Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/117

 HARRIS

HARRIS

nership with a brother in Tippah county, Miss. , 1837-40; studied law, 1840-41, and practised, 1841- 47. He was a state senator, 1847-48; district presidential elector, 1848-49; representative in the 31st and 32d congresses, 1849-53; declined to stand as a candidate for re-election in 1853, and removed to Memphis in 1853, where he prac- tised law for three years. He again entered politics as candidate for Democratic elector at large in 1856, and was elected by 10,000 majority. He was governor of Tennessee, 1857-62; aide-de- camp to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in 1862, and was with him on the battle-field of Sliiloh, saw him fall and received his last messages to his friends; was aide to Gen. G. T. Beauregard, 1862-63 ; to General Bragg, 1863-64; to Gen. Joseph E. John- ston, 1864, and to Gen. Joseph B. Hood, 1864-65. This service made him a participant in all the battles in Tennessee and Nortli Georgia, 1862-65. He was in Mexico and England, 1865-76; and while absent. Governor Brownlow offered a reward for his apprehension, charging him with having carried off §500,000, the school fund of the state. Upon his return to Tennessee he called upon Governor Brownlow and restored the entire sum which he had carried in his wanderings. He resumed the practice of law in Memphis, Tenn., in 1807, and in 1877 succeeded the Hon. Henry Cooper as U.S. senator. He was re-elected in 1883, 1889 and 1895. He served on the commit- tees on finance and on rules and was president pro tempore of the senate in the 53d congress. His skill as a parliamentarian was acknowledged by every Vice-President, he being called to the chair when dispatch of business was important. He died in Washington, D.C., July 8, 1897.

HARRIS, Joel Chandler, author, was born at Eatonton, Ga., Dec. 9, 1848. He was educated at the common schools, and in 1860 was apprenticed to a printer. He later obtained em- ployment as editorial writer on several southern newsjaapers and in 1876 secured a place on the staff of the Atlanta Consti- tution. His first negro dialect stories were published in the Con- stitution and at once became very popular. He was induced by, y , ^ J. C. Derby, the pub-

''■■UiAAJ^$ii)^p{tZHi^, lisher, to collect his Uncle Remus stories and issue them in book form. His published books include: Uncle Bemus: His Songs and His Sccyings (1880) ; Nights with Uncle Bemus (1883) ;

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Mingo and Other Sketches in Black and White (1884) ; Free Joe and Other Georgia Sketches (1887) ; Uncle Bemus and His Friends (1893) ; On the Plantation (1892) ; Little Mr. Thimble finger (1894) ; 3Ir. Babbit at Home (1895) ; Sister Jane (1896) ; The Story of Aaron, So-named, the Son of Ben Ali (1896); Aaron in the Wildwoods (1897) ; Tales of the Home Folks in Peace and War (1898) ; Plantation Pageants (1899); and The Chronicles of Aunt Mi nervy Ann (1899) which first appeared in Scrihner's Magazine in 1899.

HARRIS, John Howard, educator, was born in Indiana county. Pa., Aj^ril 24, 1847; son of Reese and Isabel (Coleman) Harris; grandson of Thomas Coleman, and a descendant of Capt. James Coleman, who served in the French and Indian war. He attended the academy at Mechanicsburg, Pa., 1860-63, and then en- listed in the Union army as a private in the 2d battalion, U.S. volunteers, serving

in West Virginia. He -'^

was sergeant in com- pany H, 206th Penn- ^ sylvania volunteers f' - ,^ ^ in front of Richmond if- " ' ^ from August, 1864, '' } until the fall of ' that city. He was

graduated from the j y y a /

University at Lew- -^^^^-z^t^-vsW/V^^^- isburg. Pa., after- ward Bucknell university, in 1869, and was founder and principal of Keystone academy, Factory ville. Pa., 1869-89, also acting as pastor of the Factory ville Baptist church for nine years. In 1889 he was cho.sen president of Bucknell uni- versity. Tlie honorary degree of Ph.D. Avas con- ferred upon him by Lafaj-ette college in 1883, and that of LL.D. by Dickinson college and by Colgate university in 1891.

HARRIS, John Thomas, representative, was born in Albermarle county, Va., May 8, 1823; son of Nathan and Ann Allan (Anderson) Harris. He was a brother of William Anderson (q.v. ) of James Overton who died in Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1891, and of Dr. Clement Rush, who died at Stanton, Va., Nov. 3, 1871. John Thomas was educated for the law and practised in Harris- burg, Va. He was commonwealth attorney, 1853-59 ; presidential elector, 1856 ; representative in the 36th congress, 1859-61; representative in the Virginia legislature, 1863-65; circuit judge .for the 13th circuit, 1866-69; representative in the 42d-46th congresses, 1871-81 ; chairman of the Democratic state convention. 1884; delegate-at- large to the Democratic national convention of