JOEL M. HARRIS in the Civil War:320
(From MARVIN HARRIS)
When his older brothers Felix and Cicero went down to Granada, Mississippi, to join Compay D. 42nd Mississippi Volunteers, CSA Joel joined them in Captain R. W. Locke's company. Captain H. W. Miller enrolled all three brothers as privates on May 14, 1862. Although the company was to participate in a number of battles, Joel's record of engagements indicated that he did not participate in most of them--for good reason. In May, June, and early July (when the company was battling at Gettysburg and Fallen Waters), he lay sick in Samaritan Hospital, Richmond, Virginia. He recovered sufficiently, however, to fight in the Bristoe battle on October 14, 1863. He was wounded May 5, 1864, in the Wilderness Battle, which wounds were severe enough to send him to the hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia, and to keep him from seeing further battles that year with his company at Shady Grove and Spottsylvania in May. Hanover Junction in June, Weldon Railroad in August, and Squirrel Level R and Hatcher's Run in October. For these engagements he was listed as either "a.w." (away wounded) or "a.f." (away furlough or satisfactorily). Sometime in 1865 he was discharged to return to his home in Mississippi.

1880 Census of Gonzales Co TX:

Name Age
Joel M. Harris 40 head GA GA TN
Roxanna V. Harris 30 wife MS MS SC
Wm. M. Harris 10 son MS GA MS
Mary E. Harris 6 dau MS GA MS
Albert E. Harris 4 son MS GA MS
Charles M. Harris 2 son MS GA MS

From this limited information, it can be concluded that Joel M. Harris, after his discharge from the Confederate army, probably went to Mississippi, where is presumably met and married Roxanna Viola Robertson, probably around 1869-70, when Roxanna would have been 19-20. They lived in Mississippi at least through 1878 when Charles M. Harris was born, then settled in Gonzales Co TX. They apparently had another son, Berry, in 1883. Joel apparently died in 1883 (no hard source for this, taken from an undocumented family tree). Roxanna and Berry were still living in Gonzales Co in 1900.

And by the way, Joel came from Mississippi with his young family to Gonzales Co., Texas, with his father-in-law L.B.T. (Little Berry Tillman) Robertson. He caught pneumonia while serving on a jury and died at around age 40. Berry Robertson then helped his daughter raise her Harris children. W.M. "Billie" Harris, my grandfather and one of Joel's sons, and he became the patriarch of a large family and always presided at the large family reunions held at Rio Vista Park in San Marcus, Texas, when I was a boy.1038

**************************
Mr. Heathcock,

I stumbled onto your web site by accident.  I was looking for more information on the family of Joel Morton Harris when I found it.  Joel was one of the sons of William M. Harris and Lucinda Scoggins.  My ancestor, William Archie McCall, enlisted in Granada, MS, on the same day as Cicero, Felix and Joel Harris.  All four men were in Captain R. W. Locke's company which later became part of the 42nd Mississippi Infantry.  Following the war, Joel Morton Harris and William Archie McCall moved to Gonzales Co., TX, where two of Joel's children married two of William's children.

I don't know if you are aware of this - following the British conquest of Northern Ireland, the British government promoted Scotch settlement in Northern Ireland.  To that end, members of the Harris, McCall and Calquoun (Calhoun) families departed Scotland on a single ship and settled in Northern Ireland, where they stayed for two generations.  When the British government became repressive, these families left Northern Ireland for America, most landing in Philadelphia.  Many settled in PA, at least temporarily, until moving on.  When the Calhouns opened their own settlement in South Carolina, members of the three families flocked there in enormous numbers.  York Co., SC, and adjoining Mecklenburg Co., NC, were heavily Scots-Irish.  As their population, surged, they expanded their range to the west into adjoining counties.  

I don't know if your Harris line is one of the Scots-Irish who were associated with the McCall and Calhoun families but I have a suspicion that they may have been.  

I am simply trying to understand how the three families interacted during their treks to the west and your Harris family in particular.  

Ed Corey <ecorey@cox.net>

1900 Census of Gonzales Co TX:

Name Age
R Harris 50 head w f b dec 1849 age 50 Wid m of 5, 5 living MS AL Unk
Berry Harris 17 son w m b Sept 1872 age 17 s TX GA MS

Next door to family of B. M. Harris, wife Ola, sons Joe M., Cecil, and Noal C., and daughter Estell.