Showing posts with label Apperson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apperson. Show all posts

Monday, September 17, 2012

Harris/Apperson/Johnson/Shelton

I am sitting in my mother-in-law's kitchen this morning.  We had identified everyone in the below photo several years ago.  However, I wanted to take a few minutes to ask her if she remembered anything more about any of these people.  The photo was taken in the coal fields of WV during the heyday of that area of our state.
 This photo was taken at a Harris reunion that was held at Coney Island in Welch, WV 7 September, 1930.  Below is a scan and list that identifies all of the people in the photo.  The patriarch and wife in this photo are Samuel Sterling Harris and wife Frances Louise (Lou) Woodson.  Everyone else (except  for one gal who was a date and never married into the family) are children or grandchildren or in-laws of the four children of Samuel Sterling and his first wife or of Samuel Sterling and Lou.





Oh, I almost forgot Everett!  Everett is hiding in the tree behind the group....you can just barely see him just behind #41 and #42.  His head is barely on either side of the tree branch.  I would never have known his being in the photo if my Mother-in-law had not shown me.  Everett and Sue (my mother-in-law) were close to each other and remained in touch for most of their years after children were raised and left home.  Everett did yDNA testing for me before he died.  So I have a good bit of information about his connections from the yDNA that I am willing to share if someone has interest.

Here are Sue's stories:

Samuel Sterling Harris was her grandpa.  Sue remembered that when she got old enough to know him, he was retired and sat on the porch all day long....finally he was bedfast and grandma Lou waited on him six years in bed.  He complained the whole time.  He died 11 Feb 1934 in Davey, WV (McDowell County).

Frances Louise Woodson Harris was wife of Samuel Sterling (often called S.S.)....Sue said that she was a saint. She raised the four children of S.S. and his first wife.  She was only about 16 when the first wife died.  She had come into the house to help out when his first wife got sick.   And then she and her husband had

Uncle Pitt was the oldest son of the first marriage and he was married to Isabelle....Sue called her Aunt Toad.

Louise Harris McCoy was partly raised by Lou after her mother died.  Louise was back and forth between the home of Grandma Lou and Louise's father's home.

Audrey Anna Harris was the daughter of Uncle Howard.  Her father is right behind her in the photo.

Uncle Pete never married and lived at Davey and took care of grandma and grandpa until he died.  He died in Davey.  He worked at Twin Branch in the coal mine.  He was son of Lou and SS.

? Wolfe was married to Uncle Pitt's daughter. Lenora.  They lived in Portsmouth, Ohio.  He was a traveling salesman.  Sue calle him Wolfey.

Pete Harris.....Lou called him Paul.  He lived in Davey.  When grandma and grandpa died, Aunt Edna moved into the old home place and took care of Pete.  He never married.

Earl Shufflebarger was the son of Aunt Molly.  Sue does not remember her having a husband.  Aunt Molly lived in Princeton for a while.  She moved to Norfolk.  She and  Aunt Sis (Nora) were close as they were full sisters.  The two of them are standing together in the photo.


John Harris was the youngest of the four children born to Samuel Sterling Harris and his first wife, E.M. Harris.  Lou did not raise him as he moved in with his mother's people.  Later he "came home"...but he was not raised by Lou.

Uncle John's wife was Aunt Ada.  Sue was named after her.  Sue visited Aunt Ada in McComas WV after she was married.  Sue took her mother to visit and they would have lunch and visit and drive back home.  Aunt Ada told Sue to pick out somethings that she wanted and Sue chose the following which are still in her household.

Elaine Hogan was Aunt Edna's daughter.  Aunt Edna came back and moved in with her parents.  She had divorced her husband early and was married a second time but never even lived with him.  So she moved in with her parents.  Aunt Edna worked in Welch in Bell's Department store.  She would take the bus to work from Davey.  The store was a dime store that was locally owned.

James (Jim Harris) sitting beside Elaine was the son of Uncle Pitt and Aunt Toad.   he had the exact same name as Sue's brother, James Warren Harris.  There other son was Randolph Harris.  He was at VPI when WWII broke out.  He and another man were sent out on a mission and were never heard from again.

Mary and Martha Walker were the twins that Sue always talked about  Their mother was Bertha Harris Walker and father Pearl Walker .  Sue is standing between the two twins.

Bob Hogan was Aunt Edna's son.

Gene Harris was the youngest son of Stella and Uncle Howard.  Stella is holding Gene in the photo. I have written it as Jean....

Ollie Mae Harris Tolbart Barnett kept in touch with Sue for many years.

Frances Walker was the last child of Aunt Bertha and Pearl Walker.

The lady who is labelled date never married into the family.



Much to my disappointment, she has very few photos of any of her family.  Sue explained that when her grandmother, Frances Louise Woodson Harris (Lou) died, Aunt Edna came down and took it over (Edna Hogan).  She was the second girl in the family.  Aunt Bertha was the oldest daughter.  Aunt Edna actually lived in the house for a long time and took care of Pete.  Then Pete owned the house....he was the youngest child of Lou ....Finally Pete sold the house to Aunt Edna's son, Jake....and eventually Jake sold it to Bob (also a son of Aunt Edna). This basically left the house totally empty.  Sue remembered that there would have been photos, but it is a mystery if they were thrown out or if any of the descendents of these people might have some.







Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Harris/Apperson Bible pages

I have in my possession Bible pages that I believe were once a part of a Bible that was owned by Samuel W.  and Nancy Apperson Harris.  This couple lived in Buckingham County, Virginia and/or Appomattox County, Virginia in the early to mid 1800's.   I believe that the Bible pages belonged to Samuel and Nancy Harris because the names of the people who are listed with births, deaths, and marriages are people who were related on both sides of the family:  Apperson and Harris.

Gregg Bonner has done a wonderful job of putting the pages on his website and also interpreting what he believes that the pages say.  

To look at the Bible pages for yourself go to:

I am having trouble correcting the link to the Bible pages.  See if this works for you:


If it doesn't, contact me via e-mail:  mosesm@earthlink.net  I know the second link looks exactly like the first, but I do not seem to be able to make the first one work even though it is the correct address. 

Samuel and Nancy married 30 December 1824.  This date is recorded in the Bible pages.  Their youngest son, Samuel Sterling, was born 18 Feb 1848.  This date is also recorded in the Bible pages.

The family Bible came to be in the home of Samuel Sterling Harris.  Perhaps he was the last child at home or the male child most interested in owning the Bible.   I do know that it was in his possession after the family moved to WV.   By 1902, Samuel Sterling had moved to Davey, WV in McDowell County.  His son told me that a new mine had opened up at Davey and he moved there to take the job as a mine supervisor.

Samuel Sterling Harris married as a second wife Louise Frances Woodson before his move to WV.  This couple's oldest child who survived infancy was Hewitt Samuel Harris.  Hewitt Samuel Harris was the father of Everett Samuel Harris who is my DNA participant and also the owner of the Bible pages when I first learned of their existence.  Everett had received the Bible pages from his father.  He told the story that Hewitt Samuel had gone to his parents home for dinner every Sunday after church.  One of the times that he was with his parents he tore the pages from the Bible and took them home with him.  I believe that it was with the permission of his parents who did not want to give up the Bible but had very little interest in the genealogy that the pages contained.  The Bible itself has since disappeared.

Upon the death of Everett Samuel Harris in 2009,  I visited Everett's third wife and convinced her that I would make sure that Everett's genealogy information was safe.  And the pages came into my collection.  I hope to eventually donate them to the Library of VA.


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Harris DNA group

I was chatting last night with a man named John Harris.  We had talked in the past about the fact that I research the Harris name.  It occurred to me that I used to think that my mother-in-law's Harris line would connect with one of the big Harris groups out there such as the Overton Harris....Mourning Glen lines.  However, we now know that our DNA group is a relatively small group.  The fact that one of our matches has names in her research that match with Glenn  makes one wonder if there has been a birth incident....or if perhaps the connection might have been on the female side rather than the male side.


I wanted to take a minute this morning to post some of what our DNA group knows so that I can have a place to go back and refresh my memory on what we DO know about this family group.  We are a relatively small group.  Fran Hill has no DNA participant.  However, we became friends several years ago when we realized that her Harris line and the Harris line that I look at were proved to be connected by the Bible pages that are now in my possession.  To see the Bible pages go to:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gbonner/bible/

click on the Apperson Family Bible.  Gregg Bonner has done an excellent job in putting these pages on the internet and in interpreting the pages to make them more helpful.

I hope to make another post that will repeat who each of the people named in the Bible pages are and how they are connected....and where and when I came to have the pages in my possession.

To see the Harris DNA results go to:

http://www.harrisdna.org/results.html

We are group #27.  Be sure to read Glenn Gohr's page on our group by clicking on the link.  There are only three matches in our group.  My participant, Trey Harris, and the brother of Ann Harris.   The families of Trey and Ann are found in  Union County, SC from just after the Revolutionary War until today.

Trey Harris is a DNA match to my mother-in-law's brother, Everett Harris who is my Harris DNA participant.  Trey believe that his ancestors connect to Samuel Harris married to Tryphena Harris.   Tryphena's maiden name was also Harris.  Her father was Thomas Harris married to Sarah/Sally Lacy.  This couple was married by a French Huguenot minister named Chastain.  These people seemed to have lived in Buckingham County--so they were certainly living in the right area to be connected to the Harris family that I look at.  Samuel and Tryphena moved their family to Union County, SC in 1792 and the family has remained in that area to the present day.

Ann Harris lives in Union County, SC.  Her brother is a Harris DNA match for our line.  Ann and her brother descend from George Washington Harris of Union County, SC.  He was born in 1810 according to his tombstone and died 21 June 1880.  His wife was Jane Susan Elizabeth Glenn Harris.  Ann does not have parents for George Washington Harris.



I believe that the Harris line I look at was living in the part of Buckingham County that is now Appomattox County, Va in the mid 1800's.  The Bible that I refer to later in this post belonged to Samuel and Nancy Apperson Harris.  This is the family that lived in this county.



http://www.livgenmi.com/1895/VA/County/buckingham.htm





I could not find Samuel Harris in the 1840 Census on Ancestry in Buckingham County.  However he is there in 1830 and 1850 with all of the right people in his household.  Samuel was born 7 Nov 1795.   His oldest daughter, Sarah Ann, was born in 1727, so he did have a family at the time of both the 1830 census and the 1840 census.    I am convinced that he is the man who signed the petition in 1832 AGAINST the formation of Appomattox county from Buckingham County as he is the only Samuel that I find in Buckingham in 1830 census.

It is likely that Samuel and Nancy and their family lived at Trent's Mill.  I will try to spend some time editing this last thought in the next few days.  Please go to my post for January 6, 2013 for more information on this location and this family.