John Eugene Harding (June 27, 1877 – July 26, 1959) was a

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

and one-term member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

from 1907 to 1909.

Early life and career

Harding was born in

Excello, Ohio Excello is an unincorporated community in central Lemon Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States, on the south side of Middletown. It comprises roughly the area south of Oxford State Road and State Route 73, west of State Route 4, and east ...

, the son of paper manufacturer Abram E. Harding and his wife Christine. He attended the public schools in nearby Amanda Village, and the Pennsylvania Military Academy at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He engaged in business and industrial enterprises in

Middletown, Ohio Middletown is a city located in Butler and Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, about 35 miles (47 km) north of Cincinnati. The population as of the 2020 census was 50,987. It is part of the Cincinnati metrop ...

, including the family paper business, Harding Paper Company, which had a mill at Excello.

Congress

He was elected member of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the s ...

in 1902. In 1906 he was elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth Congress from Ohio's Third District. He was defeated as an independent candidate in 1908. He was a delegate to the Republican State convention in 1910.

Later career and death

Retiring from public service, he engaged in the paper business in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, until he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he was associated with the Pure Oil Co. from 1921 to 1926. He engaged in industrial enterprises until he retired in 1949. Harding died in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, aged 82. He was interred in Woodside Cemetery, Middletown, Ohio.

References

1877 births 1959 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople Papermakers People from Middletown, Ohio University of Michigan alumni Republican Party Ohio state senators People from Butler County, Ohio Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio {{Ohio-Representative-stub