EDWIN POE HARRIS, son of Nehemiah Harris and Anna McGUFFEY was born 3 November 1835 in Mahoning County, Ohio. He was first christened Erastus Poe Harris but disliked his first name and insisted on being called Edwin, and by this name he is known. His early days were uneventful so far as recorded, but his love for books and constant desire for reading, was soon noted, and many times he would be found in some shady nook intent over Stephen's travels in Central America, or some other work of history or travel, when the other boys of the company were engaged in their sports. This tendency to study attracted the attention of his uncle, William H. McGuffey, of the readers and spelling book notariety, and resulted in his taking the boy into his family at the University of Virginia, where he (William H. McGuffey) was for so many years Professor of Moral and Mental Philosophy, and thus affording the boy superior advantages to that enjoyed by the others of the same family. After proper preparation he entered the University of Virginia, where he remained as a student until he received his degree as a Doctor of Medicine, while he was yet in his twenty-first year. His record as a student was creditable throughtout, and his standing in his classes during both his acedemic and professional course, was amongst the first. It was the intention of his uncle to prepare him for the ministry, but by the time he had finished his collegiate course, it was quite evident he was not suited for a preacher, at least one of the old Scotch Presbyterian style, and as a compromise in the matter, the study of medicine was selected. Directly after graduating, the subject of our sketch went North with the intention and for the purposes of obtaining a little rest and bracing up, which the years of hard study had left him greatly in need of, as well as to see again the family from whom he had so long been seperated, expecting to soon return and go to Micanopy, Florida, for a permanent location in the practice of his profession in connection with a classmate, Nettleton H. Payne, who has since become so famous as a surgeon and geologist. Circumstances, possibly very trivial, prevented his immediately returning South, and while at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he fell in with some parties going to Leavenworth, Kansas, with supplies for the troops then collecting at that point preparatory to a move on Brigham Young who had at that time declared Utah independant, and had set up a government of his own. >From this time we may date the unsettled and wandering life which has distinguished this one from the other members of the same family. Arriving at Leavenworth, Kansas, the excitement of the surroundings and the romance of a trip over the then almost trackless plains, induced the young Doctor to readily accept the offer of Russel----Majors and Waddell, then the principal Government contractors, of a position as physician to the men of their many trains bound for Fort Bridger (in the Southwestern corner of Wyoming Territory), and ultimately Salt Lake City. It is impossible in this sketch to give the many and stirring experiences of this trip which consumed almost the entire season for crossing the plains, then not accomplished as now. Slow, weary months of draying. through the sand, often suffering for water and menaced by treacherous Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, finally brought the trains through to Fort Bridger, where arrangements were made for the Winter. The greater portion of the transportation men were enlisted for nine months service, and our young Doctor was placed in charge as employed surgeon and physician, by the United States. During the month of November, which is the beginning of winter there, the Morman scouts passed from their camps into Echo Canyon around Fort Bridger, by routes well known to them, and intercepted the remainder of the supply trains when they had reached Hanis Fork and the main Green River, and burned a large amount of commissary stores intended for winter rations, and as a result the troops were left with less than half rations. This was a serious matter at that time, as there were no means of relief to depend on but the slow ox or mule train that would have to haul every pound of provision for over 600 miles, and that in mid-winter. Everybody got hungry, and the six ounces of flour a day, which was all the scanty store would allow, only kept the men with good appetites. The oxen that hauled out the summer supplies were killed for beef---such of them as did not die of starvation, and the old mules, when too poor to do more service, were slaughtered by the soldiers to add at least a soup bone. Any Indian's dog that might chance to stray into camp, was speedily dispatched and served up roasted under the name of Morman shoat. Our subject took his chances with the balance, as there was little or no difference between the rations of officers and men. Dr. Harris has often averred that this experience effectually cured him of severe dyspepsia, from which he had suffered for years. It is more probable that the invigorating climate and pure air had more to do with the cure than dog meat or poor mule. In the Spring, the Peace Commissioners sent out by the Government, made terms with Brigham Young, without any fight, much to the disappointment of the soldiers, and all moved on into the Great Salt Lake valley. After the nine months the men were disbanded. Dr. Harris remained in Salt Lake City for several months. The city was full of desperate characters, and one night in a difficulty over a card game, in which our subject was mixed, one of the parties received a pistol ball through his throat. and as the wounded man was connected with the army, and had influence, it was thought best to leave the city without advertising what route had been taken. The man shot recovered, however, after a long time. Dr. Harris accompanied by but one tried friend, started West intending to make California if possible, but after going in that direction some 300 miles they turned south and east, and coming down Laramie Fork, struck the