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INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It seems appropriate in works such as this to briefly
discuss the methods used in
compiling the information contained in such publication.
A bibliography is included herein which lists existing
publications from which
information was obtained and used in this work. Some of the
materials listed in this
bibliography were reviewed for background information. The
information, in some cases, was found in more than one
source.
Some source information is identified and described as a
part of the text in which it
is used. Symbols and footnotes are used along with the text to
indicate specific
items in the bibliography.
A major portion of the information contained in this work
has been obtained by the
writer through interviews with individuals who very graciously
responded by relating
and supplying information concerning their families. Many
of those interviews were
in person, beginning about 1953. Some of the interviews were by
telephone.
Several hundred people have responded and assisted with
this work through those personal
contacts. The writer has been greatly rewarded in meeting and
getting to knob
so many relatives and friends in accomplishing this work.
Regretfully, many who have helped over these years have now passed
on.
My sincere thanks and appreciations go out to all of you
who have helped. Thank you
for your time, your assistance and your words of encouragement.
We have made our best efforts to correctly place into
print the information you have;
supplied. We would like to have done this without errors and
mistakes. Please forgive
us if we have failed in any way to properly state your
historical items.
Some have gone beyond their own families in furnishing family
information.
J. Harris Harper of Stone Mountain, Georgia published the
results of his research into the descendants of Matthew Harris
(d125/7) several years ago. He shared that
work with this writer.
Mrs. Nell Cook Lovell of McDonough, Georgia gave substantial
assistance in supplying
information concerning the descendants of her ancestor, Alston Green
Harris (d125/716).
Luther Pryor Harris of Seminole, Florida, Willard B. Harris
of Martinsville,
Virginia, James Alston Harris, Jr. of Alpharetta, Georgia, Leroy
Allen (L.A.) Harris,
Jr. of Henderson, North Carolina and Mary Elizabeth (Lib)
Walker Taylor of Norlina,
North Carolina helped to develop the histories of the children of
Robert and Ann
Fulgham Harris (d125), who made their homes along Little
Fishing Creek in, present
day, Warren County, North Carolina. Luther P. Harris also assisted
with his research
of early Harris history in England and
in North America.
Mrs. Mary Ellen
Lowery of Canton, Georgia assisted in the descendants of Rebecca
Harris Wesley (d125/7113).
Mrs. Ethel LeMaster Nolen of Alexander City, Alabama and
Mrs. Jane Avant Golden of
Eclectic, Alabama assisted in the descendants of Nancy L. Harris
Allen LeMaster
(d125/7111).
Mr. and Mrs. Tinsley Harris of Silverstreet, South
Carolina, Mrs. Connie Stabler
Kennedy of Mobile, Alabama and Mrs. Julie Suk Whiting of Mobile,
Alabama assisted in
the descendants of Judge Ptolomy Tinsley Harris, Sr. (d121/6124).
Many others have been of great assistance. Thank you all.
The compiler and writer of this publication presumes that
he has used methods in this
work that are commonly used in such undertakings.
Family research in some respects is like panning for gold.
One may sift through tons
of dirt and rock and find very little or no gold. A family history
researcher may
spend hours, days, weeks and months and find little or no
rewards for such efforts.
Some become discouraged and stop for a while.
Making a significant discovery is an event like finding
that gold nugget. As the
Greeks would have it, we shout, "Eureka, I have found it!" and so on
to next nugget. For example, this researcher searched for more than
twenty years to find the parents
of his ancestor, Matthew Harris, who died in 1813.
Everybody's ancestors are out there in the years gone by,
waiting to be discovered by
those who have the time and are willing to make the effort. We reach
our ancient
roots by beginning with ourselves and proceeding backward
in time one generation at a
time. There is no way to jump generations. A narrow spine of
ancestry is developed back to a time period that satisfies the
researcher. This history was accomplished
in such manner.
Afterwards, the history was expanded and brought forward
in time to include the
descendants of the brothers and sisters of older generations. A goal
was adopted to
find living descendants of those people. This trail, of
course, leads into many
other family names.
This writer went through several stages of thought in
deciding the appropriate point
in: time at which to begin the family narrative. The place to start,
of course, depends on how much of the family story one knows at the time
the decision is made. In
this case, the place to start varied as time passed and as more of
the story was discovered.
The decision to
begin the story with our ancestors arriving in the Virginia Colony,
the beginning of our American ancestry, came late in the process.
