Posted by Loita Hawkinson: WILLIAM GRANT HARTRANFT.  Take from A volume of memoirs King County, Washington. 

It is a widely acknowledged fact that one of the most important works to which man can devote his energies is that of teaching, whether it be from the lecture platform, from the pulpit or from the school room. Such work tends to the elevation of man, prepares him for the duties and responsibilities of life and causes him to look upon life from a broader standpoint. Professor Hartranft has gained a prominent position in educational circles as a man of marked ability and to-day is serving as superintendent of schools in King county. He is a native of the state of Michigan, his birth having occurred in the city of Battle Creek, on the ist of December, 1866. He comes of German Quaker ancestry. His great-grandfather, Tobias Hartranft, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1734 and was identified with the Society of Schwenkeld, a branch of the Quaker society having come to America in order to enjoy religious liberty. John F. Hartranft, a cousin of Professor Hartranft, served with much distinction in the great war of the Rebellion and for gallant and meritorious conduct was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, while later he was elected governor of Pennsylvania, and the legislature of that state has erected a statue to his memory. He was one of the most prominent and influential citizens of the commonwealth and left the impress of his individuality upon its public policy and its substantial development. Daniel Hartranft, the father of Professor Hartranft. Avas born in Pennsylvania and is now sixty years of age. He makes his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, retired from active business. He has been a life-long

Republican and has exercised considerable influence in political affairs. He married Miss Effie Stetler, a native of Ohio, and a representative of an old eastern family that early established a home in the Buckeye state. Four sons and three daughters were born of this marriage and the mother departed this life in the thirty-eighth year of her age. Two of the daughters, Mattie and Ethel, are now residents of Seattle, making their home with him whose name ' introduces this review.

Professor Hartranft was educated in the public schools of Wisconsin.

At the age of seventeen years he entered upon what he has made his life work, the profession of teaching, being employed in the public schools of his native state until 1889, when he came to Washington. Here he accepted the position of principal of the school at Bucoda and was appointed on the board of teachers' examiners at Olympia. He taught at Port Orchard, while in 1893 he became principal of one of the city schools of Seattle. Under his careful guidance the school made rapid and satisfactory progress, many improvements being introduced. The people of King County manifested their confidence in him by electing him to the office of county superintendent of schools. He was a candidate for the position in 1898, but in that year was defeated by a majority of ninety-seven out of a vote of thirteen thousand. Nearly the entire ticket suffered defeat, but he polled a much larger vote than was given to many of the candidates. Professor Hartranft was later appointed principal of the Queen Ann School in Seattle and in 1900 was again unanimously nominated for the position of superintendent of schools of the county.

He made a successful canvass throughout the county and at different places displayed the text books which had been adopted by the state board of education and which he believed were totally inadequate to the needs of a first-class educational system. The people recognized the correctness of his views and gave their endorsement thereto by electing him to the office by one of the largest majorities given to any candidate on the ticket. Professor Hartranft at once entered upon the duties of the office and with much energy undertook the work of improving the schools of the county. He visited the different schools and organized the county into five districts, in which teachers' associations are held once a month. There r)apers are read and addresses are delivered on methods of leaching and this plan is proving both beneficial and interesting and has contributed in a large measure to the progress of the schools. The Professor deserves the credit of having introduced this system into the west. His efforts against the text books have prevailed and those which were in use when he began his cam-paign have been discarded throughout the whole state.

In 1890 was celebrated the marriage of the Professor and Miss Mary Adams, an accomplished teacher and lady of superior intelligence and refinement. She was born in Wisconsin and is a daughter of James N. Adams, who at the time of his death was the nearest living relative of John Quincy Adams. Mrs. Hartranft was a teacher in the Ellsworth public schools, and both the Professor and his wife are members of the Plymouth Congregational church. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity and has taken all of the degree of the Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty-second. He is connected with the Woodmen of the World, and has been a stanch Republican since attaining his majority. Both he and his wife occupy a very enviable position in social circles where true worth and intelligence are received as the passports into good society. It would be almost tautological in this connection to enter into any series of statements as showing our subject to be a man of broad knowledge and scholarly attainments, for these have been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. Though a man of strong convictions and fearless in their defense, he is always gracious and considerate in advancing his views. He is a man of strong individuality, keen mentality and of broad humanitarian spirit, whose interest in his fellow men is sincere, while his work is ever permeated by a desire to advance the cause of education, which is the bulwark and strength of this nation. During the year 1902 Professor Hartranft attracted attention as one of the leading- instructors in the teachers' institutes of the state.

From Mr. Hartranft obituary published in the East Side Journal, Kirkland, Washington, his home: William Grant Hartranft "Bill"

William Grant Hartranft former King County superintendent schools died last night in a Kirkland hospital. Funeral services (will be held at 3 o'clock Saturday at Green's Funeral Home, Kirkland, with the Rev. R. W. Pruitt officiating,

Mr, Hartranft was born in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1866. At the age of 17 he became a teacher in Michigan and was employed in the public schools, there until 1889, when he came to Washington.  He became principal at Bucoda. Thurston County, and later taught at Port Orchard. In 1893 he became principal of the Latona Elementary I School here.  He later was appointed principal of Queen Anne School and then was elected county superintendent in 1900.

About 1904 Mr. Hartranft joined, the staff of Silver, Burdett & Co., a textbook firm, as their manager here. In 1925 he joined the staff of the New York Life Insurance Company here, where he remained until his retirement a few years ago.

Mr, Hartranft was a 33rd-degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Kirkland Rotary Club,

Surviving are his widow, Nora, at the family home in Kirkland; two brothers. Oliver A, Hartranft, Santa Ana, Calif,, and Roy Hartranft, Alhambra, Calif., and two sisters, Mrs. George McCauley and Mrs. Ethel H. Plummer, both of Seattle.