STORY OF HENRY HARRIS
by Caroline Harris Jones
Because fate dealt a cruel blow to my father, Henry Harris, his sister, Caroline, and especially his parents and other family member, the history of his ancestors are very brief. With the
of family bible, obtained by an interesting coincidence many years later, a few old records folded between its pages, the genealogy of near and remote ancestors would be practically nil.
Picture yourself, if you can in the place of Henry Harris as a boy of three, and his sister, Caroline, six, watching the burial of their mother, then a brother and a sister, and finally within
two weeks time, their last protector and comforter, their father. Remember that their passing within three weeks time, due to cholera, did not take place in the old familiar Horley,
England home, or in the yard where the old family apple tree in which they often climbed bloomed. Even familiar things about the old house in which they were born and played hide-and-
seek would have comforted them with memories to some degree. Not even the old Horley Church steeple was in sight to comfort their aching hearts. No tomb stone in the church yard of
Horley would mark this resting place. These burials took place in crude boxes placed in graves dug in waste lands near the banks of a river. No caretaker would plant grass and care for
shrubs about these graves.
These people were part of a company of immigrants making their way toward the west across the great plains with ox teams and jolting wagons. Mourning and sorry were not their only
discomfort. No other relatives were in their company to whom they could look for food, for fare, and for direction. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Howell (Howels) removed the latter anxiety when
they as company members without children Henry and Caroline as their own. Bits of information gained by Howell from associates of the family revealed the fact that the parents of
Henry joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints while in England and decided to come to the United States and make a home among the saints in Utah.
Along with a company of immigrants they sailed on the Ship Ellen Marie, leaving England February 2, 1851, arriving at New Orleans in April of the same years under the direction of
Elder Watts. They joined a company directed by Elder Orson Pratt and began the trek across the plains, but the dreaded cholera hit the company and wiped out many including Henry’s
mother, father, and the two children previously mentioned.
After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Howells, with Henry and Caroline, moved to Ogden. After living there a short time they moved to Tooele where they homesteaded some land
and took up farming livestock raising on a small scale.
When Henry was seventeen years of age, he was called by the authorities to form a company to go back across the plains to bring more immigrants to Utah. This was in the spring of 1866.
Captain Boyd was the appointed leader of this delegation which consisted of Henry Harris, Henry Marshall, George B. Smith, and John Pickett.
Indians, rough terrain, and rivers were some of the obstacles they had to cope with along the way. At one time on this journey, Indians stole their cattle. Henry Harris and John Smith
were selected to retrieve them. This required riding in among the Indians and driving the cattle back. The venture was a success and no one was hurt in the process.
When the company was crossing the Platt River, Henry Marshall fell in and was nearly drowned, but was rescued by Henry Harris. Two of the immigrants who were with this group came
to Tooele to make their homes. Their names were Jessie Murray and Jim Kirk.
In 1873 Henry Harris with Jim Shields, Archie Shields, Robert B. Sagers, Adam Sagers, and Wallace Sagers moved to Castle Valley, Emery County with the intention of making their
home there, but conditions proved unfavorable and they moved back to Pine Canyon.
In 1876, they went to Huntington and built two homes, but after one summer, they again returned to Tooele. After their return, Henry Harris and Wallace Sagers formed a partnership
engaging in freighting and as mine timber men.
Henry Harris worked at Bingham, Dry Canyon, Ophir, and Stockton before he was married. Wage earning and freighting lost their charm. Then he decided to settle down to farming and
stock raising, a vocation that occupied his efforts the remaining part of his life.
In March of 1877, he married Grace Donaldson, a daughter of James and Mary McDonald Donaldson. Her father had been a coal miner foreman of Inkerman, Lynnwood, Scotland.
Grace Donaldson was born there in Scotland, and came to Utah in the year of 1869 on the first train that came into Ogden.
To Henry and Grace Donaldson Harris were born eleven children. Ten were raised to maturity. One boy, the eldest, was killed in an accident when he was six and one half years old.
The oldest living son, James Harris, still operated the old farm at Pine Canyon and runs a heard of sheep. The eldest daughter, Mary Whitehouse of Tooele, died in Salt Lake City at the
Holy Cross Hospital on May 10, 1924. Grace Whitehouse died in May, 1951. Caroline Jones lives in Henderson, Nevada. Lila Johnson lives in Butte, Montana. Harry Harris died March
10, 1940. Margaret Russell and Mabel Sagers live in St. John, Tooele County. Ruby Morrill lives in Tooele, and Martin Miles Harris lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and works at the post
office.
As indicated before, much of the family history and genealogy perished with the death of Henry Harris’ parents on the plains, bug an interesting incident happened which brought for the
old family bible and other records between its pages where my father was able to find some real facts. I shall tell you how he found the bible.
When my father became a farmer and began to produce wheat, he usually put four horses on each wagon and took his wheat to Salt Lake City to sell. One particular trip he passed by Salt
Lake City and went directly to Ogden, Utah. At the time he didn’t know why, but he told his wife later that he had an urge to go.
While in Ogden he wandered down to the railroad station. As he was looking about, he chanced to get into a conversation with a man who was waiting to board the next train. During the
conversation this man mentioned that being a friend of a man and his wife many years before by the name of Martin Harris who died of cholera, leaving two orphan children, a girl named
Caroline, six, and a boy whose name was Henry. He told how he had tried to locate these children and said he had in his possession the family bible and some other records contained in
it.
“I am the man that grew from the boy,” Henry replied to the surprised traveler.
He delivered this bible to my father. After that he returned to Chicago.
Among other things, the bible contained the marriage license of Henry’s father and mother. They are still in the possession of the family. This marriage was solemnized in the county of
Oxford in the church of Horley in the year of 1813. This much worn document further states that of a “Carrier” and that his father Martin Miles Harris “Senior was a farmer.” It states
that Mary Ann Harris was a spinster servant also of Horley, and daughter of Job Harris.
This information was the way which most of the genealogical history of the pioneer Henry Harris. It could never have been unlocked, if we, his children, had not had this bible.
This story was typed by Carolyn Sagers, March 24, 1973, from the book of Caroline Harris Jones, Henry’s daughter. Carolyn is Caroline’s great niece, granddaughter of Mabel Harris
Sagers, and great-granddaughter of Henry Harris.
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