this is an open letter to my harris dna group 8 and also to harris dna group 30 but in some ways it involves all of us and our on-going search for our harris families and our harris ancestors and how for most of us this has been and continues to be a long, involved, complex and confusing search.   for awhile now i have been corresponding with bill harris, whose ancestor robert harris/ emeline williams was living in 1860 in the same caneland district of cleburne co, al as my arch harris/ elizabeth carter's son wm abraham harris/ mary cohron and our arch harris' brother, daniel harris.   i have had for years our jane cannon harris' war of 1812 pension papers re our charles harris which she obtained in 1872 in paulding co, ga.   included with the pension papers are affadavits given in 1872 in cleburne co, al by emeline harris and hannah jane wright, stating that our charles harris died in 1865 in greene co, arkansas.   for quite a long time i had thought this was  bill's robert harris' wife, emeline harris and either their daughter, hannah, or someone related to them, who had given these affadavits there in 1872 in cleburne co, al.   about three years ago i began corresponding with another harris cousin, mickey woods, who descends from our arch harris/ elizabeth carter's daughter elizabeth harris, who married in 1865 in cleburne co, al his obadiah hooper.   i learned from mickey that several years previously  he had corresponded with cynthia harris osborne, who told him that this was her/ our charles harris on the 1850 census for itawamba co, ms with her cannon harris and his brothers, our richard harris; and ransom b. harris and their families.   since mickey had not seen our jane cannon harris' pension papers re our charles harris or had, at that time, corresponded with me, he could not really make sense of what cynthia was telling him.   however, as shown per the census records, living adjacent to our richard harris both in 1850 in itawamba co, ms and also in 1860 in greene co, arkansas was jasper wright/ emeline and the census records show that jasper wright and his wife, emeline, did have a daughter, hannah jane.   the info, then, shows that after our richard harris' wife, sarah, died and jasper wright had also died, probably there in green co, arkansas, richard harris remarried emeline wright and they returned to cleburne co, al.   so, instead, of this being bill's robert harris' wife, emeline harris, it was richard harris' 2nd wife, emeline wright harris and her daughter, hannah jane wright, by her 1st husband jasper wright, who gave these affadavits in 1872 in cleburne co, al, stating that our charles harris died in 1865 in greene co, arkansas.   per the 1870 cleburne co, al census,  emeline, who was called neither wright nor harris, was living with her children and enumerated with mary ingram, who, along with laban pitts, witnessed these 1872 cleburne co, al affadavits by emeline harris and hannah jane wright re our charles harris and his death in 1865 in greene co, arkansas.   the info indicates that both richard harris' 1st wife, sarah, and his 2nd wife, emeline wright, were the probable daughters of martin and mary peek ingram, who, along with our robert carter, jr; and our jane cannon harris were charter members  of the concord baptist church in 1832 in cobb co, ga.   meanwhile, i continued to believe that bill's robert harris was also related to my arch harris/ elizabeth carter and that his robert harris was also a probable son of our charles harris/ jane cannon.   recently bill participated in the harris dna project and has learned that he is a harris dna match with harris dna group 30.  pat morefield seaver; sandy harris hart and james hargraves are all a match and now bill harris and, so, are all now part of harris dna group 30.   i have to tell you i am bowled over in learning this.   already we in our harris dna group 8 and harris dna group 30 have had and are having "issues"  about our harris families and our interest in them.   for example, for some time james hargraves believed that this was  his edward harris, sr on twitty's creek there in lunenburg/ charlotte co, va but we have proven that, instead, per our harris dna, that this edward harris, sr and whose sons, stephen harris and edward harris, jr, also moved to laurens co, sc, are part of our harris dna group 8.   in my corresponding previously and recently with pat  morefield seaver,  we also share a lot of interest and similarities also in this same southside va area re our harris families and in these same individuals and families.   again,  besides her interest in their harris family in this same amelia/ halifax cos, va area, etc, her morefield family was also involved with this jonathan ashworth, who, like, our harris family, was on this partridge store ledger earlier in hanover co, va.   also, this same jonathan ashworth lived adjacent the hudsons and this lindsay family in lunenburg co, va.   lunenburg co, va deed book 4, page 302, 1756, edward morefield of halifax co, va to john hinson of goochland co, va for 7000 pds of net tobacco, 300 acres on sandy creek, bounded by jonathan ashworth, new line, and francis lindsay.  witnesses:  james hill; richard brown; rober wooding.   again, this same robert wooding, per lunenburg co, va deeds i have posted previously, witnessed a number of lunenburg co, va deeds also re my william harris, sr/ frances goode, including one of these halifax co, va deeds wherein he sold this wynn creek land to john camp.    it was also this same lindsay family, who inter-married with the same john hight/ mary reade family, who were not only involved with my william harris, sr/ frances goode also there in lunenburg co, va, but it was also john hight/ mary reade's son, reid/ reade hight who was the bondsman for the marriage of david harris to rebecca gilbert in burke co, nc.   this david harris/ rebecca gilbert was the son of minyard harris, who was the son of our edward harris, sr of twittys creek there in lunenburg/ charlotte co, va.   also, in regard to my interest in my william harris, sr/ frances goode being the son of william harris/ judith hudson, who was the daughter of peter hudson, sr, also there in this lunenburg/ halifax/ mecklenburg cos, va area, pat seaver and harris dna group 30 are also interested in peter hudson, sr and his family per their interest in their harris family, etc.   so, again, i am bowled over that bill's robert harris, who was living there in this same caneland district in 1860 in cleburne co, al as my arch harris/ elizabeth carter's son, abraham harris and our arch's brother, daniel harris is a match with harris dna group 30 and that, again, pat seaver and i also share a mutual interest in our harris families and/ or these same individuals and families, including peter hudson, sr,  earlier in this same southside va area.   i have to admit i sure do not know what to make of all this but it is certainly very interesting!   what it does tell me, though, again, is how amazingly complex and confusing these searches are for our harris families and our harris ancestors and how we need to continue to work together in our respective harris groups but still in our larger harris family group as well to learn more and  to solve a lot of these "issues" we have in regard to them.   of course, we also need to keep trying to find others to participate in the harris dna project because ultimately that is how a lot of these issues we have re our harris families are going to be totally solved and resolved.   meanwhile, i would welcome any input/ comments from our harris dna group 8 and harris dna group 30 and/ or others re our similiar interests in our harris families, etc, in these same areas and what this all, perhaps, may mean.     belva harris cauthen harris dna group 8--------26910