Samuel Harris (July 2, 1850 – April 20, 1926) was a fishing captain and merchant in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Harris was a pioneer of the Newfoundland offshore Bank fishery. The son of Thomas Harris and Eleanor Ann Foote, he was born in

Grand Bank Grand Bank or 'Grand Banc' as the first French settlers pronounced it, is a small rural town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of 2,580. It is located on the southern tip or "toe" of the Burin Peninsula (al ...

and first went to sea at the age of ten. By the time he was 22, Harris was captain of the Jennie S. Foote. By 1881, he owned his own vessels. He became partners with a brother-in-law in a retail outlet. In 1895, he set up his own exporting business, Samuel Harris Limited. Between 1881 and 1926, Harris owned more than 60

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

s. By 1915, his son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

was handling the day-to-day operation of the business. A downturn in European markets following the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and a change in government regulations controlling the fishery resulted in the firm declaring bankruptcy in 1923. Harris became president of the restructured firm, now controlled by a consortium of its creditors. He also founded the Western Marine Insurance Company. He served on the Board of Works for Grand Bank and contributed most of the funds for the construction of the town's first hospital. Harris was married twice: first to Mary "Polly" Forsey in 1875 (she died in 1913) and then to Harriet Marion Harding in 1915. He died in Grand Bank at the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Samuel 1850 births 1926 deaths Newfoundland Colony people