Harris Ellsworth
American politician (1899-1986)
Mathew Harris Ellsworth (September 17, 1899 – February 7, 1986) was an American newspaperman and politician who served six terms as a Republican U.S. congressman from Oregon from 1943 to 1957. He subsequently served as chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission. Prior to serving in the United States House of Representatives, Ellsworth had served for one day in the Oregon Senate in the 41st Oregon Legislative Assembly.
Early life
Born in Hoquiam, Washington, Ellsworth moved together with his parents to Eugene, Oregon, and later to nearby Wendling, where he attended public schools. In 1922, he graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Oregon. He worked in the newspaper and lumber industries in the 1920s, and was an associate professor of journalism at the University of Oregon in 1928 and 1929. While serving as manager of the Oregon State Editorial Association (now the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association), in 1929, he purchased an interest in The Roseburg News-Review, eventually becoming its editor and publisher. Ellsworth helped to bring a Veteran's Administration hospital to Roseburg, which provided construction jobs to the area hard-hit by the Great Depression. In 1936, he was instrumental in bringing KRNR radio on the air, one of Oregon's first radio stations based outside of Portland.
Political career
In 1941, Ellsworth was appointed to the Oregon State Senate on March 15, the last day of the session to replace C. W. Clark, who died 5 days prior, thus serving only one day.
“Harris Ellsworth” enters the record as american politician (1899-1986). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Harris, Ellsworth and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1586202. VIAF identifies the subject as 76022008. The Library of Congress control number is no2004019391. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1986, 1943 and 1957.
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This entry incorporates text from “Harris Ellsworth” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.