Lewis Birdsall Harris was born in Waterloo, New York on July 1, 1816, the third child of John R. Harris and Jane Birdsall. When his mother left New York for Texas in 1833, he remained at the home of his grandparents until the spring of 1836. Although he arrived in Texas on April 21st, he quickly joined the Texian Army. Harris later held government positions as a clerk for both Andrew Briscoe and DeWitt Clinton Harris and served in the military including participating in the Somervell Expedition. In 1849 Harris joined the rush for California. He eventually settled in Sacramento, where he served as county clerk.
Lewis B. Harris was a prolific correspondent and wrote frequently to his relations in New York and Texas. He maintained a journal from 1836 to 1842 describing his journey from New York to Texas and his life in Texas. Harris married Jane E. Wilcox in 1846. In 1854, he married Amanda C. Dell, and had two children: Lewis B. Harris, Jr. and Gordon B. Harris. Lewis B. Harris died in San Diego, California, on June 12, 1893.
Financial documents, correspondence, and legal papers briefly record the life of Lewis Birdsall Harris. Statements of account (4) and tax receipts (2) document Harris' financial transactions. Of interest are 3 records concerning the rental and eventual purchase of Mary, a 24 year old black woman, by Henry F. Fisher in 1849, the year Harris left Texas for California. Correspondence includes 2 letters received by Harris, one from his nephew J. S. Birdsall in Oregon in 1871 asking for financial assistance. Three letters written by Harris from California in 1851 are addressed to
Other related papers from the Adele Briscoe Looscan Collection include the John R. and Jane Harris Papers, the Harris Family Papers, the Mary Jane Harris Briscoe Papers, the DeWitt Clinton Harris Papers, the William Plunkett Harris Papers, the Abram and Eliza Van Tuyl Papers, the Andrew Briscoe Papers, the Parmenas Briscoe Papers, and the Adele Briscoe Looscan Papers. All photographs are located in the Adele Briscoe Looscan Papers. There is an excellent daguerreotype of Lewis Birdsall Harris and Mary Jane Harris Briscoe.
Organized into three series: Correspondence, Financial and Legal; arrangement is alphabetical and by subject.
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Mr. and Mrs. George A. Hill, Jr., Houston Public Library, Annie Hume, 1939-1940.
Processed by Sandra Eileen Yates, 2002.
[Identification of Item], Lewis Birdsall Harris Papers, MC066, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.