That point of beginning
permitted us to begin the story with a single thread of ancestry and
from that, thread to weave the cloth of this American
Harris family and its descendants who
bear other family names.
The development of additional personal items of family
information has permitted us
to know more of the life activities of our members, including their
occupations and accomplishments.
An effort has been made to include items of general history
that were taking place at
the time these ancestors were living. The personal involvement of
our ancestors in
the establishment of the Virginia Colony is an example.
The writer studied related information found in State
Archives of History including
those located in Montgomery, Atlanta, Jackson, Raleigh, Columbia,
Nashville, Richmond
and Austin.
Public libraries have been used in large cities and in
small villages in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Texas and Virginia.
County courthouse records have been searched in the states
of Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Texas and Virginia.
Federal census records were reviewed wherever they were
found including the Federal
Records Center in East Point, Georgia. The Federal Center has census
records from all states. Federal census records from 1790 through
1920 are currently available
for public inspection. Some state census records were found in
North Carolina.
The writer found and used several old family Bible records.
The writer visited
several hundred cemeteries in several states to secure family
records from grave
markers. Cemetery books, where available, were used for the same
purposes.
The writer has made extensive usage of wills, census
records and land conveyance records
in reaching conclusions as to what persons made up particular
families.
Most of the wills were reviewed in the courthouses where
they are recorded. Notes
were taken from many of these wills. Copies of some of the wills
were made. Some of
those are reproduced in this publication.
This Harris family has made and used wills extensively
both in England and in North
America. Those wills have furnished an abundance of family
information.
Records of land transactions have been quite helpful in
estimating when families
moved from one location to another.
Marriage records, estate administration records, and years
support for minor children
and widows records have also been helpful in establishing family
relationships.
The writer has used the Encyclopaedia Britannica
extensively and selectively in the
English portion of this work.
A family researcher creates nothing except a record of what he or
she has learned
from individuals, existing records, or from some other person's
previous efforts.
This writer is
more than anxious to give full credit for all sources of information
used.
ABOUT THE COMPILER-WRITER
OF THIS FAMILY HISTORY
ROBERT E. HARRIS
Robert was born and grew up in the Appalachian highlands of
northeast Alabama. His
home, DeKalb County, includes areas of Sand Mountain, Lookout
Mountain, ridges,
valleys and streams. The writer's childhood home at 600
Gault Avenue South in Fort
Payne is located in Little Wills Valley. The front entrance to this
home opens to a
beautiful view of Lookout Mountain rising up within a mile to the
southeast.
The writer's grandparents, Thomas G. and Frances Jackson
Harris, brought their family
to this area in 1882. The writer's maternal ancestors, Alexander W.
Majors and
Mathias Chitwood, were living in this area about the year
1835 while it was still a
part of the Cherokee Indian Nation. These families have been and
still are very much
a part of the business, political and
social culture of this area.
The writer represented DeKalb County
for four years in the Alabama House of Representatives.
This same seat had been occupied for two terms by the writer's
ancestor, Alexander W.
Majors. It was also occupied for one term by the writer's ancestor,
the Reverend Bailey Bruce.
The writer,
during his teens, served as a rifleman in combat in Europe in
General Patton's Third Army
during World War II.
The writer earned three degrees in colleges: a degree in
civil engineering from
Georgia Tech and two degrees in law (LLB and LLM). The writer is a
Registered Professional
Engineer and a member of the active bar of Georgia.
The writer worked in the development of public roads for 12
years. This included
service as a county engineer for DeKalb County, Alabama. He has
worked for 28 years
in the planning and development of public airports in the
southeastern United States.
The writer
developed an interest in local history and in family history while
living in DeKalb County,
Alabama. He worked, first, on his mother's family history.
The writer considers himself to have limited skills in the field of
compiling family historical
records. Compensating, somewhat, for those limitations in skills,
the writer has substituted persistence, patience and a substantial amount of
personal time and effort. This effort and time has been spread over
a span of more than 40 years.
Some time ago, the writer was enjoying dinner and chatting
with some coworkers in
a restaurant in Washington, D. C. A stranger stopped by our table
and, in a
rather pleasant voice, asked me how far south one would
have to go to get a drawl
in his speech equal to mine.
The writer is very much a product of the culture in which he grew
up. That fact, notwithstanding a drawl and a you all, is a source of
personal satisfaction and contentment.
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