Edwin Thomas Harris
As I got into genealogy in my early twenties, one of my first brick walls that I tackled was of the parents of Edwin Thomas Harris. Edwin or E.T., is my great great grandfather on my paternal father's line. My father had two family Bibles, including the Harris Bible[1], and Edwin's daughters, Estella's and Cora's, photo albums. The wealth of information that these items have brought to my family search has still not been fully appreciated. But they gave me the beginning of what I needed to find E.T.'s parents.
Starting with what I knew, Edwin was born in Michigan during the year 1841; married Anna Catherine Spreen Adams in 1863 in Quincy, Illinois. He listed his place of residence as Hannible, Missouri on his marriage certificate, which is not far from Quincy. Edwin and Anna Catherine had three children, Cora, Estella and Fredrick. Edwin worked for the railroad as could be seen from the various documents that were found in the family bible. He also was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F). They showed up in the 1870 census living in Springfield, Sangamon, Illinois, United States and the 1880 census in Atchison, Atchison, Kansas, United States. Edwin died in 1893 in Greenleaf, Kansas.
Early Google Seach Find
In the early days of the internet, I tried different searches, finally one day flipping through the pages of results I found one promising from William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas[2].
EDWIN S. HARRIS, engineer on the Mo. Pac. R. R., residence 1505 Utah avenue, corner of Liberty street, was born April 19, 1841, at Bellevue, Mich. At the age of nine years he began as a train boy on the Michigan Central, which he followed two seasons; then for a time went to school, and afterwards came west to Wisconsin, and was brakeman on the old Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad. Then went as fireman on the New Albany & Salem road, but in the fall of this year returned to school again, and from that time until 1857 followed various occupations. Came to St. Louis in the fall of that year, and until September 4, 1864, was employed as a fireman on different roads. He was then put in charge of an engine, which he ran on the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad until the fall of 1864, and between that time and 1877 was engineer on various railroads, six years of that time being spent on the Wabash road. He then came to Atchison and entered the service of the Mo. Pac. R. R. where he is considered one of the best engineers on the road. Mr. Harris is one of the original members of the Loconotive Engineers' Brotherhood; also belongs to the I. O. O. F. and the A. F. & A. M., both in the lodge and chapter. His wife was Mrs. Catherine Adams, of Quincy, Ill., whose maiden name was Spreen. They were married February 22, 1863.
WOW! The new information, let alone the fact that I had an ancestor that would have his biography written in a book just floored me. There was much that I could glean from the entry, he was born in Bellevue, Michigan and started on the railroads at the age of nine. With a place to start, I started the search.
Michigan
His birthplace Bellevue, Michigan, is a small town that was established in 1833. Since my search was in the late 00s, there wasn't as many records readily available. I searched out more information about Bellevue and the Railroad. Eventually I was able to find the US census record from 1850[3], but they had only used initials for each of the person, but there was an E. Harris among them, the correct age.
Name: E Harris
Sex: Male
Age: 9 years
Birth Year (Estimated): 1841
Birthplace: Michigan
Race: White
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1850
Event Place: Marshall, Calhoun, Michigan, United States
| Name | Age | Occupation | Place of Birth |
|---|---|---|---|
| H. Harris | | 43 | | Farmer | | New York |
| H. Harris | | 33 | | | | New York |
| W. C. Harris | | 11 | | Attending school | | Michigan |
| E. Harris | | 9 | | Attending school | | Michigan |
| M. C. Harris | | 5 | | | | Michigan |
Clues from the Bible
While scanning documents, I looked closer at one of the newspaper clippings of an obituary for Rosa B Harris, and discovered that it must actually be Edwin's niece, not grandchild as I thought. Which meant one of the other people on that Michigan census might be her father. So, I started to research Rosa to see what I could find.
After some searching, I was able to find an index of marriages from Michigan[4] which showed her mother's marraige to Emmanuel and to Rosa's father, Charles William.
| NAME | SPOUSE | COUNTY | DATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHARLES W HARRIS | | SARAH - BAKER | | JACKSON | | 01 MAY 1860 |
| CHARLES W HARRIS | | MARY E VOORHEIS | | JACKSON | | 02 JUL 1868 |
| SARAH B HARRIS | | EMMANUEL A CUSTER | | JACKSON | | 07 JUL 1864 |
C.W. Harris matched the 1850 census. He would have been about the correct age as well. It looked like he might have married later on as well.
Charles William Harris
Charles and his brothers would have been the correct age to fight in the Civil War. Edwin did not fight, but instead had an important job in the Railroad. One of the first places I looked was in Michigan Civil War records to see if Charles might have served.
Charles W. Harris - Residence Jackson, Michigan - age 23 years old
Enlisted on 8/11/1862 at Jackson, Michigan as a Corporal.
On 8/29/1862 he mustered into "I" Co. MI 4th Calvary
He died of diseas on 3/1/1864
Promotions: Sergt [5]
He did serve. And so did his brother:
Melville C. Haris - Residence Springport, Michigan - age 18 years old
Enlisted on 8/11/1862 at Jackson, MI as a Private
On 8/29/1862 he mustered into "I" Co. MI 4th Cavalry
He died of disease on 1/16/1863 at Murfreesboro, TN[6]
Both of Edwin's brothers served in the civil war and both died of disease. Now I was down to who the parents were of Edwin, Charles and Melville. Both of their names started with H, and they lived in Calhoun County during the 1850 census.
In search of H and H Harris
Endnotes
[1]Harris Bible Records, circa 1863-1893, family pages Harris Bible; digital images made by Lisa Dunham (owner) held by Lisa Dunham, Renton, United States, 2024.
[2]Cutler, William G., History of the State of Kansas, A.T. Andreas, Chicago Ill., 1883, Atchison County, Part 17, accessed at: https://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/atchison/atchison-co-p17.html#BIOGRAPHICAL_SKETCHES_GLANCY-HINKEL, 19 February, 2024.
[3]"United States Census, 1850", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF8Z-RF8 : Wed Oct 04 22:19:15 UTC 2023), Entry for H Harris and H Harris, 1850.
[4]Jackson County Marriage Index, http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/mi/jackson/vitals/marriage/dbn-jun2007-harn-harr.txt, accessed 2008 (no longer available).
[5]Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers 1861-65 (c) Historical Data Systems, Inc. @ www.civilwardata.com, https://www.civilwardata.com/active/hdsquery.dll?SoldierHistory?U&200718: accessed 25 February 2024.
[6]Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers 1861-65 (c) Historical Data Systems, Inc. @ www.civilwardata.com, https://www.civilwardata.com/active/hdsquery.dll?SoldierHistory?U&200735: accessed 25 February 2024.