., the bride's sister, Mrs. Richard C. Green and her husband of Gloversville.  [The Leader-Republican, Gloversville, NY, Aug. 21, 1937]

 

Harry Overfield Harman

in 1961

 

 Job Promotion, 1961:  Tax and Finance Commissioner Joseph H. Murphy today appointed Harry O. Harman, 53, of Fort Plain, deputy commissioner in charge of the division of the Treasury, Department of Taxation and Finance, at an annual salary of $13,000....The Division of the Treasury which performs functions formerly associated with the long since discontinued office of State treasurer, has custody of most state funds and is paymaster of unemployment insurance benefits.  Its transactions annually run into billions of dollars.  Harman is general manager and treasurer of R. Douglas Boyd Inc. of Gloversville, which operates a loan company.  He is also manager of Boyd-Harman Finance Co., Inc. of Gloversville.  He was formerly sales supervisor of the New York State Electric and Gas Corp., Oneonta.  The new head of the treasury has had long experience in banking and finance.  He is a director of Fort Plain National Bank, Boyd-Harman Finance Co., Albany Discount Corp., R. Douglas Boyd Inc., Schenectady Discount Corp. and New York State Consumer Finance Assn.  He has served as president of the New York State consumer Finance Assn., as treasurer of the New York State Sales Finance Conference, and as a member of the executive committees of both organizations.  A native of Bainbridge, N.Y., he attended public schools there and was graduated from Hamilton College.  He served in the U.S. Army in World War II.  Harman is a trustee of Hamilton College Assn. and president of the association's Trustee-Educational Trust Fund.  He is a member of Susquehanna Lodge, No. 167, F.&AM; a former president of the Fort Plain Community Club, and a member of Gloversville Eccentric Club and the Fort Rensselaer Club of Canajoharie.  He is affiliated with St. Paul's Lutheran Chruch of Fort Plain.  Harman married the former Jessie C. Boyd of Gloversville and they have one son, R.D. Boyd Harman.  The reside at Sand Hill, Fort Plain. [Evening Recorder, Amsterdam, NY, Feb. 15, 1961]

 

Obituary, 1971:  Harry O. Harman, 63, deputy commissioner of taxation and finance and state treasurer since 1961, died at 10:30 last night at Littauer Hospital where he was admitted Tuesday.  A native of Bainbridge, Chenango County, and former resident of Fort Plain RD1, he resided at 8 Ridge Road.  He was the son of the late Martin W. and Anna A. Harman.  His wife, the former Jessie Boyd, who he married in 1937, died a month ago.  Mr. Harman was president of the Boyd-Harman Finance Company in Gloversville and president of the Kingsboro Agency.  He attended Bainbridge High School and was graduated from Hamilton College in 1930.  He was employed by the New York State Gas and Electric Company in Oneonta from 1930 to 1939.  He joined Boyd-Harman Finance company in 1939 and in 1961 became its president.  He was a director of the American Fidelity Fire Insurance Company, Schenectady Discount Corporation, Scottsdale Discount Corporation, and E.J. Monroe, Inc.  He was a past president of the New York State consumer Finance Association, a member of its board of directors and executive committee.  He was a trustee of the Chi Psi Fraternity Association of Hamilton College.  Mr. Harman was a member of the Fort Orange Club of Albany, Community Club of Fort Plain, Fort Rensselaer Club in Canajoharie, Eccentric Club and Pine Brook Golf Club in Gloversville and the Susquehanna Masonic Lodge.  He was a member of the First Congregational Church in Gloversville.  For many years he was a director and member of the executive committee of the Fort Plain National Bank.  He retired from those positions shortly after his appointment as deputy commissioner of taxation and finance and state treasurer.  Survivors include a son, R.D. Boyd Harman of Chicago; a sister, Mrs. Dorothy H. Neff of Jacksonville, Fla.; a brother, Allen L. Harman of Apopka, Fla.; two nieces and three nephews. [The Leader Herald, Gloversville, NY, Jan. 14, 1971]

 

Harry Harmon, New York state official, whose death was recently noted in The Star, will be remembered by old-timers as once being a resident of Oneonta.  he worked for what was then known as the Associated Gas and Electric Company.  Some will remember Harry as a pretty good hockey player when he was an undergraduate at Hamilton College.  [Oneonta Star, Jan. 19, 1971]

 

Jessie Connell (Boyd) Harman

Fort Plain High School Yearbook, 1954

 

