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William Harris2 (Isaac1), was born in about 1754. He is the oldest of Isaac Harris's known children of six boys and two girls. John was next in line followed by Wooten, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Mary, Reuben and Zachariah. William married a woman named Ruth, and was in Rutherford County, North Carolina before October 13, 1783. On that date, William Harris was deeded 100 acres of land on Cove Creek, a branch of Main Broad River, by John Black. William's brother, Wooten Harris, was a witness to this deed. Many of the descendants of William Harris were supplied to me by Margie (Harris) Cox of Marion, North Carolina who is a descendant of his oldest son, Harbert Harris. She has done a monumental job of tracing Harbert Harris's numerous descendants.
According to the 1790 census, there were two males and three females in the William Harris family besides William and his wife. One of the females was their daughter, Sarah, who married Berry Jones on July 4, 1808. The other two females are unidentified. The two sons were Harbert and Sims.
In 1800, both William and his wife were over age 45, and there were three males and one female age 10 to 16, plus one male and three females under age ten. The three males and one female age 10 to 16 would be Harbert, Sarah, Sims, and William. (Note: In the 1850 census, William Harris's age was recorded as age 59; however, he was named as one of the administrators of his father's estate in October 1811 so he must have been at least 21 years of age before then). The one male and three females who were under age ten would be Mary, Rebecca, Benjamin, and Lenora. William Harris died in 1811, and when guardians were assigned to his minor children in 1815, Benjamin, Rebecca, and Lenora were over age 14, and Isaac and John were under age 14. Mary was not included so apparently she was over 21 years of age at that time.
The 1810 census of Rutherford County is said to contain a larger number of errors than any other early census. Some false reports were spread that caused many people to avoid the census taker and others to refuse to give information. This may explain the discrepancies found for the William Harris family in that census report. That year, William and his wife both were over age 45, and there were two males age 16 to 26, (Harbert and Sims). Sarah and William were married. Also, there was a male and female age 10 to 16, and one male and two females under age ten. Benjamin and Lenora would have been between 10 to 16, but Mary and Rebecca should have been over age ten not under, and there should have been two males under age ten - Isaac and John. (?)
William's wife, Ruth, may have had the surname of Sellers. On January 3, 1983, I received a letter from Mr. Cedric Wilkerson who was a descendant of Moses and Rebecca (Sellers) Wilkerson. He sent information about a Ruth Sellers who married a William Harris. They were of the right time period and place to be our William Harris, and wife Ruth. When one considers the large number of marriages between Harris descendants and the Wilkerson family, this possibility seem more plausible.
Letters of Administration were obtained on William Harris's estate October 16, 1811 by his son, William Harris, Jr., and his son-in-law, Berry Jones, after his widow, Ruth, refused her right to administer. Ruth later (before July 1816) married Jonathan Curtis.
Part I, Descendants of William Harris is divided into Chapter 1a, Descendants of Harbert Harris and his first wife,
Ester Dornbush, and Chapter
1b, Descendants of Harbert Harris and his second wife,
Mary Bradley.
[In the family listings that follow, a plus sign (+) in front of a name indicates that person will later appear as head of a family. As with all other webpages in this book, if a name is not hotlinked and not marked with a "+" we do not yet have any further information on descendants on that child - for example, we don't have data on the descendants of Sarah Harris, second child of William Harris, nor on any of William's other children. If any person using this website has additional information on any of these family lines, please make contact!]
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