William L. Harkness

William L. Harkness

William L. Harkness
Born August 8, 1858
Bellevue, Ohio
United States
Died May 10, 1919 (age 60)
New Hyde Park, New York
Resting place Woodlawn Cemetery
Residence New York City, Glen Cove, New York
Education Yale University (Class of 1881)
Occupation Business investor, Standard Oil Heir
Spouse(s) Edith Hale
Children Louise H., William Hale Harkness
Parent(s) Daniel M. Harkness and Isabella Harkness

William Lamon Harkness (August 8, 1858 - May 10, 1919) was an American businessman. He was born in Bellevue, Ohio, the son of Daniel M. Harkness (who was the half-brother of both Henry Flagler and Stephen V. Harkness both founders of Standard Oil) and his wife Isabella Harkness. Upon his father Daniel's death in 1896, he inherited a large share in Standard Oil, a company in which his father had been an early shareholder. He is the also a cousin of noted philanthropist Edward Harkness who also benefitted from his father's involvement with Standard Oil.[1]

Will attended Bellevue Public Schools in Bellevue, Ohio and The Brooks Military School in Cleveland. In 1881, Harkness graduated from Yale University. He gave encouragement to Henry Durand, a classmate, friend and member of the Wolf's Head Society, when Durand arranged Bright College Years. Will and his cousins Charles and Edward Harkness were also members of Wolf's Head Society at Yale.[2]

In 1896, he moved from Cleveland, Ohio to a home at 12 East 53rd Street in New York City. He also owned a country home, Dosoris, at Glen Cove on Long Island. A yachtsman and sportsman, he was a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club and Piping Rock Club.[3]

WIlliam L. Harkness died in New York City in 1919 and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. He left an estate of $53,439,437 ($729,381,644 today [4]), of which $37,272,254 was stock in Standard Oil. He left half of his estate including his houses at 12 West 53rd in New York and Dosoris at Glen Cove, NY to his wife Edith Hale Harkness. The remaining half was divided between his daughter Louise Hale Harkness and his son William Hale Harkness.[5]

William L Harkness house 12 East 53rd St., New York, NY
WIlliam L. Harkness Estate in Glen Cove, NY known as The Wings and then Dosoris.

Philanthropy

Shortly before his death, Harkness donated $400,000 to Yale University. The William L. Harkness Hall at Yale University was completed in 1927 as the gift of Mr. W.L. Harkness, BA 1881, and his family. It is a Collegiate Gothic building of Aquia sandstone with Ohio sandstone trim and contains offices and lecture & recitation rooms for the French, German, and Music departments. William Adams Delano was the architect.

Yachts and Wartime

The first of the W.L. Harkness yachts was the 195 ft. Gunilda which he bought in 1903. While cruising Lake Superior, William L. Harkness directed his crew to continue on without a local guide through the Schreiber channel, as he believed the fees were too high. The Gunilda ended up running aground hard on McGarvey shoal. Some blame his arrogance and others believe there were errors in US charts he entrusted to navigate the Canadian waters.The Gunilda hit a reef and sunk off of Copper Island on Lake Superior near Rossport, Ontario in 1911. Jacques Cousteau labeled the Gunilda "the World's finest shipwreck".

The second Harkness yacht, Agawa (seemingly named after the bay where the Gunilda was sunk), saw duty in both WWi and WWII as the USS Cythera (PY-26) The Cythera saw action in both WWI and WWII. The yacht was leased to the Navy in the first World War and then returned to the Harkness family. In WWII, Edith H. Harkness sold the Agarwa to the US Navy for $1 to be converted to the patrol yacht USS Cythera (PY-26) and commissioned on 3 Mar, 1942. At 0047, 2 May 1942, the patrol yacht USS Cythera (PY-26), broken into two sections during a torpedo attack, slid beneath the waters of the cold North Atlantic. She had been at sea just 21 hours 45 minutes, bound from Norfolk, Virginia, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was initially assumed by the US Navy that all 71 crew members had been lost and their families were notified on 2 June 1942 of their "missing status". However, for two crewmen this was not the case. The second yacht of William Harkness had sunk to the depths.

References

  1. ↑ Western Reserve Historical Society Publication, Issue 102, pg 26
  2. ↑ Phelps Association Membership Directory, 2006
  3. ↑ Western Reserve Historical Society Publication, Issue 102, pg 26
  4. ↑ "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  5. ↑ New York Times (june 28, 1922) | http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00B1EF939551A738DDDA10A94DE405B828EF1D3
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