BIO: Robert HARRIS, Dauphin County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 192-193.
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  HARRIS, ROBERT, son of the founder, John Harris, and of Mary Read, 
daughter of Adam Read, Esq., of Hanover, was born in Harris' Ferry on 
the 5th of September, 1768.  He was brought up as a farmer, and resided 
in the early part of his life in the log and frame building on Paxtang 
street, now used as a public school.  His farm extended from the 
dwelling-house down the river to about the present location of Hanna 
street, and thence out over the bluff, including the ground occupied by 
the Catholic cemetery, containing about one hundred acres.
  By the death of his father, in 1791, much of the business affairs of 
the family was early intrusted to him.  He was possessed of 
considerable public spirit, aiding in the establishment of various 
enterprises, including the bridge over the Susquehanna, the Harrisburg 
Bank, and the Harrisburg and Middletown turnpike road, in the first two 
of which he was a director and perhaps also in the last.  Mr. Harris 
was appointed to various public trusts.  He was one of the State 
commissioners to survey and lay off a route for the turnpike from 
Chambersburg to Pittsburgh, also for improving the Susquehanna, in the 
course of which the commissioners descended the river below McCall's 
ferry.  When the Assembly of the State decided to remove the seat of 
government to Harrisburg, Mr. Harris was selected as one of the 
commissioners for fixing the location of the capitol buildings 
preparatory to the removal.
  During the mill-dam troubles, in 1795, Mr. Harris was one of the 
party of prominent citizens who finally tore down the Landis dam, the 
site of which was in the lower part of the city, and to which was 
attributed much of the sickness then prevailing here.  He was one of 
the first to rush into the water, and it was said that he was then 
laboring under an ague chill, but never afterwards had a return of it.
  During the war of 1812-14, Mr. Harris was appointed paymaster of the 
troops which marched to Baltimore, and acted as such at York, where the 
soldiers were discharged.
  He was elected to Congress and took his seat in 1823, and by a re-
election served therein until the 4th of March, 1827.  On one of the 
occasions he brought home with him a picture, made before the days of 
daguerreotyping, of the celebrated John Randolph, of Virginia, 
representing him on the floor of the House of Representatives enveloped 
in a large coat, extending his long, lank arms and his bony finger as 
he pointed it at Henry Clay and others in the course of his impassioned 
and sarcastic harangue.
  Mr. Harris served in Congress during the Presidency of John Quincy 
Adams, and of course knew him.  When General Taylor, as President, was 
in Harrisburg, Mr. Harris was appointed to deliver the address of 
welcome on the part of the citizens.  During the subsequent intercourse 
with General Taylor he observed to him that he had dined with all of 
the preceding Presidents.  He was married in Philadelphia in the spring 
of 1791, during the Presidency of General Washington, and dined at his 
table, and there or elsewhere with Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and 
probably Mr. Monroe.  He was intimately acquainted with General 
Harrison when a lieutenant in the army, had entertained him at his 
house in Harrisburg, and was invited to dine with him during his brief 
term as President.  He was on friendly terms with John C. Calhoun, and 
was well acquainted with General Jackson.
  After the State capital was removed to Harrisburg, the residence of 
Mr. Harris, who had in 1805 purchased the Harris mansion from his 
brother David, and from that period occupied it, was the center of 
attraction at the seat of government.  He entertained many of the 
prominent men of the State and of the Legislature.  At his house might 
have been seen Governor Findlay, Samuel D. Ingram, Thomas Sergeant, 
William J. Duane, Governor Wolf, and various other persons of 
distinction, including Isaac Weaver, of Greene county, speaker of the 
Senate from 1817 to 1821, a gentleman of marked presence, and who, Mr. 
Harris said, more resembled General Washington than any other man he 
had ever seen.  During the Presidency of General Washington, Mr. 
Harris, then a young man, accompanied the party on board the Clermont, 
the steamboat of John Fitch, when that vessel made its trial trip on 
the Delaware.
  The first prothonotary of Dauphin county was Alexander Graydon, and 
the first register Andrew Forrest, both sent from Philadelphia by 
Governor Mifflin, with whom they had served as fellow-officers in the 
war of the Revolution.  Governor McKean for some reason refused to 
reappoint Mr. Forrest, and tendered the appointment to Mr. Harris.  He, 
however, recommended the retention of Mr. Forrest, but Governor McKean 
informed him that if he did not accept the office he would appoint some 
one else.  He accordingly accepted it, but, it is said, divided the 
fees with Mr. Forrest for some time, and perhaps until his death.
  Until the close of his long life Mr. Harris was quite active in body 
and mind.  He died at Harrisburg, September 3, 1851, being within two 
days of fourscore and three years of age.  His remains repose in the 
beautiful cemetery now within the bounds of our city by the 
Susquehanna.  His warm and lifelong friend, Rev. William R. DeWitt, D. 
D., delivered the funeral discourse, which we recollect well of 
hearing, in which he paid a most glowing tribute to the memory of 
Robert Harris.  He died not unwillingly in the faith and hope of a 
Christian, and in the respect and kind regard of his fellow-citizens.
  Mr. Harris married in Philadelphia, May 12, 1791, Elizabeth Ewing, 
daughter of the Rev. John Ewing, D. D., provost of the University of 
Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Harris was born in Philadelphia December 2, 1772; 
died at Harrisburg April 27, 1835, and is there buried.