John Bennett Harris (1857 - 1924)

Born 12 Mar 1857 in Crows Nest, St. Cleer, Cornwall, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Jane (Hill) Harris — married 21 Mar 1874 in Parish of St. Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland

Descendants

Died 17 Jun 1924 at age 67 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

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Biography

John Bennett Harris was born in England.

John Harris was born on 12 March 1857 in Crow's Nest, St. Cleer, Cornwall, the son of Joseph Blamey and Mary Ann Bennett Harris. ^[1]He is listed in the Cornish Mining index as a copper miner, age 14, ^[2]but by the 1871 census his family had moved to County Durham in the far north of England. On March 21, 1874 he married Elizabeth Jane Hill in the Parish of St. Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, 9 days after his 17th birthday. ^[3]They had told the vicar of St. Nicholas that they were 22 and 21, when in fact they were only 17 and 14. The following year their first son Joseph was born, one day after his father's 18th birthday. Between 1875 and 1902, John and Elizabeth produced a total of 23 children, 16 of whom lived past infancy. The surviving children were Joseph Blamey, Mary Ann, Ada Jane, John Charles, Louisa Ellen, Beatrice Jessie, Florence Maud, Emma Ursula, Thomas Crocker Hill, Lily, Peter Robert, Andrew, Sarah Elizabeth, Laura Ethel, Redvers George, and Gertrude Alice. Three of the deceased children were William George, William Thomas, and Eveline May. Four deceased children remain to be discovered.

John continued to work as a coal miner, and the family relocated fairly often in both County Durham and Northumberland. In 1895, oldest son Joseph emigrated to the U.S. with his wife and family. In 1904 John, Elizabeth and their ten youngest children also emigrated to the U.S. aboard the SS Saxonia, arriving in Boston on May 19, 1904. ^[4]John filed an Intention of Naturalization on August 24, 1907,^[5]and was naturalized in 1910. The older, married Harris children eventually emigrated too, except for Mary Ann. The passenger manifest of the Saxonia states that the Harris family was headed to Illinois, where son Joseph lived. They appear to have stopped in Missouri, where three of their children married, before moving to Iowa. In Iowa they lived in Foster, Albia, Woodward, and the Dallas Coal Camp. John died on 17 June 1924 ^[6]in a hospital in St. Louis Missouri after undergoing surgery for rectal cancer. He was buried next to his wife Elizabeth, who predeceased him. ^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ Certified Copy of an Entry of Birth given at the General Register Office. Registration District Liskeard, 1857 Birth in the Sub-district of Liskeard in the County of Cornwall. No.: 75; When & Where born: Twelfth March 1857, Crow's Nest, St. Cleer; Name: John Bennett Harris. Father: Joseph Harris, Mother: Mary Ann Harris formerly Bennett; Father's occupation: copper miner; Informant Joseph Harris, father, Crows Nest, Saint Cleer; Registered Eighteenth April 1857 by John Davey, registrar.
2. ↑ 1871 Cornish Mining Index, ID 3798. http://www.incornwall.com/mining/ITrad-CustomView.asp?KEY=3798
3. ↑ Certified Copy of an Entry of Marriage given at the General Register Office. 1874 marriage solemnized at the Parish Church in the Parish of St. Nicholas in the County of Newcastle-on-Tyne [sic] No. 382, Mar 21 1874 John Bennett Harris, age 22, Bachelor, miner, Residence: Collingwood Street, father Joseph Harris, miner. Elizabeth Jane Hill, age 21, Spinster, Residence: Collingwood Street, father Thomas Hill, miner. Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church after Banns by me, A Good[illeg], Curate.
4. ↑ Manifest of Alien Passengers for the US Immigration Officer, SS Saxonia, 9-19 May 1904, Liverpool to Boston. National Archives and Records Administration, Series T843 Roll 73, page D.
5. ↑ John Bennett Harris, Declaration of Intention to Naturalize, 24 Aug1907, Foster, Monroe County, Iowa
6. ↑ Certificate of Death, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Missouri State Board of Health. File No. 19071, Registered No. 5921, 17 June 1924.Living in Gillespie, IL; Wife Elizabeth Harris; Age 69 years, 3 months, 5 days; Occupation: Miner. Cause of death: Carcinoma-rectum, following surgery on 3 Jun 1924. Place of removal: Woodward, Iowa.
7. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 February 2018), memorial page for John Bennett Harris (12 Mar 1857–17 Jun 1924), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15624906, citing Xenia Cemetery, Dallas County, Iowa, USA ; Maintained by Anonymous (contributor 47120913) .

• Iowa Family Groupsheet for John Bennett Harris Family, iagenweb.org/state/textdisplay.php?file=/fgs/h/harrisjb-rev.txt, June 30, 2015

• "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NNB5-VJS : 10 December 2014), John Bennett Harris and Elizabeth Jane Hill, 01 Mar 1874; citing St. Nicholas, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England, reference 29, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 2,193,448.

• "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/Q271-ZTFH : 2 September 2017), John B Harris, Newbottle, Durham, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 12, Piece/Folio 4973/41, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 101,775,377.

• "England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/WN3K-6ZM : 1 April 2016), John Harris, East Murton, Durham, England; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Durham county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

• "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XS9M-FNY : 8 April 2016), John Harris, Pegswood, Northumberland, England; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Bedlington subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MGM5-YCJ : accessed 26 October 2017), John Harris, Albia Ward 3, Monroe, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 105, sheet 25B, family 568, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 414; FHL microfilm 1,374,427.

• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M8BN-4ZC : accessed 26 October 2017), John B Harris, Des Moines, Dallas, Iowa, United States; citing ED 231, sheet 7B, line 87, family 142, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 486; FHL microfilm 1,820,486.

• http://iowagravestones.org/gs_view.php?id=505596

• John Bennett Harris and Elizabeth Jane Hill, “Dallas County Cemeteries (Des Moines Twp),” Hawkeye Heritage, Publisher: Iowa Genealogical Society, Des Moines, IA 50333, Vol. 2, No. 4, October 1967, p. 164.