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Rev. David Harris is my Great Great Great Grandfather. I received this picture twice. The first from Jack Forrester who had just received it from his mother Wanette (Thompson) Forrester, she was the great grandaughter of David Harris. Then I recieved it again from Martha Harrris who was a great grandaughter of Thomas Harris brother of David Harris.
"The Harris family of which Rev. David Harris is a representative comes of fine old North Carolina stock, Quakers all and for the most part farming people. They are a family of Scotch and English ancestry, and it is an established fact that the first of the name came to these shores prior to the Revolutionary war period. On their native heath they were Quakers of the Fox stamp, and on settling in North Carolina they helped to organize the church there.
The paternal grandfather of Rev. David Harris was Rev. Obediah Harris, born about 1775, and he was reared to farm life in his home community. He early gave himself to the work of the church of the Friends, becoming a minister, and he was one of the most influential churchman of his day, laboring long and faithfully in the spiritual behalf of his fellows, in whatever community he found himself. He was known to be an earnest worker and one devoted to his calling. It is said of him that so deeply engrossed in his work was he that he has been known to preach aloud in his sleep. While yet a resident of North Carolina he met and married his wife, a North Carolina girl, and all their children were born in their native state. Indeed, they practically grew up there.
Among their children were Thomas of whom further mention is made later; David; John; Jonathan; Susanna; Rachael; and of his second marriage there was one child, Jesse. All these children reached years of maturity; all married and reared families and died in advanced age; all were birthright Quakers; and all but Jonathan died in Indiana, he having ended his days in North Carolina.
Obediah Harris with his family came north in about 1820, bring with them all their worldly goods. They made the long trip in the primitive fashion of the day, riding slowly by day and camping out at night, and they finally brought up in Wayne county where they settled on Government land just north of New Garden. Mr. Harris hewed a little home out of the wilderness there, and when the Indians began to harass the white settlers and they fled to Richmond for a refuge, he continued at his work in the forest and field, trusting in God and His promises, and enjoying complete immunity from the annoyance that many of his acquaintances were subjected to at the hands of the Redmen.
For many years Rev. Harris preached in that section of the country, and he was a member of a committee for years that helped in the building of a goodly number of churches throughout the state. He organized many of them single handed, and when he died at his Wayne county home, full of years and secure in the knowledge of a life well spent in the interests of his fellows, he was truly mourned by all who had come within the sphere of his radiant influence. He was past eighty when he passed on, and a portrait done of him in the latter years of his life showed him to be a man of magnificent physique, and a patriarch of the old Colonial type, dressed in the garb peculiar to a period of half a century previous.
Thomas Harris, the father of the subject of this review, was born in North Carolina in about 1875. He was reared there and he also took unto himself a wife in that state. She was Mary, the daughter of George Shugart, of an old North Carolina family, and without exception, members of the Friends church. Some years after his marriage Thomas Harris accompanied others of his family to the North, the party including his parents and those of his wife, the journey north being made in the early twenties, as has previously been intimated. Their children also were with them, and they stopped in Wayne county for some years moving on to Grant county in 1832 or thereabout. Here they entered land in Franklin township, and Thomas Harris rode horseback all the way to Fort Wayne to make entry of these lands at the land office there. He added lands to his original holdings front time to time, paying $2.50 an acre for much of it, until he finally held four hundred acres in his own right. It is a fact that he lived to see that most of it developed and improved, and he ended his days on one of his farms, on October 4, 1870. His church home was the Deer Creek Monthly Meeting, as this Quaker association was called, and he was always an ardent and sincere Quaker. His first wife died at the old Franklin township home on December 23, 1862, when she was perhaps sixty-three years of age. She was a devout Christian woman and a Quaker also. She was the mother of the twelve children of her husband.
Thomas Harris married a second time, Mrs. Lydia Jay becoming his wife. No children resulted from this union.
Rev. David Harris is the tenth child of nine sons and three daughters born to his parents. All lived to mature years, two sons dying when they had just passed their majority, and neither being married. All the others married and became the parents of children. Those now living are as follows: Mrs. Mary Osborne, a widow living in Jonesboro, and past eighty-six years of age. Zachariane, a resident of Colorado City, Colorado, who has a family. Thomas J., a widower of Eudora, Kansas. David, mentioned later, and Newton, now living on the old homestead in Franklin township, where he has proved himself a practical and successful farmer.