Wife's Obituary, 1970:  Funeral services for Mrs. Jessie Boyd Harman, 63, of 8 Ridge Road, wife of Harry O. Harman, Deputy commissioner of taxation and treasurer for New York State and President of Boyd-Harman Finance Co., Inc. who died Friday at Baptist Hospital, Scottsdale, Ariz., will be conducted at 10:30 a.m., tomorrow in the Finocan funeral Home by the Rev. Wayne B. Robinson.  Burial will be in Greenlawn Cemetery, Bainbridge.  Mrs. Harman, a native of Schenectady, was an officer and a director of Boyd-Harman Finance Co., and the Kingsboro Agency, Inc.  She was a graduate of Gloversville High School, Crane Institute of Music at Potsdam and Eastman School of Music, Rochester.  For many years, she was supervisor of elementary music in Fort Plain Central School.  Mrs. Harman had lived in Gloversville and Fort Plain most of her life. She was a member of the First Congregational Church and its Fortnightly Society.  Survivors, besides her husband, are a son, Roy D.B. Harman of Chicago; a sister, Mrs. Richard C. Greene of Gloversville; two nieces and three nephews. [Schenectady Gazette, Dec. 14, 1970]

 

News Item (RE: Martin W. Harman, father of Harry O. Harman), 1899:  Martin W. Harman, who was one of the graduates of the High school, class of '99, deserves honorable mention for his years of hard work, energy and perseverance displayed in prosecuting his studies under the most adverse circumstances.  Harman is one of a family of ten children.  His parents moved to Bainbridge in 1893 and being impoverished in means, could aid their son very little, notwithstanding they wished to do so. He entered the grammar room six years ago and remained part of a year.  After that four years were spent through the day in work to maintain himself and the hours far into the night in study.  In 1897 he entered the academic room and the following June he had passed all studies for graduation, but deferred asking for his diploma until this year, pursuing various branches at his home in addition.  Mr. Harmon has had one ambition in view and that was to fit himself for college and take a law course.  He has succeeded nobly in his desires, health, good habits and constant plodding, producing the best of results.  he goes to the Rochester Business institute this fall to get a knowledge of stenography and typewriting, hoping to enter Cornell university in 1900 and earn his support easily as secretary in some position. The future is bright before Mr. Harman and Bainbridge people wish him success.  [Bainbridge Republican, June 28, 1899]

 

Parent's Marriage, 1906:  Martin Harman, mail carrier on Route no. 2, left Saturday evening for Meshoppen, Pa., where today he is married to Miss Anna S. Allen.  After a trip of a few days Mr. and Mrs. Harman will come to Bainbridge to reside.  [Bainbridge Republican, Oct. 4, 1906]

 

Mother's Obituary, 1959:  Mrs. Anna A. Harman, 71, of 1 Kirby Street, Bainbridge, died Monday morning at The Hospital in Sidney after a short illness.  She is survived by her husband, Martin W. Harman of Bainbridge; a daughter, Mrs. Foster (Dorothy) Neff of Jacksonville, Fla; two sons, Harry Harman of Fort Plain and Allen L. Harman of Walton, and three grandchildren.  Mrs. Harman was born June 20, 1887, in Meshoppen, Pa.  She was a member of the Methodist Church in Bainbridge and a past president of the Bainbridge Woman's Club.  The body was removed to the Harold Sherman Funeral Home, 58 West Main Street, Bainbridge.  [Binghamton Press, May 19, 1959]

 

Father's Obituary, 1961:  Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY]:  Martin W. Harman, 83, formerly of Bainbridge, died Monday afternoon in Delaware Valley Hospital in Walton [Delaware Co., NY].  Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 22, at the Harold Sherman Funeral home in Bainbridge with the Rev. G. Thomas Skyler of the Bainbridge Methodist church officiating.  Burial will be in Greenlawn Cemetery, Bainbridge.  Mr. Harman, the first rural mail carrier in Bainbridge, was born on Sept. 4, 1877, a son of Jermey and Phoebe (Steen) Harman.  He married Anna Allen.  He is survived by two sons, Harry O. Harman, Fort Plain, and Allen L. Harman, Bainbridge; a daughter, Mrs. Dorothy  Neff, Jacksonville, Fla.; two sisters, Mrs. Mamie Hancock, Sidney, and Mrs. Susan Snedaker, Bainbridge; three grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.  [Oneonta Star, Feb. 21, 1961]