Hutchinson, Harris Winfield

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Harris Winfield Hutchinson, deputy state grain inspector at Hutchinson, had been in the grain business the greater part of his active life and had as many and diverse qualifications for his present position as any one could ask.

While he had lived at Hutchinson only a few years, he feels that the town had some specially intimate associations for him. It will be recalled that Hutchinson, Kansas, was established in 1871 and named for C. C. Hutchinson. A brother of this Kansas man, Asa Hutchinson, also founded the Town of Hutchinson, Minnesota. Mr. H. W. Hutchinson is related to both of these men.

Harris Winfield Hutchinson was born at Madison, Wisconsin, November 3, 1861. His father, Capt. Martin Van Buren Hutchinson, was born at Montpelier, Vermont, in 1834, and his parents removed to Wisconsin about 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory. They located at Packwaukee, where he was reared. He married at Waterloo, Wisconsin, and in 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil war, enlisted with a Wisconsin regiment of infantry and was throughout the entire struggle. He was through the Vicksburg campaign and many other battles and engagements, and after the war was sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as captain in another regiment to quell an Indian uprising. Following the war he returned to Waterloo, Wisconsin, and was engaged in the grain business there. In 1889 he removed to Farmington, North Dakota, and continued active as a grain merchant until his death in 1895. He was a democrat in politics and filled the office of constable and other minor positions. His popularity and ability were strikingly testified to when, during Grant's administration, he was appointed and served as internal revenue inspector for the State of Louisiana from 1876 to 1878. His headquarters were at Baton Rouge. It was most unusual for a democrat at that time to secure any important post from the administration. For many years he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

Captain Hutchinson married Mary Babcock. She was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, in 1839, and died at Farmington, North Dakota, in 1895, just ten days before her husband. Their children were: Harris W.; Edith, unmarried and a bookkeeper for a newspaper at St. Paul, Minnesota; Fred, who was last heard of by the family fifteen years ago; G. W., a railway mail clerk living at St. Paul; Harriet, who died in infancy; Seth, a twin brother of Harriet, died at the age of seventeen.

Harris W. Hutchinson received a high school education at Waterloo, Wisconsin, and left school when about eighteen years old. He then went to Dakota Territory, followed various occupations, but eventually settled down to the grain business and had followed that steadily ever since except for a period of five years during which he was postmaster at Wheatland, North Dakota. He was appointed under Cleveland's administration and served one year into McKinley's term. From Wheatland in 1898 he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, was there two years, and in 1899 came to Kansas, spending a year at Great Bend and other points prospecting and looking for a location. He was a resident of Oklahoma about two years, and for three years was elevator manager at Greensburg, Kansas, for the O'Neil, Kaufman & Pettit Grain Company. From June, 1913, to June, 1914, he was manager of the Farmers Elevator at Turon, Kansas, and on July 1, 1914, entered the Kansas State Grain Inspection Department as deputy grain inspector. He was located at Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas, and since January 1, 1917, had been located at Hutchinson, with offices in the Rohrabaugh-Wiley Building.

Mr. Hutchinson is a democrat and is a member of the Cleo Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Cleo, Oklahoma. November 24, 1890, at Eureka, Wisconsin, he married Miss Delia Donnelly, a native of Eureka. They have one child, Kathryn, who was born August 11, 1894, and is still at home. She graduated from the Kiowa County High School at Greensburg, Kansas, with the class of 1912.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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