HARRIS, James D.
HARRIS, JAMES D., died in Bellefonte, Feb. 26, 1842, aged forty-five. He was one of the ablest civil engineers this State ever produced.
In the incipient operations preparatory to the legislation which authorized the commencement of the Pennsylvania Canal he, in 1825, explored one of the proposed routes for the canal to connect the eastern and western waters, and the act having passed Feb. 25, 1826, he was immediately appointed principal assistant to N.S. Roberts, Esq., who was charged with the location and construction of the section adjoining Pittsburgh, and extending thirty-one miles to the mouth of the Kiskiminetas.
On Mr. Roberts' resignation, in May, 1827, Mr. Harris was appointed to take charge of that line, which was so far advanced by the 1st of June, 1828, that the board of canal commissioners appointed him to the additional duty of locating and constructing that part of the canal extending from Blairsville to Johnstown, twenty-eight miles.
He had this line, including four dams, thirty locks, and two large stone aqueducts, so near completed in July, 1829, in a substantial manner, that they could have been finished during the season, when he was suddenly removed by adverse influence of James S. Stevenson, acting canal commissioner on the Western Division, Harris being too upright to serve Stevenson's swindling purposes. Mr. Harris' memorial on the subject to the Legislature in 1830 caused the defeat of Stevenson for United States senator.
In 1831, John Mitchel and James Clarke, overruling Stevenson, appointed Mr. Harris, in connection with Robert Faries, engineer to locate the whole West Branch line of the Muncy Dam to the mouth of the Bald Eagle. Mr. Faries and Mr. Harris were associated in the location of the canal, and the line was then divided for construction, Mr. Harris taking the western portion.
In June, 1834, he was principal engineer of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, and was shortly after offered charge of the Bald Eagle Canal, which he declined, as he had pledged himself to stay with his friend, Gen. Abner Lacock, in the former enterprise. March 25, 1836, he was appointed principal engineer upon the extension of the North Branch Division, and to have general supervision of that and the Susquehanna Division.
In the fall of 1838 he was designated, at the request of the citizens of Schuylkill County and other counties interested in the trade of the Union Canal, as an able and disinterested engineer to make examinations relative to its enlargement. His exceedingly able report will be found among the records of the House of Representatives at Harrisburg for the year 1839.
Mrs. Harris, whose maiden name was Mary A. Miller, died Feb. 1, 1851. Their surviving children are Mrs. James L. Somerville, Mrs. N. Orbison, and Mrs. Adam Hoy. Mrs. George L. Potter and Mrs. Eliza D. Humes have deceased.
Source: History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania; John Blair Linn; Philadelphia; Louis H. Everts; 1883
History of Centre and Clinton Counties Surname Index
Pennsylvania Biographies Index
|
| FREE Ancestry.com Tools
|
Ancestry.com
FREE Start your Own Family Tree and get access to the largest collection of family history records online.
Family Trees
FREE The largest collection of family trees online.
|
|
|
Harris at RootsWeb
|
Harris at RootsWeb
Harris in a metasearch of the oldest largest free genealogy site.
Harris in USGenWeb
Harris in the Pennsylvania USGenWeb Archives of genealogy records transcriptions.
|
|
| Site Features
|
Quick Search Surname Finder
Enter your surname once to search 20 huge genealogy databases.
Genealogy Search Tips
Learn how to make your ancestor search more productive.
Learn
Learn how to research your family ancestry and find your ancestors.
Share
Register your surnames and find out who else is researching the same family names.
Record
Free genealogy software, forms, charts and templates.
Free Genealogy
Free genealogy resources: charts, lessons, software, databases, look ups, relationship charts, form letters, translation services.
Genealogy Free Trials
Free trials to Ancestry.com databases. Why pay when you can view for free?
|
|
|
