1900's Lifestyles and Social Trends | Huntington, Henry Edwards 1850-1927

STREETCAR MAGNATE, RAILROAD EXECUTIVE, FINANCIER

Apprentice.

Henry Edwards Huntington was born to Solon and Harriet Huntington in Oneonta, New York, in 1850. Huntington attended a local public school, finishing at age seventeen. He traveled in 1869 to Cohoes, New York, to work for his brother-in-law at a hardware store. His uncle Collis Huntington was a successful businessman living in New York City, and in 1870 Henry (known as Edward to intimates) moved there to find work. After a one-year stint working as a hardware wholesaler, Huntington accepted the first of many business opportunities from his Uncle Collis. He moved to Coalsmouth, West Virginia, and managed a sawmill owned by his uncle. In 1873 Huntington married Mary Prentice and bought half of the sawmill from his uncle, the other half having been purchased by Gen. Richard Franchot, a Civil War veteran and associate of Collis Huntington. Henry Huntington continued to...