Jefferson-Statewide County AlArchives Court.....Harris (alias J. C. Sheehan), Archie P. July 10, 1945 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: L. Hanke lhbham@yahoo.com January 2, 2010, 3:00 pm Source: Loose Records, Jefferson Co Al Written: July 10, 1945 *********************** Archie P. Harris, alias J. C. Sheehan vs. Russell Harris Smith, Leonard A. Smith, Mary Elizabeth Smith Hudson, Guy Hill Harris, Kate Harris Newsome, Marie Harris Poe, Janie Harris Calloway, Clinton Harris, Albert Harris, Edna Harris Anderson, Robert Harris, James Harris, Melba Harris Hughes, Rose Harris McDaniel, and Waldine Harris Bell *********************** This case was filed in the Bessemer Division of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama and pertained to possession and ownership of a family Bible. The document is of interest because it gave names and locations of many members of this family. - Archie P. Harris, alias J. C. Sheehan, lived at 2400 5th Ave N. in Birmingham AL - Russell Harris Smith, P. O. Box 783 Wylam AL - Leonard A. Smith was a resident of Cottage Hills in Jefferson County AL - Mary Elizabeth Smith Hudson, Rt. 8, Birmingham AL - Guy Hill Harris lived in Crawfordville, GA - Kate Harris Newsome lived in Thomason, GA - Marie Harris Poe, Clinton Harris, Edna Harris Anderson, Robert Harris, Melba Harris Hughes and Rose Harris McDaniel all lived in Vidalia, GA - Janie Harris Calloway lived in Elba, AL - Albert Harris lived in Knoxville, TN - James Harris was a captain in the Navy of the United States, present address unknown at the time - Walden Harris Bell lived in Lake Worth, FL The focus of the case was described as follows: One Bible published in 1832 by McCarty and Davis, number 171 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, printed by Ashmead and Company, containing the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Apocryha [sic], being further described as being the old family Bible of Robert A. Harris and his wife Bell Hester Harris, the deceased parents of your complainant, which said Bible contains the family rostrum of said deceased parents and of the parties hereto. According to the case, the people mentioned above own either an undivided one- sixth interest in the Bible by themselves, or share a one-sixth interest as a group: - Archie Harris, alias J. C. Sheehan, owned one-sixth - Guy Hill Harris owned one-sixth - Russell Harris Smith, Leonard A. Smith and Mary Elizabeth Smith Hudson were joint owners of one-sixth - Kate Harris Newsome owned one-sixth - Walden Harris Bell owned one-sixth - Marie Harris Poe, Janie Harris Calloway, Clinton Harris, Albert Harris, Edna Harris Anderson, Robert Harris, James Harris, Melba Harris Hughes and Rose Harris McDaniel all shared one-sixth. Other genealogical information from the case: - The father of this group, Robert A. Harris, died intestate in 1888 in Aoniah, GA; the mother of this group, Belle Hester Harris, died intestate in 1890, same town. Their heirs at that time were as follows: - Archie P. Harris, a son - Russell Harris Smith, Leonard A. Smith, and Mary Elizabeth Smith Hudson, grandchildren, all children of deceased daughter Carrie Elizabeth Harris Smith who died intestate Dec 1942 in Fairfield, AL - Guy Hill Harris, grandson, child of deceased son James Graves Harris who died intestate in Wilkes Co, GA, c. 1925 - Robert Troupe Harris, a son, who died c. 1914 in Nashville TN, unmarried - Kate Harris Newsome, a daughter - Marie Harris Poe, Janie Harris Calloway, Clinton Harris, Albert Harris, Edna Harris Anderson, Robert Harris, James Harris, Melba Harris Hughes and Rose Harris McDaniel - grandchildren - children of deceased son Dewitt Clinton Harris who died intestate in Vidalia, GA, Feb 1943 - Walden Harris Bell, a daughter - Mary Harris, a daughter who died at the age of six - Robert Fred Harris, a son who died 1906 in Augusta GA without issue. The case claimed that Russell Harris Smith had within the previous 30 days taken sole possession of the said Bible, excluding the complainant and the rest of the respondents from the use and possession thereof; that the Bible was 113 years old, was in need of being rebound, and needed to be handled with care in order to preserve the original handwriting. Complainant Archie P. Harris said he had information that Russell Harris Smith was threatening to remove the Bible from this Court's jurisdiction and "to make a wrongful disposition thereof. Archie P. Harris requested the Court to make everyone named a respondent in this case, and in order to preserve the family Bible, for the Court to appoint a receiver to take charge of the Bible, and to keep it until further hearing of the case. Additional Comments: NOTE Interestingly enough, it wasn't concern for the Bible staying in the family that had Archie in court. He wanted the Court to order that a sale of the Bible be made, and that the proceeds from the sale be divided equitably among the family members. ****************** Information gathered while cleaning and indexing loose records in Jefferson Co AL. I am not related to any of the parties. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/jefferson/court/harrisal320gwl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb