Haller, Granville O. (Granville Owen), 1820-1897

United States Army officer, Washington State pioneer and businessman, Granville Owen Haller (1819-1897) was born in York, Pennsylvania, the last of five children. Haller served in the Seminole War and the Mexican War, and attained the rank of captain before he was stationed in the Pacific Northwest, where he actively fought Native Americans in the 1854 campaign against the Snake Indians and the 1855 Winnass Expedition. He also participated in the occupation of San Juan Island during the boundary dispute with Great Britain. After leaving the Northwest in the 1860s, Haller served under Generals McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker during the Civil War. In 1863, on the basis of an accusatory letter from a navy officer, Haller was discharged from the army for disloyal conduct. During the period of his dismissal, Haller and his family resided in Washington Territory, where he involved himself in all sorts of business ventures, including a saw mill, farming and a mercantile business. After sixteen years, an act of Congress finally got Haller a hearing. In 1879, he was exonerated and reinstated as a colonel. His new commission took him away from the Northwest for three years, but upon his retirement he settled in Seattle and lived there until his death. Haller, who had maried Henrietta Maria Cox in 1849 had five children, including Theodore Newell Haller (1856-1930), who became a prominent businessman, and George Morris (1852-1889), who died in a drowning accident off the coast of Whidbey Island while duck hunting with his brother-in-law, Edward Louis Cox, and Dr. T.T. Minor of Seattle. G.O. Haller also was involved with numerous Seatlle clubs and civic associations. He belonged to St. John's Lodge, the oldest Masonic lodge in Seattle and held the rank of 32nd degree.

Colonel Granville Owen Haller (1819-1897), commissioned a 2d Lt. in 1839, served in the Mexican War and was ordered to the Pacific Coast in 1852. After the Civil War, he returned to Washington and was serving as adjutant general on Governor Squire's staff during the Chinese riots.

Washington State pioneer, army officer, and businessman.

Haller served in the Seminole War and the Mexican War, and attained the rank of captain before he was stationed in the Pacific Northwest (first Oregon, then Washington), where he actively fought Native Americans in the 1854 campaign against the Snake Indians and the 1855 Winnass Expedition. He also participated in the occupation of San Juan Island during the boundary dispute with Great Britain. After leaving the Northwest in the 1860s, Haller served under Generals McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker during the Civil War. In 1863, on the basis of an accusatory letter from a navy officer, Haller was discharged from the army for disloyal conduct. An act of Congress finally got him a hearing 16 years later, when he was exonerated and reinstated as a colonel. After this, he served in the army for three more years. Following his dismissal, Haller returned to Washington Territory and started a farm on Whidbey Island, later operating a sawmill and a general store near Port Townsend. He served as president of the State Pioneer Society and grand master of the territory's Masonic Grand Lodge. His reinstatement in the army took him away from the Northwest, but upon his retirement he settled in Seattle and lived there until his death in 1897.