{{short description|American public official and businessman from Vermont}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Broughton Harris |image = Broughton D. Harris.jpg |alt = 1894 right facing head and shoulders portrait of Broughton Harris |caption = From 1894's ''Men of Vermont Illustrated'' |office1 = Member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County |term_start1 = 1860 |term_end1 = 1862 |alongside1 = John C. Richardson, Parley Starr |predecessor1 = Ranslure W. Clarke, William Harris Jr., Samuel L. Hunt |successor1 = Edward Kirkland, Henry E. Stoughton |office2 = Secretary of the Utah Territory |term_start2 = 1850 |term_end2 = 1852 |predecessor2 = None (position created) |successor2 = Benjamin G. Ferris |office3 = Register of Probate for Vermont's Marlboro District |term_start3 = 1847 |term_end3 = 1848 |predecessor3 = Royall Tyler Jr. |successor3 = Frederick Holbrook |birth_date = {{Birth date|1822|08|22}} |birth_place = Chesterfield, New Hampshire |death_date = {{Death date and age|1899|01|19|1822|08|16}} |death_place = Brattleboro, Vermont |resting_place = Prospect Hill Cemetery, Brattleboro, Vermont |party = Whig (before 1854)<br/>Republican (from 1854) |spouse = Sarah Buell Hollister (m. 1851) |children = 1 |parents = Wilder Harris<br/>Harriet (Davies) Harris |education = Dartmouth College |occupation = Journalist<br/>Businessman<br/>Public official }}
'''Broughton Harris''' (August 16, 1822—January 19, 1899) was a Vermont businessman and political figure. He was Secretary and Treasurer of Utah Territory, and became one of the Runaway Officials of 1851.
==Early life== Harris was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire on August 16, 1822. He was the son of Wilder Harris and Harriet ({{nee}} Davies) Harris.<ref>Thomas William Herringshaw, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xxg7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA451 Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century], 1904, page 451</ref>
He attended Chesterfield Academy and Kimball Union Academy, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1845. In college he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Delta Phi.<ref>Richard F. Miller, editor [https://books.google.com/books?id=8NMVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 States at War], Volume 1, 2013, pages 24-25</ref><ref>Phi Beta Kappa, New Hampshire Alpha, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OzriAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA36 Catalogue of the Fraternity], 1851, page 36</ref><ref>Alpha Delta Phi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8e0TAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA159 Catalogue of the Alpha Delta Phi Society], 1860, page 159</ref>
==Career== Harris studied law briefly before embarking on a career as a journalist as editor of ''The Vermont Phoenix'' and editor and publisher of ''The Semi-Weekly Eagle'', both Whig party newspapers.<ref>Dartmouth College, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YRsUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13 Necrology, 1898-1899], 1899, page 18</ref> From 1847 to 1850 Harris was Register of Probate for the Marlboro District.<ref>Jacob G. Ullery, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvg_AAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA182 Men of Vermont Illustrated], 1894, page 182</ref>
===Secretary of Utah Territory=== In 1850, President Millard Fillmore appointed Harris as Secretary and Treasurer of the newly organized Utah Territory. Harris and two other federal appointees were unable to work cooperatively with territorial Governor Brigham Young, and left the territory without replacements being named.<ref>Works Progress Administration, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aBfqhqule8MC&pg=PA64 Utah: A Guide to the State], 1941, page 64</ref><ref>Norman F. Furniss, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FtlxhQfecOgC&pg=PA39 Mormon Conflict: 1850-1859], 2005, page 22</ref><ref>Randal S. Chase, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OvnSO8VKD0EC&pg=PA85 Church History Study Guide], 2012, page 85</ref>
After an investigation determined that Harris and the other officials had fled the territory without cause, the Fillmore administration ordered the men to return to their posts in the Territory or surrender their commissions. Harris and the others refused and were thus dropped from the territorial government. Harris was subsequently offered appointment as Secretary and acting Governor of New Mexico Territory, which he declined.<ref>George Derby, James Terry White, editors, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q-c-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA238 The National Cyclopedia of American Biography], Volume 4, 1893, page 238</ref>
===American Civil War=== Harris settled in Brattleboro, Vermont. He became a Republican when the party was founded, and he served in the Vermont Senate from 1860 to 1862.<ref>Hamilton Child, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r9sCAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA110 Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885], 1885, page 110</ref>
Harris was also one of Vermont's Delegates to the Peace Conference of 1861, which unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the start of the American Civil War.<ref>Benson John Lossing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=k9wSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA235 The Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War in the United States], Volume 1, 1874, page 235</ref>
===Later career=== Harris became a partner in Harris Brothers & Company, one of the largest railroad construction corporations in the country, and he was also President of the Brattleboro Savings Bank.<ref>The Granite Monthly magazine, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bLAVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125 Necrology: Hon. Broughton Davis Harris], Volume XXVI (1899), page 125</ref><ref>Richard F. Miller, editor [https://books.google.com/books?id=8NMVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 States at War], Volume 1, 2013, pages 24-25</ref>
In 1884 Harris was a Delegate to the Republican National Convention.<ref>Republican National Committee, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ga01AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA65 Official Proceedings of the Republican National Convention], 1903, page 65</ref>
==Personal life== In 1851 Harris married Sarah Buell Hollister, daughter of New York City businessman Edwin M. Hollister. Sarah's nephew was banker and real estate investor Walter E. Maynard. They honeymooned while en route to Salt Lake City for Harris to begin his duties as territorial Secretary.<ref>Hamilton Child, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wWraIepDq4gC&pg=PA136 Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vt., 1724-1884], 1884, pages 136-137</ref> Sarah authored a journal of her 1851 honeymoon trip to Salt Lake City, her experiences in Utah Territory, and the return trip after her husband left his position as territorial Secretary. This journal was later published as ''An Unwritten Chapter of Salt Lake''.<ref>Newberry Library, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GTWNxL3BGBQC&pg=PA266 A Catalogue of the Everett D. Graff Collection of Western Americana], 1968, page 266</ref> Together, they were the parents of a daughter:
* Mary Buell Harris, who married attorney and writer John Seymour Wood.<ref>Yale University, [https://books.google.com/books?id=A1dAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA246 Biographical Record of the Class of 1874 in Yale College: Part Fourth, 1874-1909], 1912, pages 246-247</ref><ref>Lafayette Wallace Case, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5eNUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA512 The Hollister Family of America], 1886, pages 511-512</ref>
Broughton Harris died in Brattleboro on January 19, 1899.<ref>Erik S. Hinckley and Tom Ledoux, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KKqmQTXgf2oC&pg=PA115 They Went to War:: A Biographical Register of the Green Mountain State in the Civil War], 2010, page 115</ref> He was buried at Brattleboro's Prospect Hill Cemetery.<ref>Marjorie Valliere Howe, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kcjAQAAMAAJ&q=broughton Gravestone listings of Prospect Hill Cemetery, Brattleboro, VT], 2000, page 141</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Broughton}} Category:1822 births Category:1899 deaths Category:People from Chesterfield, New Hampshire Category:People from Brattleboro, Vermont Category:Dartmouth College alumni Category:Vermont Whigs Category:Vermont Republicans Category:Vermont state senators Category:People of Vermont in the American Civil War Category:Politics of Utah Territory Category:Utah War Category:Utah Territory officials Category:American bank presidents Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Category:Burials at Prospect Hill Cemetery (Brattleboro, Vermont) Category:19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly Category:Bankers from Vermont