HARVEY HARRIS.

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         The late Harvey Harris, who for half a century was identified with the agricultural development of Louisa county, had passed his ninetieth anniversary at the time of his demise, which occurred on the 16th of December, 1907. He was born in Lincoln county, Ohio, on the 21st of September, 1817, and was a son of Thomas and Rachel (Sutton) Harris, also natives of Ohio. In the paternal line he was of English extraction, the family having located in America during the colonial days. His grandfather, W. M. Harris participated in the Revolutionary war and after the founding of the Union he migrated to the frontier, as Ohio was then termed.

         Harvey Harris was reared and educated in his native state, where he continued to reside until 1851, in which year he migrated to Iowa and located in Louisa county. Here he purchased two hundred and forty acres of land which he cleared and improved, engaging in general farming and stock-raising during the remainder of his active career. He owned about eight hundred acres when he died. In his family were eight children: Harriet, a resident of Morning Sun, and the widow of Alexander Hamilton, of Bushnell, Illinois; Isaac, who is deceased; Thomas, a resident of Marshall township; Rachel, who is living on the old homestead; Joseph, who makes his home in Morning Sun; Jasper N., living in Wapello; Eugene, who is deceased; and George B., of Morning Sun. Mrs. Harris, the mother of these children, passed away twelve years before her husband, her demise occurring on the 30th of January, 1895.

         Politically Mr. Harris affiliated with the democratic party. He was a public-spirited man and possessed a strong sense of his civic responsibilities, so that he always took an active and helpful interest in all township matters of a governmental nature. He filled the various minor offices of the township and was also county supervisor, giving faithful and competent service in the discharge of his official responsibilities. During the long period of his residence here Mr. Harris saw many changes in agricultural and commercial methods, as well as in the mode of living, as the country developed and civilization spread westward. Steam cars superseded the stage-coach, while the amount of manual labor essential to the cultivation of the soil was very greatly minimized by the . . .

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. . . advent of modern farming implements, but probably his most interesting observations were in connection with the development of the Union, which he noted slowly advance through the period of reconstruction to the firm, stable position it holds today with the great nations of the world.