Entry tags:

chapin, harris, miller, surname saturday

For so many years, she was Elizabeth MNU.

Then she became Elizabeth Harris, born about 1830 in Pennsylvania.   She married Nathaniel Foster Chapin about 1853. 

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Then, one of my Chapin cousins found me, and the focus immediately narrowed with wonderful details in three handwritten pages.

They were enough for me to find her parents, and several of her siblings.

She was my third great grandmother.

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She was Elizabeth Harris, born on 19 Nov 1831 in Pennsylvania, to James Elisha Harris and Sally Miller.  She died in Fort Scott, Bourbon County, KS on 30 Oct 1887.

She had at least 8 or 9 younger siblings.

The ones I have documented (thanks to those three handwritten pages) are:

• Lyman Harris, born 9/1837 in PA. Married Catharine Hoover on 4 Jul 1868;
• Mary Harris, born 1839 in Pennsylvania;
• John Harris, born 1841 in Pennsylvania;
• Emma (Emily) Harris, born 1843 in Pennsylvania;
• Henry Orten "Ort" Harris, born 9 Aug 1846 in Ridgebury, Bradford Co., PA. Married Mary Elizabeth Green on 30 Oct 1873 in Elmira, Chemung Co., NY;
• Elisha Alden Harris, born 1847 in Ridgebury, Bradford Co., PA;
• Sarah Harris, born 1851 in Ridgebury, Bradford Co., PA;
• Josephine Harris, born 1854 in Ridgebury, Bradford Co., PA; and
• James Harris. (E C Shephard's handwritten notes at page 3, in private collection.)

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James Elisha Harris must have died before the 1860 census. In 1860, Sally Miller Harris was living with her children Lyman, John, Alden, Sarah and Josephine in Ridgebury, Bradford Co., PA.

In the 1870 census, Sally was living in Ridgebury, Bradford Co., PA. Her son Henry, daughter Josephine, and a granddaughter named Ella Harris (born in 1864), were living with her.

I have been unable to find Sally Harris after the 1870 census, and still have a lot of work to do to find spouses and dates of death for many of Elizabeth Harris Chapin's siblings.

I know that Elizabeth died on 30 Oct 1887, and when I get my recently ordered cemetery transcription book, I believe I will find where she is buried.

But those three little handwritten pages flung the door wide open...