Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1910-06-02
THE HARRIS FAMILY
Two DerivatiOns Given for the
English HAIRLESS, Whose De-
scendants Settled in this
Country.

Frances Cowles in the Memphis
Commercial Appeal, has been conduct
ing "A corner in Ancestors and the
article appended is the result of her
researches in regard to the Harris fam
lily. There are a large number of
Harrises in this county, of whom Com
modore I. R. Harris, of this place,
holds an honorable position. The Har-
ris family is wide spread in America,
and holds an honored name.
The name of Harris, which has come
to be one of the strongest American
names, is of pure English or Welsh or
igin, and like many other characters
tic English names, is derived from a
first name. The family of Harries, or
Harry's family became known as Har-
ris when surnames came into general
usage, just as the family of Johns, or
Johns family, became known as Jones'
But for those who are not content
with the homely- but certainly honor
able-origin, there is Norman deri
walton which, through one Regullus
de Herrize, descendant of the Counts
of Vendome, established the family in
Scotland, and his sons we're created
Lord Harries in Scotland in 1893. This
Harrize was, it is said, not connected
in any way with the name of Harry,
which, of course, was unknown in
France, but rather with the old French
word, herisson, meaning hedgehog.
1t is quite true that on many Of the
old coats of arms of the family, the
image Of the hedgehog is to be found,
but this due in some cases, at least,
and perhaps in all, to the fact that the
Norman French, who introduced her
aldry into England, were very fond of
punning on old English names.
Anyway, the first Harris in this
country-at least so far as written re-
cords are concerned-was Thomas, who
came with his wife, Elizabeth, and at
least one son to Charlestown, Massa-
chusetts, from Ipswich, Suffolk Coun-
ty, England, in 1880. His son, Thorn
as, was born in England before 1915,
and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
in 1886. In 1915 he married Martha
Lake, who was descended from the
Earls of Arundel.
Thomas had brothers named John,
William and Daniel, and with them he
removed to Rowley, Mass. Later he
alone returned to Ipswich, Mass,
where he lived with his wife and
eight children.
His second son, John, born in 1863,
is described in the local records some
times as fisherman and sometimes
as Sergeant. He married Grace
Searls, by whom he had seven child
rem, the sons being John, William,
Samuel and Daniel. Samuel had son
named Edward, who, in 1890, left for
England, and went to the ''great from
tier that is, to Mason County, Ken
lucky, where he livel for many years,
and where he was known as typical
puritan of the old school,. 1t was his
daughter who was the mother of Al
bert Sidney johnson, the great general.
The Johnstons also came from New
England, and so it was that one of the
greatest Southerners was really de-
scended from old time New England
stock.
Another distinguished family of this
name is descended from James Harris,
who was born in Bristol. Somerset,
England, near Wales, in 1900. When
he was about twenty years old he
emigrated to Essex County, New Jer-
sey. His wife was nameI Boleyn, and
had six sons and one daughter. the
three eldest sons went to North Caro-
lima before the revolutionary war, ana
the Northern branch of the family
seems there to have lost trace of them
among all the other HAIRLESS. James
Harris was a merchant tailor by trade,
a strong churchman in religion and an
out and out Tory and loyalist in poll
tics. He died before the revolutionary
war broke out, but his wife seems to
have Influenced his sons-those that
remained in the North to join the
forces of the struggling Americans. for
they all fought with distinction at the
bloody battle of Monmouth.
Thomas Harris, the eldest of these
three brothers, was born in Essex,
New Jersey, in 1743. He married
Phoebe Harrison, and had six children.
One of their sons, George, married
Hannah Tunis, and had eleven child
rem. He went to Green County, Pa,
when it was still a vast wilderness,
and built log cabin there. His de-
scendants, it is said, live in nearly
half the states of the union.
The one daughter of James-sister of
Thomas-married Nathaniel Mitchell.
and was one of the New Jersey ma
irons who entertained Washington at
her home in the course of the revolu-
tionary war.
Another Harris first settler was
Thomas, who went to Rhode Island
with Roger Williams in 1885. He was
born in Bristol, or at least that was
bis bome when he emigrated to this