THOMAS L. HARRIS, M. D.

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 528
Berkeley

Son of a physician and surgeon who earned the love and affection of a large 
community in Berkeley County, Dr. Thomas L. Harris has likewise regarded
the profession as an opportunity for service, and for several
years has been one of the prominent medical men in Parkers-
burg.

His father was Dr. James Trone Harris, a native of Old
Virginia and a graduate of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons at Baltimore. He chose a country community,
Hedgesville in Berkeley County, West Virginia, as the scene
of his work, and though his abilities would have gained him
recognition in a larger city and broader field, he was satisfied
to do his work quietly and skillfully in that community,
where he lived until his death in 1894, at the age of thirty-
eight. He married Ruth Lewis Martin, daughter of John
Y. Martin, a native of Caroline County, Virginia. She
became the mother of three children: George H. Harris, a
Parkersburg lawyer; Dr. Thomas L.; and Mildred Warner,
wife of T. T. Tyler, of Washington, D. C. The first of the
family to locate at Parkersburg was George H. Harris, and
his example doubtless was an influence that led his mother
and Dr. Harris to come to this city.

Thomas L. Harris was born February 28, 1889, and was
only five years of age when his father died. He has availed
himself of the privileges of some of the best institutions of
learning. He graduated from the University of West Vir-
ginia in 1908, and in the same year entered Jefferson Medical
College at Philadelphia, from which famous school he was
graduated with honors in 1912. He remained at Philadel-
phia, and for two years was an interne in the Pennsylvania
Hospital and one year chief resident physician of the hos-
pital. He also served a year as chief resident physician of
the Children's Hospital. Dr. Harris on leaving Philadelphia
went to Louisville, where for one year he was a lecturer in
the medical department of the University, his subject being
clinical microscopy, and at the same time was house surgeon
of the City Hospital. Early in 1917 Dr. Harris volunteered
as an individual for service in the American Ambulance
Hospital, and it was while awaiting call to active duty that
he began his practice in Parkersburg. About a year later
he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps,
and until after the signing of the armistice was at General
Hospital No. 14 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, as instructor
in the School of Surgery. Dr. Harris was discharged Jan-
uary 14, 1919, and since then has resumed his practice at
Parkersburg.

He is a member of the County and State, the Southern
Medical and the American Medical Associations. Fra-
ternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of
Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine, is an Elk and Knight
of Pythias. He belongs to the Blennerhasset and Country
Clubs of Parkersburg and is a member of the Beta Theta Pi
and Theta Nu Epsilon and the Mountain College fraternities.