Russell Benjamin Harrison

Russell Benjamin Harrison (August 12, 1854 – December 13, 1936), also known as Russell Lord Harrison, was an American businessman, lawyer, diplomat, and politician. He was a descendant of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, being the grandson of Benjamin Harrison and the great-grandson of William Henry Harrison.

Born in Oxford, Ohio, Harrison was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, where his father maintained a law practice. He graduated from the Pennsylvania Military Academy and subsequently from Lafayette College in 1877, taking courses in mining and engineering.

In 1878, during an incident involving his grandfather John Scott Harrison’s exhumation and hanging from a tree near the Ohio Medical College, Harrison was involved in overseeing communication with newspapers regarding the event. Later that year, he relocated to Helena, Montana, taking a position at the U.S. Assay Office, facilitated by his father, then serving as a U.S. senator.

Harrison married May Saunders, daughter of former Nebraska Governor and Senator Alvin Saunders, on January 10, 1884. The couple had two children: William Henry Harrison III and Marthena. The family lived briefly in New York City in 1885 before returning to Montana around 1890, when Harrison purchased the Helena Daily Journal.

Following his father's remarriage to Mary Scott Lord Dimmick, Harrison became estranged from him. He engaged in various investments, including the Austin and Northwestern Railway, public transportation systems in Richmond and Muncie, Indiana, and land speculation in Montana.

In 1894, Harrison moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he served as president and reorganized the Terre Haute Street Railway Company into the Terre Haute Electric Street Railway Company. His son William Henry Harrison III was born there in 1896. During the late 1890s, Harrison was admitted to the bar.

With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, Harrison was commissioned as a major and inspector general in May 1898. He participated in the occupation of Puerto Rico and subsequently served as inspector general of Puerto Rico. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1900 and was discharged in December of that year.

After his military service, Harrison settled in Indianapolis, establishing a law practice. His military service and genealogical ties made him a member of several veteran organizations, including the Military Order of Foreign Wars and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, succeeding his father in the latter. He also became an early member of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1891.

Harrison served as a U.S. consul to Mexico from 1908 to 1927 and concurrently as consul to Portugal from 1919 to 1927. He entered Indiana politics in 1921, serving two terms in the Indiana House of Representatives. In 1924, he was elected to the Indiana State Senate, serving two four-year terms. Harrison died of a heart attack in Indianapolis on December 13, 1936. He was the last surviving child of Benjamin and Caroline Harrison.