William Harris

William Harris (1757–1812) was a farmer, soldier, and member of the Pennsylvania legislature. He was the father of two other American military men.

Early life William Harris was born October 7, 1757, on his parents' farm in Willistown Township in the Province of Pennsylvania. His father, Thomas Harris (1722–1799), had immigrated from Ireland about 1745. His mother, the former Elizabeth Bailey (1726 –1799), also an immigrant from Ireland, was the heir of her childless uncle, Alexander Bailey, owner of the farm. About 1760, the family moved to nearby Grubb's mill, and about 1768, they moved to neighboring East Whiteland Township in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania where, in 1770, Thomas Harris bought a farm just inside the Welsh Tract. Both sons, William and his older brother John (1753–1838), participated in the American Revolution.

Military service William Harris joined the Pennsylvania militia at the age of 18, as the Revolutionary War broke out. The first known mention of him appears in a memorandum book of Captain Persifor Frazer in the summer of 1776, which calls him a sergeant. In March 1777 he was appointed a second lieutenant in Captain John Marshall's company of the State Regiment of Foot, Col. John Bull, commander. In time, he rose to the rank of captain. His regiment was taken into the Pennsylvania Line of the Continental Army, and became the Thirteenth Regiment, which saw action in the battles of the Brandywine and Germantown and several minor engagements. Although records exist showing his involvement in a number of troop movements later in the Revolution, his battalion appears not to have seen any battles in the later years of the war. Harris was involved in the capture of Joseph Doane, a notorious highwayman and member of a family of robbers, in 1782.

Harris again saw service in 1794, when the militia was called upon to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. He served as captain of the eighth company of the Chester County regiment, and was the regimental paymaster. He continued his involvement with the state military organization for the rest of his life. In 1811, he was commissioned brigadier general of the Second Brigade, Third Division of Pennsylvania troops. When the War of 1812 broke out, Governor Simon Snyder called up 14,000 troops, including Harris, but the new general died before the troops took the field. He is listed as a member of Masonic Lodge No. 59, founded in East Whiteland in 1790.

He was also an elder of the Great Valley Presbyterian Church, which his family had joined upon leaving St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley during the Revolution because St. Peter's, an Anglican congregation, continued to say prayers for the King, as was required of Anglican clergy. He was buried at Great Valley Presbyterian after his death of a "lingering illness" on September 4, 1812.

Marriage and children Harris married Mary Campbell (February 27, 1752 – November 26, 1837), daughter of Rev. John Campbell (1713–1753 ), a Presbyterian minister, and the former Mary Hubbard (and stepdaughter of Richard Richison Campbell Harris (1781–1853), a farmer. He married Jane Lee and moved to Geneseo, New York. Thomas Harris (1784–1861), a physician and surgeon who was chief of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He married, successively, Jane Hodgdon and Esther White Macpherson. Mary Harris (1786–1791). John Harris (1789–1864), commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. He married, successively, Mary Forster and Mary Gilliat Gray. William Harris (1792–1861), a physician in Chester County. He married Elizabeth Matilda Patterson. James Bailey Harris (1795–1881), a farmer. He moved to the Genesee valley in 1818 with his older brother and married Maria Driesbach. Stephen Harris (1798–1851), a physician and farmer. He married Marianne Smith (a granddaughter of Persifor Frazer) and was the father of Joseph Smith Harris.