William Eugene Harrington was born in Caldwell County, North Carolina, on September 24, 1886. Harrington worked at the Blair & Co. Grocery store in North Wilkesboro (Wilkes County) from September 1910 to July 1918, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He died at a Norfolk naval hospital on September 29, 1918, from the effects of influenza during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.