Cumberland County, Maine - Hon. Edward Harding
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Biography
Hon. Edward Harding
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 691-692


Hon. Edward Harding, of Gorham, Me., an eminently successful merchant tailor,
was born in Gorham, January 10, 1841, son of Charles and Eliza Ann (Bailey)
Harding. He is of English descent, the first representatives of his family in
this country settling in the vicinity of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Mr. Harding's grandfather, Nicholas Harding, after engaging for some time in
tilling the soil on the Cape, removed to Gorham, Cumberland County, Me., where
he cleared and cultivated a farm. He was a well-read man, and taught school in
the vicinity of Gorham and Scarboro. He left a fair property at the time of his
death, his farm comprising one hundred and twenty acres. Grandfather Harding
married successively two sisters named Bacon, and reared six children -William,
Charles, Colman, Lucy, Mary, and Edward.

Charles Harding, the second son, was born on his father's farm in Gorham. He
also taught for a while in Gorham and Scarboro, and then learned the mason's
trade, becoming a first-class workman. He followed this calling up to the time
of his death, and many samples of his skill and thoroughness in building are
standing to-day in Gorham and vicinity. His first vote was cast in the ranks of
the Democratic party; but at the time of the war he joined the Republicans, with
whom he was ever after affiliated. His wife was a daughter of Levi Bailey, of
Westport, Me. They reared seven children, namely: Charles, who died at the age
of sixteen; Edward, the subject of this sketch; Walter, who assists in his
brother's coat shop; George, who for years was cutter in the wholesale clothing
house of J. Peavey & Brothers, Boston, was first President of the Cutters'
Union, and died in his forty-ninth year from heart disease, November 9; 1895;
Emeline, wife of Eben Elder, formerly of Gorham, now of Lowell, Mass.; Marion,
wife of Captain John C. Summersides, of Gorham ; and Carrie, wife of Levi Hull,
formerly of Gorham, now of Chelsea.

Edward Harding was educated in the common schools and the academy at Gorham. He
learned the mason's trade of his father, and when sixteen years of age went to
Boston to work as a journeyman mason, returning home in about a year. When the
war broke out he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-fifth Maine Regiment, under the
command of Colonel Frank Fessenden, now of Portland, and was assigned to the
defense of Washington. He enlisted for nine months, and when his term of
service was finished returned home and learned the tailor's trade, working as a
cutter for about a year. On September 10, 1865, he started in business in a
small way; and his trade has increased to such an extent that he now finishes
from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand coats a year, besides other
garments, and gives employment to five hundred persons. He has filled contracts
for many Boston firms, including Isaac Fenno and the Standard Clothing Company,
and regularly supplies Leopold Morse & Co. and Peavey Brothers of Boston, and
Milliken, Cousins & Short, of Portland. A practical tailor himself, Mr. Harding
thoroughly understands all the details of his business; and to his knowledge and
judgment, as well as his business ability, his remarkable success is
attributable.

In 1868 Mr. Harding was married to Miss Carleton, daughter of Caleb Carleton, of
Pelham, N.H. A few years after her marriage she passed to the world beyond,
joining her only child, who died in infancy; and in 1872 Mr. Harding was united
to Mrs. Putnam, of Salem, Mass., a widow, who had one son by her previous
marriage. This son, Edward F. Putnam, is one of the head salesmen of Cumner,
Jones & Co., of Boston, and has distinguished himself as a politician, serving
as President of the Common Council of Chelsea, Mass., and as a member of the
Republican State Committee of Massachusetts.

Mr. Harding, though a member of a Democratic family, is a Republican, and cast
his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. In 1884 he was elected
to the House of Representatives and served until 1887; and he was in the Senate
in 1888-89, and renominated by acclamation, but refused to serve. He always
attended to the town interests, and was active in securing appropriations.
During his last year he was a member of the Finance Committee and also of the
Insurance Committee, of which he was Chairman. He has been Commander and is now
Past Commander of John R. Adams Post, No. tot, Grand Army of the Republic, of
Gorham; was made a Mason when twenty-one years of age, joining Temple Lodge, No.
86, A. F. & A. M., of Westbrook; is Trustee of Gorham Lodge, No. 98, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows; and has been Chancellor of Dirigo Lodge, No. 21, Knights
of Pythias, of Gorham. Mr. and Mrs. Harding are active members of the
Congregational church, toward whose support Mr. Harding generously contributes.