overland route again, south of old Fort Laramie, reaching the Missouri River, at Atchison, Kansas, then a small town. There obtaining passage on a boat, they disposed of their faithful horses and landed at Boonville, Missouri. It seems this wandering had satisfied Dr. Harris, for a while at least. He went directly to the residence of John S. Jones, of Pettis County, MO., with whom he had been associated while on the plains, and by his advice and through his assistance, established himself in Longwood, Missouri, in the practice of Medicine, where he rapidly gained a lucrative practice, and there became acquainted with and married, Carrie Welbourn Wyche, on May 1, 1861. She was a highly educated and accomplished young lady from Yazoo City, Mississippi. Her parents both being dead, she resided with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Jones. The year, 1861, and until February 1862 contained possibly the greatest joy and the deepest sorrows of any in the varied life of the subject of our sketch. The same day of his marriage he started with his young bride to visit the scenes of her childhood and meet the friends of her early youth; returning, they reached Deer Park, the elegant home of her uncle, John S. Jones, on the night of the thirteenth of June, and the next morning he was aroused by messengers carrying the proclamation of Gov. Calib Jackson, calling for 50,000 men to defend the state of Missouri. Kissing his bride goodbye, while still in bed, he mounted his horse and set out for Georgetown, the county town, to see what course was to be taken, expecting confidently to be back at dinner. How little can we see into the future. That fond kiss was the last he was ever to bestow on her who was then to him more than life itself. Reaching Georgetown, everything was excitement and enthusiasm. A company of volunteers was speedily raised, and he was elected one of the officers, little thinking they would so soon be called into service, but before evening a dispatch ordering every available man to Boonville, was received. The company must go and go at once. It was never dreamed but that a few days absence, at furtherest, would be all that would be required. The result of that battle, probably the first field fight of the long and bloody war, on the seventeenth of June 1861, is a matter of history. From Boonville, the scattered and disorganized recruits were driven to Cowskin Prairie, in the extreme southwest corner of the state. The circumstances of war prevented his ever returning, and we will not dwell on the misery which the memory of that hurried parting must always bring up. But the limits allowed in this sketch will not permit us to follow closely the months that followed. After the bloody battle of Wilson's creek, or Springfield, he tried to reach home, but the country was full of enemy. At the battle of Elk Horn, our subject was taken prisoner, and although not belonging to the medical staff of the army he was compelled to do duty as a surgeon for the wounded Confederates, who were left without any medical assistance by their own army, except, perhaps, one or two field surgeons. Dr. Harris, during the battle of Elk Horn, and in fact from the time of the Drywood fight near Fort Scott, was Captain of Company C of the second Missouri Calvalry. He was kept on the battlefield at Elk Horn, assisting in caring for the wounded, until the 18th of April 1862, when he succeeded in making his escape. Joining the Confederate forces, then at Little Rock, Arkansas, he made his way to Corinth, Mississippi, where the Missouri troops had been taken. It was on his arrival there that he learned the sad news that the bride he had left so hurriedly, expecting to be absent from her side but a few hours, had been taken by the hand of death, forever from his sight. She died on February 22, 1862, leaving an infant daughter two weeks old. This was a terrible experience, and for months he was perfectly indifferent whether he lived or died. After passing through the campaigns of that summer in Mississippi, the Missouri troops were sent west of the river, and we find Dr. Harris in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in charge of the Third Division Hospital of the army under General Hindman. In February, 1863, he was sent to Boggy Depot, Choctaw Nation, as Medical Parvey, or for the Department of North Texas and the Indian Territory, which position he retained until the close of the war. Dr. Harris married for his second wife, Miss Ella May Wolf, January 14, 1864. Miss Wolf was a quarter-blood Cherokee, a daughter of Judge Thomas Wolf, one of the prominent men of the Cherokee Nation, and a son of the hereditary war chief of that tribe. Miss Wolf was a beautiful and accomplished woman, and devotedly attached to her husband. After the close of the war, Dr. Harris removed to the Cherokee Nation and again resumed the practice of medicine. His reputation soon gave him an extensive practice, and his home near Tahlequah was all that could be desired, and it is to this day one of the most beautiful locations in that beautiful country. He, however, unfortunately for himself, got mixed up in the politics of the country and owing to his influence with the then ruling party he was intensely hated by the opposite party. It can be truly said that during the life of Louis Downing, then Chief of the Nation, no white man within its limits wielded the political influence that did the subject of these lines. Upon the death of Col. Downing, however, the opposite party obtained control of the country, and Dr. Harris was forced to leave to escape assassination. While absent in Kansas waiting for an opportunity to return, his wife was suddenly taken ill and passed away before he could reach her side, although he braved all danger, and went immediately on receipt of the news of her illness. She died December 24, 1876, leaving a husband and one child, a daughter, Ida. After the death of his wife, and the excitement of political differences had somewhat died out, he returned to Muscogee and established a new newspaper, the Indian Progress, in connection with