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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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O. T. HARRIS, for years superintendent of the blacksmith department in the Indian School at Carlisle, is a descendant of an old settler of Lancaster county. His ancestors came from the North of Ireland and landed at Baltimore early in the Nineteenth century, but in 1809 settled in Lancaster county, Pa., where John Harris died. He was a blacksmith by trade. His widow died at the age of eighty-two years, in Cumberland county. In religious faith they were Presbyterians. They reared the following children: William, Thomas, John and Samuel, all of whom became blacksmiths, William in Pittsburg, Thomas in Williamsport, and John and Samuel in Cumberland county.

John Harris, son of John Harris, and father of O. T. Harris, was born in 1802 after the family landed at Baltimore, and was seven years old when they removed to Lancaster county. He lived there until 1824, when he removed to Cumberland county and located in the neighborhood of the Harnich Mill on Yellow Breeches creek. He was given the first government order for the making of axes for the Indians, receiving the contract during President Jackson’s administration, and he turned out 2,000 of these edge tools. He was then located at Holly Springs, whence he went on horseback to visit President Jackson and made the contract with him personally. In the fall of 1840 he moved to Carlisle, where he spent five years, and in 1845 he removed to Bunker Hill. Leaving there in 1849, he settled in Newville. Two years later he went to Jacksonville and in 1852 removed to Franklin county, but in 1856 returned to Cumberland and died at Carlisle. He was widely known for his expertness in the manufacture of edge tools in his time having few equals in the business, and filled many very important contracts. He was a man of sound judgment and integrity of character, and he was elected county commissioner of Cumberland county. His death took place in 1877. He married Ann M. Stephens, who was born in Susquehanna county, Pa., in April, 1802, a niece of Jacob Graft, who stands on the records in the postoffice department as carrying the first through mail from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, making the trip on horseback. Mrs. Harris died in 1885, like her husband a member of the Presbyterian Church. They had children as follows: Ann. widow of J. J. Crawford, of Altoona; Margaret, who died at Tyrone in April, 1903, the wife of Christopher Swigert; Martha, deceased, who was the wife of Cyrus Bowman, of Franklin county; a daughter that died in infancy; John A., who died at Newburg in 1862; William, who served in the Union navy in the Civil war, went West and disappeared; O. Thomas, of this sketch; James Porter, who died in 1900 at Harrisburg; Charles C., residing at Altoona.

O. T. Harris was born July 25, 1836, and was reared and educated mainly in the public schools of Cumberland county. When so small a lad as to require a stool to stand on, in order to strike the metal, he worked at his father’s forge, and learned every detail of the business from this expert workman. By the time he was fifteen years of age he was able to take care of himself and was earning a good salary. As a change, and in order to see something of the country, he went out as a drover, traveling through Ohio and Indiana, and when he returned, a year later, he went to work in his father’s shop and then went to Harrisburg and engaged in coachmaking, later following this business at Washington. D. C., Pittsburg, Altoona and other points, for several years. Again he returned to Carlisle and started a business of his own in high-grade edge tools. In 1880 he was appointed superintendent of the blacksmith department at the Indian School at Carlisle, and filled the position with the utmost efficiency for twenty-two years and three months. In June, 1902, he resigned, but his place was found too hard to fill and he was prevailed upon, after a rest, to return and resume his duties in February, 1903. Mr. Harris, like his father, is an expert, his work being as far removed from that of the common smith as light from darkness, and his methods of imparting instruction are so excellent that many of the Indian wards have become most competent workmen.

In 1864 Mr. Harris was united in marriage with Susan Emma Palmer, who was born in Mechanicsburg, Pa., a daughter of John Palmer, a well known coachmaker of that place. A family of eleven children has been born to this union, as follows: Clyde P. is a traveling salesman; Marie, wife of George W. Danzberger, of New York city, has two children, Harris and Norman; Belle, wife of Charles Spahr, of Carlisle, has one child, Charles; John, teller of the Merchants National Bank of Carlisle, married Miss Florence Miller, of Carlisle, Pa., and they have one daughter, Mildred; Ellen died in 1893; Alice, Edna, Thomas P., Charles, Norman and Jennie complete the family, all being at home except Thomas, who is deceased. The various members of the family are connected with the Presbyterian and Lutheran churches. In politics Mr. Harris has always been identified with Jacksonian Democracy, but he has been no seeker for office. He enjoys the highest esteem in Carlisle.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. 

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