| Contributor::
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Transcription contributed by Arne H Trelvik 29 May 2003 |
| Sources: |
The History of Warren County Ohio Part VI. Biographical Sketches Wayne Township (Chicago, IL: W. H. Beers Co, 1882; reprint, Mt. Vernon, IN: Windmill Publications, 1992) |
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photo of tombstone at Miami Cemetery |
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ISRAEL HOPKINS HARRIS, banker, Waynesville, was a son of James Harris and his wife, Rebecca Clark Jennings; the latter was born in New Jersey, and was a daughter of John and Sarah Jennings, two of the pioneers of Waynesville, she being a sister of Samuel Heighway’s wife. James Harris was a son of Israel Harris, and was born near Rutland, VT., March 31, 1801; when he was 5 years old, his father moved to Ohio and settled on the farm near Centerville, Montgomery Co., now known as the Milton McNeill farm; at an early age, he engaged in mercantile pursuits, clerking several years in the store |
| of John Satterthwaite, in Waynesville; after his marriage, he removed to Centerville, Ohio, and opened a dry goods and variety store on his own account; his trade rapidly increased, and in time he established branch stores in Waynesville and Bellbrook, and engaged extensively in pork-packing; in the fall of 1844, he returned to Waynesville, continuing his business here on a large scale. In May, 1849, after a return from Cincinnati, where cholera was at that time epidemic, he was attached with that disease, and died May 31, 1849. He was a man of indomitable energy and perseverance, and of the strictest integrity; few persons have lived in the county who have contributed more to its material interests than he, and few whose loss has been more widely felt. His wife survived him for more that a quarter of a century, living a part of the time at Waynesville and a part at Centerville. Finally, at the ripe old age of nearly 75 years, Mrs. Harris died, at her son’s home in Waynesville, Ohio, Sept. 9, 1879. She was a woman of strong individuality, a sincere Christian and a noble example of true womanhood; she left an impress for good upon her posterity and upon society such as only a woman of exalted attributes can. Israel Hopkins Harris was born in Centerville, Montgomery Co., Ohio, Nov. 23, 1823; he was the eldest of a family of five children; was fitted for college, partly at Centerville, under David Burson, and completed his preparation at Franklin, Warren Co., under W. C. Gould; he enter Yale College at the beginning of Junior year, 1844; after taking his degree in 1846, he returned to his home in Waynesville, and became, at his father’s desire, his assistant in the dry goods business. After his father’s death, in 1849, he continued the business with his brother Joseph until 1855, when he became a private banker in the firm of Stokes & Harris; this partnership continued till the death of Mr. Jarvis Stokes, in 1868, since which time Mr. Harris has conducted the business alone. In November, 1848, he married Esther Ann, daughter of Jarvis Stokes, of Warren County. In November, 1849, Mrs. Harris died, leaving an infant daughter, named Mary, who survived her mother only six months. In November, 1852, he married Carrie E. Bunnell of this county, daughter of Mr. Merritt Bunnell; by her he had three children – Emma, the eldest, died in her 8th year; Jimmie, the second, at the age of 16 months; the third and surviving child is named Laura. Carrie E. Harris died in Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 15, 1873, of pulmonary consumption, whose ravages her husband sought in vain to arrest by a sojourn in a Southern clime. On the 31st of December, 1874, Mr. Harris was married to Edith Mosher, daughter of Nathan and Sarah Mosher; by her he had two children, one of whom survives, Minnie Mildred, now (January, 1882) in her 5th year. Mr. Harris is now at the age of 58 years, and appears in the very prime of life, the luster of his eye undimmed and none of his natural force abated; his New England progenitor imparted to him the purest of Green Mountain blood, and the son illustrates by his character and physique the inestimable value of such transmission; born in affluent circumstances, Mr. Harris made good use of his opportunities; he was studious and industrious by nature; manly, honest and frank in conversation; bright and vivacious as a companion, and just and true in all his dealings; the boy was “father to the man,” and he has proved himself a faithful steward, improving the talents with which by nature he was endowed, instead of squandering his inheritance because the work of cultivating and increasing was not all done for him. In all his business enterprises, Mr. Harris has been successful. Graduating with all the honors at one of the proudest seats of learning in the United States, his energies were at once judiciously directed by his sagacious father, and since then his life has been one uninterrupted career of industry, his willing hands doing with all their might whatever they found to do; only one change – that of banking succeeding merchandising - | |
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has marked his busy and successful business life. With perfect integrity in all his business transactions, Mr. Harris finds himself one of the wealthiest, as well as one of the most widely known and esteemed citizens of his county. Notwithstanding the active business life of Mr. Harris, he has also devoted much time to the pursuits of the natural sciences, particularly archaeology and geology; in these departments he has amassed a collection which is probably not excelled, if equaled, by any similar private collection in the United States; his vast and varied accumulation has attracted and charmed visitors from all parts of the globe, and journalistic representatives from the East and West have from time to time gone through his museum and written it up for the benefit of the public. Especially is this remark true, “treasury of pearls,” of which, perhaps, no other man living has a larger or finer assortment. Mr. Haines gave the original impetus and has ever been the sustainer of the Little Miami River Pearl Fisheries, which became so famous a few years ago; he fostered this industry by purchasing all the pearls found in the river, continuing the traffic until the supply seemed exhausted; in his treasure house are thousands of dollars’ worth of these irridescent jewels, all more or less valuable and rare, from the “Kohinoor pearl” down to the finest seed pearl; the “Kohinoor” is the only agatized pearl upon record, and is regarded by intelligent scientists as a jewel of nameless price. In person, I. H. Harris is of medium stature, slender, very erect and agile; his step is quick and buoyant; his eye, black, brilliant and piercing, though full of humor and kindly light, and that unmistakable expression denoting the possession of intellectual powers which it cannot conceal; straight as an arrow and rapid in movement, his physical characteristics are bur a reflex of his mental processes; talented, educated, accomplished, with a beautiful home and charming family, with all the good things of life within his grasp, yet without vain self-assertion or pretension, accessible to all and meeting every man as a member of one common brotherhood. Mr. Harris is the “patron saint” of Harris Guards, Co. F, O. N. G., one of the finest companies in the 13th Regiment; the company having been named for him voluntarily, as a tribute to his worth and popularity. He has had nearly, if not all, the local dignities laid at his feet, from Alderman to Treasurer and School Director; for many consecutive years he has been dragooned into this service for the public good, much against his own inclination. At its annual convention in Cincinnati last summer, Mr. Harris was elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, being proposed as eligible by Prof. R. B. Warder, of the University of Cincinnati; Waynesville is justifiably proud of Mr. Harris as one of the few really representative men of Warren County. Long may he live to inspire and encourage succeeding generation to become the artificers of their own fortunes, as he is so admirably qualified to do, whose good deeds will live long after the active brain and busy hands which conceived and executed them have mingled with their native dust. |
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