Harry Wesley House was born around 1863 in Ohio to Samuel and Harriet House. His father was a gardener who owned $5,000 of real estate and $500 of personal property. He grew up and attended school in East Cleveland, Ohio.
He married Bessie M. Brown on October 27, 1897, and their daughter Harriet was born around 1899. They lived in East Cleveland, and House worked as a bookkeeper for the Cleveland Stone Company. He supported sectional reconciliation. As he explained in February 1914, he “had two uncles in the Union army & naturally grew up with a strong prejudice in favor of that side but that has left me as I have grown older and realize that both sides fought for what they believed to be right.” He died in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on July 28, 1927.