Hello! I'm rather brickwalled with my husband's U.K. HARRIS family - help! It's a bit of a needle in haystack. William HARRIS, (1826-1886), s/o James HARRIS & Mary SPICER, was born probably in England. One descendant thought he once heard that the place of origin was Wales, or the Isle of Wight, but all documents found so far just say England. Wm. HARRIS is completely unaccounted for up until his marriage in 1874, but there a couple of theories. Firstly, William HARRIS was a stonemason by trade. In the 1850s, in Carleton county, Ontario, (near Ottawa), a project known as the "Chats Canal" was proposed & tradesmen were called for from all over Britain & Ireland. After religious & ethnic rioting, political change & the sudden death of the fellow spearheading the endeavour, the plan was scrapped & many of the imported tradesmen stayed & turned to farming. William HARRIS farmed in Fitzroy Twp., Carleton County (& some family members believe he even built a local church), so he may have been among these tradesmen. Also, a strange coincidence exists. As I mentioned above, William HARRIS is largely unaccounted for until 1874, when he married Maria Ann PIERCE in Fitzroy Twp. In the census of 1871, for the town of Belleville, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada, there was another William HARRIS - same age, ethnic group, trade etc. - living with a wife, Augusta, & 9 children. In the census of 1881, they are not there. Where did they go? Did Augusta die? Is our William HARRIS & this fellow in Belleville the same man? William & Maria had the following children: twins Hannah & William Henry b. 1874, Sarah b. 1876, James b. 1877 & William John b. 1879. I have been sucessful in finding where these children went, although Sarah's life still needs more researching. She married Michael WHELAN & moved over to Alymer, Quebec, then had 2 daughters (Mary Agnes & Adeline) who never married, it seems. I am still hopeful they had more children, as there might be HARRIS descendants to find somewhere! What I wish to learn is where in the U.K. was William HARRIS born? When & why did he come to Canada, & with who, if anyone? Is anyone out there connected to this family? Does anyone know how I could narrow down William's place of origin? Thankyou for reading this l-o-n-g message & for any help you might give! Mary Harris