There are apparently a couple of publications on this family as well. The following was from another family tree on Ancestry.com. Harris Drinkwater Helmer Van Egmond Humbke Entries: 2061 Updated: Sun Aug 25 06:23:40 2002 Contact: Scott Harris Sources: Abbrev: The Story of Thomas Banks Harris Author: Mary Cole Abbrev: William Harris and Family Title: William Harris and Family Author: William Lee Harris Publication: New London, Missouri, November, 1950 Text: William Harris was born May 15, 1793. His ancestor were from Ireland. He died May 15, 1876 - 83 years old. For seventeen years he was badly affected with a cancer on the bottom of his foot. He was born in Kentucky. His parents moved to Virginia when he was sixteen then back to Kentucky where he married Margaret Downing Aug 10 1815. Some of his neighbours made him drunk the Christmas after he was married. He was so ashamed of it, he and his wife decided they would go to Missouri. In crossing a stream in Kentucky his best horse was drowned. He got a settler to take care of his wagon and things and his wife rode teh reamining horse and caried a spinning wheel. He carried his rifle to kill game to live on. They cam to Darksville in Randolph Co., Missouri and stayed one night. His wife ws homesick and seeing the little Indian ponies, he too, was unhappy for he came from Kentucky where men had good horses. So they started back to Kentucky picking up his wagon and goods, and tehy stayed in Kentucky two years. He got two good mares and a stallion and started back to Missouri., stopping in Lincolnc Co. where his wife's uncles and brothers had settled. Their names were Downings. Then they went on to Randolph Co close to where the had lived before. They lived there seven years, then moved close to Fayette. When the town was laid out, he carried the surveyors chain in 1833. In 1838, he moved to the old homestead near Burton, Missouri where he raised his family, and where the three old maids lived and died. He and his wife and the three old maids, Ezekiela dn this three infants are buried in teh family graveyard there. When he came from Kentucky, he carried coals of fire in his pocket wrapped in wood leather , adnt hat fire was never out until my day. The old maids got so feeble they could not get wood in so they got m e to level the fireplace hearth and close it up and put up a coal stove. This ws 1901. So the fire went out. He always had a good stallion and would lead him to water, sometimes five times a day. I remember him saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't amek him drink." When Ezekiel Harris (my father died, we lived close to them. I was five years old when he died so I remeber quite a bit about them. I was with the three old maids a great deal and remember many of the things they talked about. One story I recall was when they lived in Randolph Co. Their close neighbour broke his leg. Tehy could not get any doctor so Grandpa rode his mare to Fayette after Dr. Crews. He would not go withouth $50 in cash so Grandpa tied his colt to the barn and went back with teh doctor. When he had doctored the man, his wife gave him the money so Grandpa had to ride all the way back to Fayette to get his colt. Another story they used to tell was about a neighbour Grandpa did not get along iwth. This neighbour went to California for gold in 1849 stayed several years. Before leaving, he told his wife if she needed any help with stock to get Grandpa to help her - which she did. When he got rich he went to thank Grandpa. Grandpa told him he had done that for his wife and for him not to speak to him. He and his boys used to get up at three o'clock and kill hogs and dress them - then do a day's work for other men. We (mother and two little boys) lived in the Msaon House close to Grandpa from the fall of 1873 til the spring of 1875. Then Mother and Uncle Claiborne bought a farm apiece about a mile and half from Grandpa, and they ran it together. Mother hired a hand and he and Uncle Clabe did all the work and joined in one half the profits. Mother adn two boys lived in one house and Uncle Clage and Aunt Sue in teh other. That spring Uncle Will Harris and wigfe and son cam from Tennnessee in amover's wagon. He lived in a house on Grandpa's palce and tended the land till he died with heart disease. That was in Paril 1879. Then his wife and her boy went back to her folks in Tennessee. The Willima was here visiting in the summer of 1933. He and his wife have a boy and girl. The Old Maids Aunt Rachel was very fleshy and when she was old, was almost helpless. She fell in yeard and broke the lower end of her backbone so was never able to walk much afterward. She was the oldest and teh boss. Aunt Margaret was very deaf and very slim and had one bad hand - some of the fingers were crooked. Aunt Zerelda was the most active one. When they were older, she did all the marketing. She and Charley the horse, would go to town every MOnday morning if the weeather permitted. They had a flock of sheep. They sheared them took the wool to the carding mill and had it made into rolls. Then they spun the rolss into yarn; then knit socks and sold them to Mr. J.H. Pearson's Dry Goods Store. All fall and winter every Monday morning she woul dbe there. They would start knitting socks in daylight, then go to bed and blow out the cnadle and lay flat of back and knit. If tehy would dropa stitch they would get up and light the candle, pick up stitch, blow out the candle and go on knitting. They had a loom and wove carpets. They had one Sunday dress every five years. They kept the Sabbath - did no work and read their Bible. In their younger days all three rode horseback to church but after Aunt Rachel fell, they stayed at home and had their Bible lesson. They could repeat chapters of teh Bible by heart. They were Presbyterians. uncle Will Harris was Presbyterian preacher; Uncle Jack Harris was a Baptist preacher. Ezekiel, my father was a Presbyterian. War History as I have it Ezekiel (Bright) and Claiborne (Broad) were nicknamed in war. I have heard Claiborned Harris, also Will Turner, Sid Cunningham and Charley Sims who was their drummer boy and Charley WEldon tell how they were all together in the Civil War. They all enlisted in Cunningham's Co. of state Guards and served till Oct 1862; then re-enlisted in Clark's Reg. and served till the close of the war. When at Shreveport, Louisiana, in June 1865 Ezekiel was shot through the wrist while loading his gun. The ball passed through his wrist, canteen, lunch box and into the skin ofhis stomach. Claiborn Harris was shot in the same battle through his knee. They stayed in a cabin in the woods till they were well enough to join the regiment. Ezekiel would carry Claborne to a bog and he would sit and chop it; then Ezekeil carried the wood and his brother back to the cabin. They got some corn from an old colored man to live on. They were in teh Battle of Lookout Mountain above the clouds and could see it raining below them. Thery were also in Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas and Battle of Glasgow, Missouri. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carolyn Gibbons" <c.n.gibbons@worldnet.att.net> To: <MOHOWARD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 10:19 PM Subject: Re: [MOHOWARD-L] THOMPSON > I know nothing about the parentage of Thomas Banks Harris. Yes, Margaret > Dunn Thompson was the daughter of Nero Thompson and Sarah Elizabeth > Williams. (The Sarah part came from Betty Darnell and her Thompson book - I > have not seen it anywhere else.) Yes, they married 14 Jan 1845 in Howard > Co. And thanks for the more information about Thomas Banks Harris. I had > seven of the children. Glad to have more. > > I know nothing about the parents of Mary O Harris, either. It is reasonable > to me that they would be the same as Thomas B's parents. That is because > brother and sister often married brother and sister. > > Thanks. > > Carolyn