settle down and located at Marengo, Iowa county, Iowa. There he was married on the 16th of June, 1861, to Mrs. Elizabeth Reed Bale, who was born in England, December 28, 1830, and was reared in Devonshire. About 1852 she gave her hand in marriage to Hugh Bale and four years later they came to the United States, settling first in Cleveland, Ohio. Later they removed to Dayton, Ohio, and subsequently to Marengo, Iowa, where Mr. Bale passed away in 1860. He had been employed in connection with the plumbing at the State Asylum at Dayton and became the engineer there.
Following his marriage, William C. Harris engaged in farming in Iowa county but at length traded his property for a tract of land in Story county and removed here in March, 1875. He became owner of a farm of one hundred acres in Richland township, seven miles north of the courthouse, and afterward he added to his place eighty acres and also another tract of one hundred acres. Further investment made him the owner of four hundred and ninety-seven acres of rich and valuable land ere his retirement from business life in 1894, at which time he took up his abode in Nevada. He gave to each of his sons one hundred acres of land and to his wife a tract of ninety-five acres. He was very fortunate in his investments, his property increasing in value, so that he was able to turn over splendid holdings to his family.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Harris there were born the following children: Charles William, now living in Nevada; Nellie, the wife of Walter Winkler, of California; Zella, the wife of John Dawson, of Audubon county, Iowa; Clifton, whose home is at McCallsburg; Clinton, living at Baxter Springs, Kansas ; Bessie, the wife of Bruce McQuillin, of Cherokee, Iowa ; and Clayton, also of McCallsburg, this county. By her first marriage Mrs. Harris had five children: Anna, the wife of Simon Armstrong, of Nevada; Mary, the wife of Joseph Hamman, of Davenport, Iowa; John, who died at the age of six years; Elias, who died at the age of eight months; and James, who died in infancy. Mrs. Harris lost two children in Dayton, Ohio, and one in Marengo, Iowa.
For six years prior to his death, Mr. Harris lived retired in Nevada, where he passed away on the 5th of October, 1900. After coming to Iowa he concentrated his energies upon agricultural pursuits and his capably conducted business affairs won him substantial success. As the years passed on he made a most creditable record as a judicious investor and energetic business man and at one time was one of the extensive land-owners of the county. In his later years, however, he divided his property among his wife and children. Mrs. Harris was ever a faithful helpmate to her husband. When they removed to Story county they settled upon the raw prairie north of Nevada, and they and their children all bent their energies toward the development of a farm and the accumulation of a goodly estate. Mr. Harris' early experiences in life as a sailor, as a