Harrington was born on August 10, 1878, in Fall River, Massachusetts.

He attended parochial school and afterwards engaged in the business of real estate.

[1] In 1902, Harrington served on the Fall River city council.

[3] In 1930 he announced that he would not be a candidate for reappointment and was succeeded by former Watertown, New York, manager J. Walter Ackerman.

[5] Another grandson, John T. Harrington, was the Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine from 1995 - 2002.