I43827: Elizabeth (ABT 1690

Notes

ISHAM GREEN HARRIS, Tennessee’s Governor (1857-1862) and United States Senator, and the only “Confederate” Tennessee Governor (1861-1862).

Isham G. Harris, as he was known, was born 10 February 1818, son of Isham Green and Lucy (Davidson) Harris, in Franklin County Tennessee, near Tullahoma. He attended the “common schools” and Winchester Academy, Franklin County. At age of fourteen, “with the consent and blessing of his father,” moved to Paris, Henry County, Tennessee to become a store clerk; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Paris, Tennessee in 1841.

Married 6 July 1843, to Martha Maria Travis, of Henry County, a native of Virginia, daughter of Edward Travis; eight children Eugene T., Edward K., James H., Charles H., Isham Green, III, Harris and three whose names are not yet found.

A Democrat, he served in the Senate, 27th Tennessee General Assembly, 1847-49; representing Henry, Obion, and Weakley counties. While still at Paris, in addition to term in the General Assembly, was presidential elector, 1848, on Democratic ticket of Lewis Cass and William 0. Butler; elected to U.S. House of Representatives of 31st and 32nd Congresses, 4 March 1849-3 March 1853. He served on the Committee on Invalid Pensions, 32nd Congress.

He declined the nomination for 33rd Congress because of his plans to resume practice of law at Memphis, Shelby County; he moved to Memphis in 1853. Although highly successful in law practice, Senator Harris devoted a large portion of his life to public affairs. He again was presidential elector for state-at large, 1856, on Democratic ticket of James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge.

He was elected Governor of Tennessee, 1857, and reelected 1859 and 1861; served from November 3, 1857 to 1862. Governor Harris was regarded as the leader in Tennessee of those who favored separation from the United States after the election of President Lincoln in 1860.

On 24 December, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. Governor Harris’s message to the Tennessee General Assembly on 7 January 1861 amply displays his sentiments toward the Union, and the possibility of a “homogeneous Confederacy of Southern States.”

On 9 February, 1861, the Tennessee electorate voted against secession. A law provided that the voters were to cast their ballots For Convention or No Convention Tennessee voted 57,789 For Convention, 69,675 No Convention. There would be Convention, but even if there had been one the vote for the Delegates, 88,803 for Union Delegates, 24,749 for Disunion delegates, assured that Tennessee would not secede from the Union.

After the fall of Fort Sumter, April 4, 1861, President Lincoln called for troops from the states, including Tennessee; on 17 April 1861, Governor Harris replied to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, “Tennessee will not furnish a single man for the purpose of coercion, but 50,000 if necessary for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers” [text of letter]. On 25 April 1861, Harris sent another message to the Tennessee General Assmebly, in which he again elucidates and endorses the Southern cause. In the election on the subject of withdrawal from the Union, June 8, 1861, the vote for separation was 102,172 and against separation 47,238; on June 24, following, Harris issued a proclamation declaring ...

“all connections by the State of Tennessee with the Federal Union dissolved, and that Tennessee is a free, independent government, free from all obligations to or connection with the Federal Government of the United States of America.” I

n the period between the fall of Fort Sumter and the election of June 8, Governor Harris took the lead in preparing the state for eventual hostilities. Harris was instrumental in the formation of the Provisional Army of Tennessee, forerunner of the C.S.A. Army of Tennessee. On May 6 the legislature adopted “An Ordinance for the Adoption of the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America,” subject was for the Tennessee electorate to vote on June 8 1861 and the Governor appointed commissioners to enter into a Military League with the authorities of the Confederate States. So it was that Tennessee became a state in the Southern Confederacy. In the state election in August following, Harris was reelected governor by a majority of more than 31,000 votes.

The General Assembly was in session at Nashville when Fort Donelson fell on February 16, 1862, and Federal occupation of Nashville was soon to follow; on February 16, 1862, Governor Harris issued a call for the legislature to assemble at Memphis on the 20th following, and the executive office was moved to that city. On February 20, Governor Harris sent a message to the Tennessee General Assembly about the the current precarious position in which Tennessee found itself.

By March 20, the legislature adjourned sine die, and the Union forces took possession of Memphis on June 6, 1862. In the meantime President Lincoln had appointed Andrew Johnson Military Governor of Tennessee, March 3, 1862, and he took possession of the Executive Offices in the Capitol at Nashville. Of course, the C.S.A. Army of Tennessee fought bravely on until the war ended.

Harris was still nominally governor but driven from the state by the enemy, he became a voluntary member of the staffs of Confederate Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, Braxton Bragg, and Joseph E. Johnston.

From Pisgah History :

“Isham G. Harris was born at Winchester and came to this County [Giles County Tennessee] when a young man and lived awhile with his brother, James T. Harris, who lived on Bradshaw Creek. James T. Harris was a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army. At the Battle of Shiloh, General A. S. Johnston fell mortally wounded and died in the arms of Isham G. Harris.

Pink Harris, a son of James T., rode up during this scene and said: ‘Uncle Isham, Father has just been killed’. Isham G. Harris, in speaking of this sad incident to Dr. Jesse Mayes, of this place, afterward said, ‘I learned just there, there was a wide difference between war on paper and war on the field.’ ”

After the war ended, with a reward of $5,000 for his apprehension, Harris fled to Mexico and later to England. He returned to Memphis in 1867 and resumed the practice of law.