David Harris was born in Franklin township on November 26, 1838. He was reared on the home farm, and there and on his present place of 100 acres in Sections 30 and 31, Mill township, he has spent practically all of his days. His is a fine and well improved place, and it has represented his home since about 1862. The house, a commodious and well appointed ten room dwelling, was built by him and overlooks the old Kokomo pike, while his barns and other buildings of a like nature indicate unmistakably that he is quite as good a farmer as he is a preacher. For it is a fact that Rev. Harris has been an active and enthusiastic laborer and preacher in the church for more than thirty years, and has carried his evangelical work far into the western states. He has done splendid work in the matter of organizing new churches in Kansas and Nebraska, and his influence has been felt perhaps in a wider circle than any other man in the community.
Rev. Harris was married in Center township to Miss Rachel Wiand, born in Carroll county, Ohio, on September 29, 1838. She came to Grant county in 1842 with her parents, Harrison and Rachel (Betty) Viand, who settled upon and improved a new farm in Center township, and there lived until they were well advanced in years, death coming to them there. They were members of the United Brethren church.
Mrs. Harris died at her home in Mill township, on March 6, 1910. It should be said that she was one of eleven children of her parents, all deceased with the exception of one son.
To Mr. and Mrs. Harris were born six children, concerning whom brief mention is here set forth as follows: Elmira is the wife of Clinton W. Hacket, a farmer of Mill township, and their children are Leona and George B. Hacket.
Elam H. is now living, but his health is very poor, and his condition has been precarious for some time. He was married in Center township to Clara McNair, and they have one living son, Earl. Another son died in infancy.
Rhoda J. is the wife of Josiah T. Walthall, one of the prominent men of Jonesboro, and of whom a complete family sketch precedes this review of the Harris family.
Ansel R. is engaged in the revenue service and is well known in his branch of the service for the excellent work he has performed. He now has his headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. He married Winnie B. Jones and they have one son, Herbert Harris.
Mary A. is the wife of Harry H. Jay, a farmer of Mill township, and is without issue.
David has been for some years in the Internal Revenue Service, but lately resigned and now makes his home with his father. He married Minnie B. Cox, and their children are Vivian and Gathal. The father and his sons are solid Republicans in their politics and citizens of a worthy type, well thought of in their communities and well worthy of the confidence and esteem their fellows accord to them."
"BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES INDIANA, A CHRONICLE OF THEIR PEOPLE PAST AND PRESENT WITH FAMILY LINEAGE AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS"; Complied Under the Editorial Supervision of BENJAMIN G. SHINN; vol. II ; THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY; CHICAGO AND NEW YORK; 1914 Submitted by:Peggy Karol and Karen Overholt
Rev.David Harris letter to his brother Thomas J. Harris
Rev.David Harris letter to his brother Thomas J. Harris
I received this letter from Martha Harris. She is a great grandaughter of Thomas J. Harris.
Rev. David Harris
51Yrs. 4 Months 1889
Rev. David Harris
51Yrs. 4 Months 1889
I received this picture also from Jack Forrester.
David E. Harris
December 03, 1874 - October 29, 1957
David E. Harris December 03, 1874 - October 29, 1957
David E. Harris is the son of the Rev. David Harris at the top of this page. He is also my Great Great Grandfather.(Received this picture from Jack Forrester)
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David E. Harris Business Card
David E. Harris Business Card
(I also received this from Jack Forrester.)
Vivian Minnie (Harris) Thompson June 15, 1894 - July 27, 1981
Vivian Minnie (Harris) Thompson June 15, 1894 - July 27, 1981
Vivian Thompson is my Great Grandmother.
Vivian and Alexander had 8 children. 1. David Hill Thompson b. January 02, 1916 d. 1986 2. Gathel Roberta Thompson b.
September 01, 1918 d. 1996 3. William Alexander Thompson b.April 08, 1920 d. October 22, 1969 4. Lois Vivian Thompson b.
May 11, 1921 d. May 26, 1987 5. Minnie Wanette Thompson (Twin) b. July 10, 1922 Still Living. 6. Thilda Wanita Thompson
(Twin) b. July 10, 1922 d. September 09, 1922 7. Rex Eugene Thompson b. December 19, 1923 (Still Living) 8. Harris Thompson b.
January 26, 1925 d. April 29, 1925.
She loved flowers and gardens. I remember every time she came to our house as soon as she got out of the car she headed straight to the garden before she ever made it into the house.
Lois Vivian (Thompson) Stevens May 11, 1921 - May 26, 1987
Lois Vivian (Thompson) Stevens May 11, 1921 - May 26, 1987
This is my Grandmother. January 26, 1925 d. April 29, 1925.This picture was taken when she was 16 years old. It was given to me by her sister my Great Aunt Bertie.
Teresa.