Background
William Harnden was born on August 23, 1812, in Reading, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Ameriah and Sally Richardson Hamden. His father’s occupation was that of house-painter.
William Harnden was born on August 23, 1812, in Reading, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Ameriah and Sally Richardson Hamden. His father’s occupation was that of house-painter.
William received his public-school education in Reading, Massachusetts.
In 1834 William Harnden began work for the Boston & Worcester railroad, acting as conductor on the first train which ran over this road, and later becoming a ticket agent for the road. After he had been with the railroad five years it became obvious that he must find some less confining labor. James W. Hale, who ran the Tontine Coffee House at the corner of Wall and Pearl streets, New York, asserted many years later that he suggested to Hamden the notion of a messenger service between New York and Boston and likewise proposed using the name “express. ” Acting on this suggestion or on a plan of his own conception, Hamden established a regular carriage service for small and valuable packages which theretofore had been transported by stage-coach drivers, steam-boat captains, or the casual traveler.
After the purchase of a half-bushel carpet-bag and the insertion of an advertisement in the Boston papers, Harnden made his first trip, on March 4, 1839. Without capital, health, or influence, his chances of success seemed small. His first two months were unprofitable, brokers and business men finding it difficult to accept the notion of paying a fee for what had often been performed gratuitously in the past. Gradually, however, the advantage of a messenger who was regular, prompt, and trustworthy won increasing favor with the press and with business men generally. Before the year had ended Hamden had added several employees. One was Adolphus Hamden, a younger brother, who lost his life the next year in the burning of the steamship Lexington. Onother was Dexter Brigham, Jr. , who soon became a partner in Harnden & Company and continued the business after Harnden’s death.
For a time in 1840 it looked as if the precarious undertaking, made more difficult than usual by extremely inclement weather, must be abandoned, but the establishment of the Liverpool-to-Boston Cunard steamship line, with the resulting delivery in Boston of many packages for New York and Philadelphia, so increased business that more employees were added and the carpet-bag became a trunk. In 1841 branches of the company were created in Philadelphia and as far west as Albany, where the services of Henry Wells, as manager, were enlisted. Beyond Albany Hamden refused to go, having little faith in western profits. His own interest was in European expansion, and in the summer of 1841 Dexter Brigham and J. L. Stone were sent abroad to establish branches in Liverpool, London, and Paris.
About this time Harnden conceived of another possibility. Realizing the need for an increased labor supply, if the West were to be developed, and knowing that his influence in Europe would be enhanced if he interested himself in immigration, he added to his existing foreign offices others in Scotland, Germany, and Ireland and advertised the possibility of an easy transfer of money by the sale of bills of exchange on these foreign offices. Then he secured cheap passage for immigrants on a line of Boston packet boats and on Hudson River and Erie Canal boats as well. But neither this business nor the express business was financially successful, and Harnden, broken by his unremitting labor, died a poor man. His company, which after 1840 had had a rival in Burke & Adams, continued for some years after his death but was eventually absorbed in the Adams Express Company.
William Harnden is famous as founder of one of the first independent express companies in the United States, which later expanded and became international, opening offices in London, Liverpool, Paris, and Le Havre. His company was also one of the main importers of labor. It is said to have facilitated the movement of 100, 000 laborers to the United States.
Harnden's energy, industry, and perseverance far outrun his scant equipment of physical strength.
In December 1835 William Harnden was married to Sarah Wright Fuller of Newton, Massachusetts.