Col. E.C. Boudinot, probably the most intelligent and best known of any member of the Cherokee tribe. The enterprise, however, was not a success, and the policy advocated by the paper made it necessary, first, to remove the press to Vinita, and finally, to adandon the paper entirely. Boudinot and Harris advocated a progressive policy for the Indians, and this did not suit the ruling men of the tribes, who prefer to keep things as they are so they may be benefited at the expense of the many. Dr. Harris was about this time, placed in charge of the asylum for the insane and indigent maimed and crippled persons of the Cherokee Nation, which position he held for over a year. His management as medical officer gave perfect satisfaction, but political favorites had to be provided for, and the changes made in the force employed around the institution so disarranged his plans and the work and systems inaugurated, that he resigned his position in disgust and again left the Cherokee Nation, this time going among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, where he had many friends. Locating at McAllister, he opened a drug store, in connection with D.M. Hailey, of that place, and at the same time devoted his leisure to furnishing the Star Vindicator, a weekly newspaper of the place with his ideas on the Indian problem. The paper, like the Indian Progress, did not add to his popularity, and was finally abandoned. It became quite evident that publishing a newspaper in the Indian country and calling things by their right names, or expressing honest convictions, would never succeed until a different state of things existed. Dr. Harris has probably done more than any one man in the entire territory to show the Indians their only hope of existence lay in an abandonment of the title in common by which they hold their lands, and the securement, while it was yet possible, of a title in severalty. He has neever advocated opening up the country all through, though often charged with such opinions; but he has tried in all ways to convince the Indians that a change in their land title must come. These opinions, and his open and somewhat defiant mode of proclaiming them, has been the cause of all his trouble and his great danger in the country. When the coal mines were opened at Savanna, Dr. Harris, in company with D.M. Hailey, the principal owner in the mines, were the first ones to settle at Savanna, when , in the course of three or four years, they succeeded in opening the finest mines in the territory. Here Dr. Harris was placed in charge of all the men employed by the coal company, which company was really a part of the Mo. P.R.U. system, and for four or five years he did all the medical and surgical work of the company. Sometimes as many as 500 men with their families, had to be cared for, and the work required was more than one man could stand. Owing to the presence of gas in large quantities in the mines, and bad ventilation, explosions were frequent, and men were daily hurt and mangled until it sometimes looked like the results of a battle. Dr. Harris' skill as a surgeon was recognized all over the country as with a peer. The constant work was more than his health could stand, and after taking in another surgeon for a few months, he finally quit the mine practice entirely. Dr. Harris took for his third wife, Lou Jannett Perry, August 4, 1884. Mrs. Perry was the widow of the Hon. Eli Perry, one of the solid men of the Choctaw Nation. Mrs. Perry was a Chickasaw, who had received a thorough education in the Eastern States, and who had continued to improve her ample opportunities after she returned to the Nation. She had known the Doctor from the time he first came to the Choctaw Nation, during the war, and in her Dr. Harris has found a most loving and devoted wife, and one who is proud of her husband, and only happy when she is by his side or doing something that may add to his enjoyment. As a thorough housewife, their elegant home is at all times the picture of neatness and order, and the signs of her handiwork, in paintings, embroidery and fancy stitching is seen in all parts of her home. Mrs. Perry, now Mrs. Harris, was also possessed of large properties in farm, ferries and improvements, besides the best blooded herd of cattle probably in the Choctaw Nation, to which Dr. Harris has made liberal additions. Mr. and Mrs. Harris are now living very comfortably at Savanna, Indian Territory, where the Doctor has built a good house and is surrounding it with shrubbery and fountains and other elements of use and ornament, with the expectation of their spending what is left of life. The main cattle ranch is twenty-five miles west, and is claimed to be most advantag- eously located. There will probably be from 1,000 to 1,200 beef steers from four to six years old, matured on the ranch this year, 1887. Raising cattle is the most independant and least laborious mode of obtaining a livelihood. The Doctor at present does but little practice, only attending special cases. He is assistant surgeon for the Sedalia Division of the Mo. P.R.R., and examining surgeon for the pension office, and several insurance corporations. Until four years ago his years had lain but lightly, but since then he has aged quite rapidly, and although usually in fair health, is growing old. He had one child by his first wife: Carrie Harris, born 8 February 1862; and three children by his second wife, two dying in infancy, the other one, Ida Harris, born 24 November, 1864. His present wife has never had any children, but their home is made lively by the prattle of the grandchild and her mother, yet a gay young woman, and the many visitors who always find comfort and a welcome in the hospital home. Probably with the exception of the enemies made in the Cherokee Nation, no white man within the limits of the Indian Territory is more generally known or can count more friends among the Indians than Dr. E. Poe Harris. He lived at Savanna, Indian Territory in 1887. He had two children: 1. Carrie Harris b. 8 Feb 1862 m. ______? WEHRLE 2. Ida Harris b. 24 Nov 1864 m. W.J. CULBERTSON 6 Jan 1886 Rich Boyd