HISTORY: Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia, Chapter 7, William Harris, Dauphin County, PA 

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/runk/runk-bios.htm
_______________________________________________________________ 

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 113-114.
_______________________________________________________________ 

                       THE HARRIS FAMILY OF DERRY.

  Among the early settlers of this locality was William Harris, a 
native of England, and no doubt related to John Harris, the pioneer of 
Harris' Ferry.  He settled on the Swatara one and one-half miles above 
Middletown.  He was born in 1701 and died on the 4th of April, 1754.  
His wife was Catharine Douglass, of the family of Sir Robert Douglass, 
of Scotland, born in 1709, dying August 7, 1780, aged 71 years.  
William Harris and his wife are buried in old Derry graveyard.  The 
record of the children of these pioneers, as copied from an old Bible, 
marked "James Harris, his Book," reads as follows:
    2.  "James Harris wass born the 16th of January, being Friday, 
1739.
        "Sarah Harris wass born the 20th day of March, it being 
Saturday, 1741. 
        "John Harris wass born November the 20th, it being Friday, 
1746.
        "William Harris wass born November the 20th, it being 
Wednesday, 1749.
        "Mary Harris wass born July the 22d, it being Thursday, 1752."
  There appear to have been another entry in 1753, but it is illegible.  
As the youngest son, Robert, was born that year it was evidently his 
birth record. 
  William Harris died the year after (1754).  A distribution of his 
estate was not made, however, until 1763, when, on the 6th of 
September, the Orphans' Court, held at Lancaster, directed the 
following:
  "To Catharine Harris, widow of the deceased, the interest of one-
third, in lieu of her dower; James, the eldest son, one-third as the 
remainder, or two shares; while the other children - Sarah, John, Mary, 
and Robert - were to receive one share; the dower to be divided among 
the same upon the decease of the widow.  The personal property was also 
distributed in the same proportion, and their uncle James Harris, was 
appointed guardian of Robert, Mary, and John.
  Robert Harris, the youngest child, studied medicine and served as a 
surgeon of the Pennsylvania Line during the Revolution.  He was a 
valuable officer and highly esteemed by his confreres in that glorious 
struggle.  Dr. Harris died of Quinsy at the house of John Phillips, 
inn-keeper, the sign of the Blue Ball, almost twenty miles west of 
Philadelphia, in Tredyffrin township, Chester county, on the night of 
the 4th of March, 1785.  His will was written by Andrew Gordon, at his 
request, and is dated March 3, 1785, "recorded may 3, 1785, and remains 
in the register's office in Paxtang, Dauphin county."  Letters of 
administration with the will annexed were granted to Mary Harris, the 
wife of his brother James.  Dr. Harris willed the interest of a part of 
his personal estate to his brother John Harris during his lifetime, and 
then the principle to fall to Robert, son of James.  His land (donation 
land), when surveyed, he allowed to Laird Harris, son of James.  From a 
receipt still in existence, tombstones were purchased in Philadelphia, 
and as there are no records in the graveyard at Derry or Paxtang, the 
presumption is that he was interred at Tredyffrin.  The papers of Dr. 
Harris, which would be of undoubted historic value, were burned by a 
member of 

114  HISTORICAL REVIEW

 the family some forty years ago, to prevent their falling into the 
hands of strangers.  His medicine chest is in the possession of his 
grand-nephew, William L. Harris, of East Buffalo township, Union 
county.
  Of Sarah and Mary Harris, daughters of William, we have no record.

  II.  JAMES HARRIS, the eldest child, married, June 2, 1768, Mary 
Laird, daughter of William Laird and Catharine Spencer.  She was born 
April 28, 1750 (O.S.), and died December 13, 1842, and interred in the 
cemetery at Lewisburg.  James Harris died April 30, 1787, and is buried 
at Derry.  The children of James Harris and Mary Laird were as follows:
         i.  William, b. Wednesday, April 28, 1769; d. February 2, 
1785, and buried at Derry.
        ii.  Elizabeth, b. Thursday, July 18, 1770; d. May 20, 1842; m. 
Thomas Howard, d. January 15, 1842.
       iii.  Catharine, b. Thursday, April 2, 1772; d. December 28, 
1784, and buried at Derry.
        iv.  Jean, b. January 6, 1774; d. December 5, 1839.
         v.  Laird, b. Tuesday, February 22, 1776; d. June 30, 1804.
        vi.  Robert, b. Sunday, November 22, 1777; d. at Lewisburg.
       vii.  Sarah, b. Saturday, September 4, 1779; d. December 30, 
1827, unm.
    3.viii.  James, b. Wednesday, June 13, 1781; m. Sarah Bell. 
        ix.  Matthew, b. Friday, August 13, 1784; d. February 13, 1873.
         x.  William-Laird, b. Thursday, May 17, 1786; d. November 11, 
1845; was a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1833, and of the 
Constitutional Convention 1837-8.

  James Harris took and subscribed the oath of allegiance and fidelity 
to the State and Colonies on the 14th day of July, 1777, before Joshua 
Elder, magistrate at Paxtang.  He served in the army and was at the 
battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown.  During the 
year 1778 he was in service with his wagon and team in the Jerseys.  
After his death his widow removed about 1792, to Buffalo Valley, then 
Northumberland and now Union county.

  III.  JAMES HARRIS (James, William), b. June 13, 1781, in Derry 
township, Dauphin county, Pa.; dd. July 1, 1868, in Buffalo Valley, 
Union county, Pa.; m., October, 1819, Sarah Bell.  They had issue: 
         i.  William-Laird, b. 1821. 
        ii.  James-Spencer, b. 1823.
       iii.  Samuel-Bell, b. 1825.
        iv.  Mary-Laird, b. 1827. 
         v.  Robert-Douglass, b. 1829.
        vi.  Ann-Berryhill, b. 1831. 
       vii.  Sarah-Clementina, b. 1833. 
      viii.  Caroline-Douglass, b. 1835; d. 1864.
        ix.  Berryhill-Bell, b. 1837. 
  Of this family of Harris' none remain in this locality.  Like their 
neighbors of a century and more ago, their descendants have sought new 
homes, while only the brief tombstone inscriptions in deserted 
graveyards, and the mere mention of a name here and there on the old 
records, tell of the brave and hardy ancestry.