HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS Illustrated With Biographical Sketches
of many Prominent Men and Pioneers; published by W. R. Brink & Co.,
Edwardsville, Ill., 1882. pp. 564-565. Unknown County.

   JAMES R. HARRIS, the oldest settler of the Red River Valley, from Big
Stone to Pembina, is at present a farmer of McCauleyville, Wilkin county,
Minnesota.
   Mr. Harris was born on the 7th day of April 1838, in Sullivan county,
Indiana.  His parents were James and Nancy Harris, who were natives of
Kentucky and came to Indiana in about 1810.  The father followed farming in
early life and later was a merchant in Sullivan Village, Indiana.  He died
there in September, 1855, the mother died in 1842.  They were the parents
of eleven children, eight of whom are living -- Polly C., Josiah C., Jane,
Luther R., Madison, Addison W., Julia and James R.
   Our subject was educated both in the common schools and the high school
in Sullivan Village.  At the age of seventeen, in 1855, he left both school
and home, and the following spring came to Garden Grove, Decatur county,
Iowa.  Here he ran the engine in a saw-mill for a short time.  From April
to July 1856 he was engaged in bringing a drove of cattle from Iowa to
Little Falls, Minnesota.  He then took charge of the Foster house in Sauk
Rapids, all of which he had full control.
   In 1857 he was employed by the Breckenridge Townsite Company.  He endure
some hardships in coming to the Valley, but under the guide, Bottineau, the
company was successful.  The present Breckenridge was located and staked
out by General T. H. Barnett in 1858.  In the spring of this year Mr.
Harris came to the region where he now lives.  It was then known as Toombs
county, afterward Johnson and lastly Wilkin county, in honor of Colonel
Wilkins of the Eighth Minnesota Regiment.  Mr. Harris took a claim of 160
acres under the squatter's act, and subsequently purchased land till he now
has about 1,000 acres, 430 acres of which are under cultivation and 120
acres in timber and land.
   At the time of the Indian outbreak in 1862 Mr. Harris, together with his
partner, Mr. Whitford, was in Fort Gray.  Whitford, while returning alone,
met a company of fugitives under the direction of Commodore Kittson;
disregarding their advice he continued, and must have met his death at the
hands of the red-skins, as he was never seen again.
   Bentley was on the farm and took refuge in the fort.  Mr. Harris, in
company with eight others, went by the Chippewa country to St. Paul.  He
was absent now from his claim for about two years.
   Mr. Harris was united in marriage in the spring of 1863 with Miss Mary
McCarthy, who lived with the settler's family at Fort Abercrombie.  Her
parents lived at McGregor, in Iowa, and were natives of Ireland.  Our
subject and wife are the parents of six children -- Estelle (deceased),
Alfred J., Mary J., Addison, Walter R. and Charles F.
   Our subject affiliates with the Republican party.  He has served his
country in the capacity of sheriff for seven years, and was appointed to
that office when the county was organized.  He has also been county
commissioner, and was the census enumerator in 1870 for the counties of
Wilkin, Clay, Polk and Pembina.  He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
In the winter of 1881 Mr. Harris was sent to Washington by the settlers on
the Abercrombie Reservation as their envoy, with a petition to Congress
asking that the reservation be restored to the Interior Department, and
thus be open for actual settlement.  He spent about six weeks in
Washington, and, mainly thorugh his own and the efforts of representatives
of this district, the reservation was thrown open. 

Harris Bottineau Barnett Whitford Kittson McCarthy
=
Wilkin-MN Sullivan-IN Garden_Grove-Decatur-IA Toombs-MN Johnson-MN Ireland 
Washington-DC Clay-MN Polk-MN Pembina-MN

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/unknown/harris.jr.txt