Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 529 of 1,110
vii, 9-1011 p. incl. ill., ports. : ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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HiSTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY. 499
and is now Assistant Quartermaster-General
of Texas. He has always voted the Republican
ticket. He has not taken an active interest
in political questions further than to
exercise his right of suffrage.
APTAIN WILLIAM H. HARRIS,
an old settler and a prominent and
much respected citizen of Dallas county,
Texas, is eminently deserving of honorable
mention in this work. Indeed, a history of
Dallas county would be incomplete without
a biography of him. A resume of his life
will be read with interest by many, and is as
follows:
Captain William H. Harris was born in
Simpson county, Kentucky, January 1, 1838.
He was reared on a farm and received a common-school
education in his native State. In the
fall of 1855, at the age of seventeen, he came
to Texas and settled in the city of Dallas.
At that place he and a stepbrother worked
together at the blacksmith trade for two years.
He then bought a half interest in a farm, on
credit, and improved it and lived on it one
year, selling out in December, 1860. From
1858 until the war broke out he was engaged
in teaming In the meantime he purchased
another of tract land-160 acres and made
some improvements on it.
In February, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate
army, as a member of the First
Texas Squadron, Company B, and was made
Third Lieutenant. The following April they
reorganized at Grand Junction, Mississippi,
and he was made First Lieutenant, and in September
he was promoted to the rank of Captain
by unanimous election. He went first
to Corinth and was then transferred to Morgan's
Command, being with Morgan in all hisraids through the South and North. At the
time of his noted raid through Indiana and
Ohio Captain Harris was in Tennessee, having
been sent back from Kentucky in special
service; and after Morgan's capture he gathered
up the remnant of the command and
was afterward with General Wheeler, through
the Southern campaign. He continued with
the Army of Tennessee through Georgia until
the close of the war; was with Jefferson
Davis a few hours before the latter's capture;
made arrangements to accompany a squad
that were going to Mexico with Davis, but
the plan was foiled. Captain Harris surrendered
at Columbus, Mississippi, after
which he returned home, arriving June 21,
1865.
The Captain soon afterward entered into a
cattle speculation and took a large herd to
Mattoon, Illinois. In this enterprise he lost
heavily. We next find him engaged in farming,
he having married, March 5, 1867, and
settled down on a farm. Up to that time
there had been little cotton raised in this
country. He turned his attention to its production
and after a time was enabled to pay
off the debt he had incurred in his cattle
speculation. He farmed three years, freighted
four years and then settled back to farming
again. He still owns the same farm, having
added to his original purchase.
Harvey Harris, the Capta'n's father, was
born in Kentucky, son of the Rev. William
Harris. The latter was Scotch-Irish, born
in the north of Ireland, and, after his marriage
to a lady of his own country, he emigrated
to America and settled in Virginia.
From there they moved to Kentucky, being
among the pioneers of that State. He was
one of the first ministers in the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church there, and made circuits
of 1,500 miles, preaching. He lived to see-
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Lewis Publishing Company. Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas., book, 1892; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20932/m1/529/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.