Herman Ossian Armour

{{Short description|American businessman and philanthropist}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2012}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Herman Ossian Armour

| image = Herman O. Armour.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1837|3|7|}}

| birth_place = Stockbridge, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1901|9|8|1837|3|7}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| other_names =

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| spouse = {{plainlist|

• {{marriage|Mary Jacks|1862|1870}}
• {{marriage|Jane Livingston|1887|1901}}

}}

| children = 2

| parents =

| relatives = Philip Danforth Armour (brother)
J. Ogden Armour (nephew)
Alice de Janzé (great niece)

}}

Herman Ossian Armour (March 7, 1837 – September 8, 1901) was an American businessman and philanthropist who with his brother, Philip Danforth Armour, co-founded the meatpacking firm of Armour & Company, which would exist as the nation's largest such company for much of the twentieth century.{{cite book|last=Allen, Albala|first=Gary, Ken|title=The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries|year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, CA, United States|pages=33}}

Born the seventh of eight children in Stockbridge, New York, his parents were Methodists of English and Scottish ancestry.{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Henry|title=America's successful men of affairs: An encyclopedia of contemporaneous biography|url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000|year=1895|publisher=New York Tribune|location=New York, United States|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000/page/n32 27]}} In 1865, Armour established the New York syndicate of Armour Meats under the name Armour, Plankinton & Co. This move was prompted by a series of restrictive laws regarding lines of credit in effect throughout most Midwestern states at the time.{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=Charles|title=The history of Union, Conn.|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunionco01hamm|year=1893|publisher=Press of Price, Lee & Adkins|location=New Haven, CT, United States|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofunionco01hamm/page/200 200], 201}} American forebear of the Armour family, Scotsman James Armour was among the earliest to settle in the newly established British colony of New Jersey, arriving just three years after its establishment in 1664, though settlers from Holland, Germany, Sweden, and France had been living in the area since 1614 in the former New Netherland and New Sweden (Nya Sverige) colonies. Armour died on September 8, 1901{{cite book|last=Marquis|first=Albert Nelson|title=Who's Who in America|year=1912|publisher=Marquis Who's Who Inc|location=New York|pages=54}} at his New York City home and was laid to rest at the family mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery.{{cite book|last=Keister|first=Douglas|title=Stories in Stone New York: A Field Guide to New York City Cemeteries|year=2011|publisher=Gibbs Smith|location=Layton|pages=51–52}}

Armour was a delegate to the 1892 Republican National Convention{{Cite book|last1=Rose|first1=Theodore C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtvkAAAAIAAJ|title=Proceedings of the Tenth Republican National Convention Held in the City of Minneapolis, Minn., June 7, 8, 9, and 10, 1892|last2=Burke|first2=James F.|publisher=Harrison & Smith|year=1892|location=Minneapolis, Minn.|pages=104|language=en}} and a presidential elector in the 1896 presidential election.{{Cite book|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.cu54374480|title=Proceedings of the Electoral College of the State of New York, January 11th, 1897|year=1897|location=Albany|pages=29|hdl=2027/nnc1.cu54374480}}