Daniel Harris (1842 - 1892)

Born 1842 in Madison, Tennessee

Ancestors

Husband of Martha Jane Adkins — married 28 Oct 1866 in Madison, Tennessee

Descendants

Died 1892 at about age 50 in Lake, Tennessee

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Biography

Daniel was born in 1842. He passed away in 1892.

The following is extracted from a genealogical history of Lake County, Tennessee, regarding Daniel Harris and his family on page 105 submitted by Virginia Dial.

Daniel Harris was of Indian blood, but no one seems to know from which tribe he descended, but it is thought to be Osage tribe (see notes). He was married (name unknown) and living in the Indian Territory (it is not certain which state or part of the Territory) when he enlisted in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Family lore says that he served under “Stonewall” Jackson (Brig. Gen. Thomas J Jackson) and a Captain Harris of Oklahoma. After the war he returned to the Indian Territory but was unable to locate his wife. He left the Indian Territory and arrived in southeast Missouri sometime in 1865. In Malden he married Martha Adkins. Not much is known about Martha. She had at least two brothers, Chess and John, and there may have been more siblings. A nephew, Bert Adkins, was known to be living in Missouri as late as the 1920s. Daniel and Martha moved to Dyer County, Tennessee, somewhere between Dyersburg and Bogota. They are thought to have lived there in the late 1860s and the early 1870s. From there they moved to Mooring (now Lake County). They had 11 children, which included two sets of twins. The first born set of twins died at about three years of age after being bitten by a rabid dog. They were named Stonewall (after Gen. Jackson) and Verzall (or Verzalia or Berzalia, believed to be an Indian name, but there is no proof of this).^[1]

It is unclear where Ms. Dial obtained her information. Daniel Harris was indeed of Indian blood, but it was Cherokee and he was born and raised in the area of McNairy, Hardeman, and Madison counties in western Tennessee. His paternal grandmother, name unknown, is remembered within the family to have been full blood Cherokee. Daniel nor anyone in his family ever lived in Indian Territory nor did Daniel have a wife before he married Martha Adkins in 1866. Daniel served in the Civil War, along with his father Jeremiah and some of his brothers. Daniel's father Jeremiah Harris served alongside Martha's father William Adkins in the 18th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment.

Daniel and Martha had 11 children together. The dates of birth are not known for several of them:

1. Winnie Marguerite Harris (1866 - abt. 1905), m. 1884 Thomas David Mabry (1856-1934)
2. Matilda "Fannie" Harris (1873-), m. Daniel Edwards
3. Jessee Lafayette Harris (1876-1960), m. 1862 Carrie Lee Busch (1885-1969)
4. John Richard Harris (1879-)
5. George Fay Harris (1887-1930), m. 1913 Sallie Adaline Lafferty (1887-1967), m. 1930 Geneva Euphemia Jones (1908-1995)
6. Jay Harris (1887-1922) married Vergie May Busch (Carrie Busch's sister)
7. Owen Harris (1892-1942), m. Clara Donahue (1896-1954)
8. Burzilla Harris
9. Stonewall Harris
10. Addie Lee Harris
11. Laura Harris

Their son Stonewall was named after General Stonewall Jackson, whom Daniel greatly admired. Stonewall and Burzilla were twins and both tragically died as young children when a rabid dog attacked them. George Fay and Jay were also twins.

While Daniel was no more than 1/4 Cherokee, he is remembered by the family has having a very strong appearance as such though there are no known photographs of him. Being an Indian in those days was very difficult and many inter-racial families attempted with varying degrees of success to "pass" as white in order to avoid discrimination and possible deportation to a reservation.

He was a farmer and the family farmed very near the Mississippi River in Lake County, Tennessee and later in Pemiscot County, Missouri.

Daniel was murdered in 1892. A corrupt politician in Caruthersville had taken out an insurance policy on Daniel's life and had one of his cohorts do the dirty work. He was denied burial in a Christian cemetery due to prejudice against his Indian heritage. Both he and Martha, who passed away in 1896, are buried in unmarked graves outside the northern boundary of the Crockett Chapel Cemetery in Lake County, Tennessee, near Reelfoot Lake.

Sources

FamilySearch Person: GQD2-1H7

1. ↑ Lake County Historical Society, History and Families, Lake County, Tennessee, Turner Pub. Co., Padukcah, KY, 1993.

• 1880 USA Census familysearch.org

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