Russell Benjamin Harrison, also known as Russell Lord Harrison, was a businessman, lawyer, diplomat, and politician.
Background
Harrison was the son of United States President Benjamin Harrison and Caroline Harrison, and the great-grandson of United States President William Henry Harrison. Born in Oxford, Ohio, Harrison grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana where his father had a successful law practice.
Education
Harrison graduated from the Pennsylvania Military Academy and in 1877 graduated from Lafayette College where he took courses in mining and engineering.
Career
Harrison oversaw communication with newspapers during the incident. At the end of 1878 he moved to Helena, Montana where he took a job in the United States. Assay Office with the help of his father who was then a United States Senator. The couple had two children, William Henry and Marthena.
In 1885 the family moved briefly to New York City, but had returned to Montana by 1890 when Harrison purchased the Helena Daily Journal.
Using the wealth, Russell Harrison invested in the Austin and Northwestern Railway, public transportation systems in Richmond and Muncie, Indiana, and engaged in land speculation in Montana. In 1894, he moved to Terre Haute, Indiana as president of the Terre Haute Street Railway Company, which he reorganized into the Terre Haute Electric Street Railway Company.
During the late 1890s, he was admitted to the Barometer With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, he was commissioned as a major and inspector general in May 1898.
He served in the force that occupied Puerto Rico and later became inspector general of Puerto Rico.
He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1900, and finally discharged in December of the same year. After the war he moved his family to Indianapolis where he set up a law office. In 1908 he returned to public service, serving as consul to Mexico until 1927, and doubling as the consul to Portugal from 1919 to 1927.
He first entered politics in 1921, serving two two-year terms in the Indiana House of Representatives.
In 1925 he was elected to the Indiana State Senate where he served two four-year terms. He died of a heart attack in Indianapolis on December 13, 1936.
Membership
In 1891 he became and early member of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.