He was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1877; reelected in 1883, 1889, and 1895 and served from March 4, 1877, until his death. He served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Fifty-third Congress; chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Forty-sixth and Fifty-third Congresses), Committee on Epidemic Diseases (Forty-ninth through Fifty-second Congresses), Committee on Private Land Claims (Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses). He died in Washington, D.C., 8 July 8 1897; following the funeral service in the Senate Chamber on July 10, his remains were sent to Nashville to lie in state for one day in the Hall of Tennessee’s House of Representatives; on to Memphis to lie in state in the First Methodist Church of that city, where final services were conducted; buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis. He was a member of Free and Accepted Masons, having been elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in 1851 and again in 1868. Brother-in-law of James R. McMeans, Joseph H. Travis, and William E. Travis, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
Bibliography
Sources: American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses. 55th Cong., 2nd sess., 1897-1898. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1898; Watters, George W. Isham Green Harris, Civil War Governor and Senator from Tennessee, 1818-1897. Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 1977; White, Messages of the Governors of Tennessee, V, 1-8, 438-39; Snodgrass, Freemasonry in Tennessee, 402; Tennessee House Journal, 34th (Confederate) General Assembly, 476-79; Memphis Commercial Appeal, January 21, 1897; July 9, 11, 1897; Nashville American, July 9, 1897; Connelly, Thomas Lawrence, Army of the Heartland, The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862, pp. 30-38.

Note : The flag at the top of the page is the Army of Tennessee battle flag, also called the Naval Jack.
http://www.tngenweb.org/bios/h/harris.html.

Notes

aka: Earl of Salisbury; Named in Magna Charta. CONFLICT: Mother Unproven: It's unknown - said to be Ikenai, "a common prostitute, but probably the daughter of a knight." Wier who lists this calls it doubtful. See Weir, _Britain's_Royal_Families_.

********LAST VERSION From "Todd A. Farmerie" [email protected]
the various mistresses of Henry II that have been claimed as mothers of his son William Longespee. The 'First identified', 'Basis', and 'Contemporary documentation' tags relate specifically to their identification as mother of William, not to them being mistress of Henry. Note particularly the 'Contemporary documentation' lines.
1.Rosamunde Clifford First identified: by 15th century? Basis: celebrated favorite mistress of Henry II Contemporary documentation: NONE

2.Hikenai
First identified: 19th or 20th century? Basis: documented mother of Geoffrey, another of Henry's illegitimates Contemporary documentation: NONE

3.Annabel Baliol First identified: 20th century
Basis: documented mistress of Henry II during approximate period of William's birth
Contemporary documentation: NONE

4.Alix de Porhoet First identified: 20th century
Basis: documented mother of a child by Henry II during approximate time period
Contemporary documentation: NONE

5.Alice of France First identified: 19th or 20th century?
Basis: documented mother of a child by Henry II
Contemporary documentation: NONE

6.Countess Ida First identified: 20th century
Basis: named by son William Longespee in two donations
Contemporary documentation: two donations recorded in the Bradenstoke Cartulary.

1. This enumeration, infra, is not a collectively exhaustive list of Henry II's known mistresses.
2. "Countess Ida" reportedly cannot be equated with confidence to a known historical individual. However, pcr has done some good work on this. Perhaps he should publish his findings.
3. The first five names allegedly can be so equated, to a greater or lesser degree.
4. Sons are not always the best judge of who their Mothers actually were. These small sons frequently do not have impressive records of the event. Birth certificates for the 12th Century are often hard to come by, n'est-ce pas?
5. Provenance of documents and a complete analysis of all the relevant facts are part of the standard track for any reputable Historian or Genealogist.
6. The Bradenstoke Cartulary is NOT "contemporary documentation."
7. We do not even know for sure when William Longespee was born.
D. Spencer Hines

I. William Plantagenet, 'Longespee', 1st Earl of Salisbury (b 17.08.1152, d 04.03.1226)
m. (1196) Ela Fitzpatrick (b 1187, d 24.08.1261, dau of William FitzPatrick d' Evereux, 2nd Earl of Salisbury)

^[S3297]

My Southern Family

Elizabeth

ABT 1690 - ____

ID Number: I43827

Sources

Elijah Hiatt BEASLEY

1844 - ____

ID Number: I97497

Sources

Andrew Mayo CANULETTE

Betsy COSBY

1793 - ____

ID Number: I79206

Notes

Sources

Henry Bedinger DAVENPORT

9 Sep 1831 - 15 Sep 1901

ID Number: I66602

Notes

Sources

James GATEWOOD Sr.

ABT 1740 - 1806

ID Number: I51064

Sources

Hon. Isham Green HARRIS Gov. of Tennessee, C.S.A.

10 Feb 1818 - 8 Jul 1897

ID Number: I91806

Notes

Sources

WILLIAM Plantagenet de LONGESPEE 1st Earl of Salisbury

ABT 1176 - 7 Mar 1225

ID Number: I18623

Notes

Sources

David W. PAYNE

ABT 1830 - ____

ID Number: I27906

Sources

Elizabeth C. RUCKS

1799 - 1824

ID Number: I68972

Sources

Carrington TAYLOR

1 Dec 1845 - 28 Oct 1875

ID Number: I84893

Notes

Sources

Jane "Jenny" TODD

ABT 1770 - ____

ID Number: I12368

Notes

Sources