HARRIS: Of the City of Spencer.
Elias Jefferson Harris was the first of this family to arrive here He with his wife, Nettie Bernice (Reynolds) Harris, with their five children arrived here in the year 1897. He then a minister of the Gospel was assigned to charge of the Methodist Protestant church of Spencer, by the West Virginia annual conference of the church, of which conference he had been a member for some years previous to his assignment to Spencer charge.
We are not able to state just how many years he was preacher in charge here, but he liked it here, and deeming his family in need of more than the ministry could pay, he resigned as member of the conference and went into business on a small tide of general prosperity, soon acquired ownship in fee of a good home in which he and his wife, Nettie B., have brought up their family.
Ancestry:
Elias J. Harris was born August 14, 1861, in Barbour County, son of John J. and Elizabeth (Marteny) Harris. John L. was a son of George Harris, early settler of the Tigerts Valley, who was a son of Simon Harris, of the Shennandoah Valley, Virginia. Elizabeth Marteny, mother of Elias J., was born near where the City of Elkins now--1927--is, a daughter of George Washington Marteny and wife, pioneers. Nettie Bernice Reynolds was born in Barbour County, daughter of ________ Reynolds and Susan (Cross) Reynolds; there married Elias J. Harris, April 5, 1882.
The names and somewhat further of the sons and daughters of Elias J. and Nettie B., his wife, are as follows:
Ora was born November 6, 1883, married H. H. Robey. See Robey.
Orville was born July 5, 1884, married Miss Eve Cutlip.
Ottyce, born June 12, 1886, married William C. Hershey, October 27, 1905, he then 37 years of age, born in Fayette County, Ohio, and a resident of McAlister, Oklahoma.
Okey R. was born July 7, 1891, married, and has his residence and business in Spencer, being business manager of The Roane County Reporter, a newspaper and publishing plant.
Orla Virginia Harris, youngest of this family, is a school teacher. She was born June 26, 1896.
Source: History of Roane County, West Virginia, 1774-1927 William H. Bishop, Esq. p 544-545
Submitter: Sandy Spradling, November 28, 1999
