This is Chapter Ten of twelve, the chapter in which the life of Henry E. Harris, the son of Evan Harris, carries the family line forward. He joins with Ann Thomas in America, (whose family we profiled in Chapters Seven and Eight).
Before We Leave Mynyddyslwyn Parish
We could not help but notice that the record below that even though it is the same Beulah Chapel location as the previous chapter — it looks quite different from the previous generation, doesn’t it? Maybe someone decided that the amount of historical illegible calligraphy was just too much of a hassle and then decided to update their process? We think it was a good idea.
Mynyddyslwyn (Beulah Chapel), Monmouthshire, Wales.
When Henry E. Harris was born in Mynyddyslwyn, Monmouthshire, Wales in 1827, he certainly had no idea that he would sail across the Atlantic Ocean and live his life in America. We thought it might be a good idea to have a look around the Mynyddyslwyn Parish before we leave it forever.
Coloured aquatint by Edward Pugh, circa 1810.
(Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons via The National Library of Wales).
Monmouthshire has two main rivers which flow through the area of Mynyddislwyn and embrace the borders of the parish. On the western side there is River Sirhowy, and on the eastern side there is the River Ebbw. The painting above is typical of a scene which Henry would have seen in this parish.
Back then, this part of Wales was giving way from an agricultural economy, to an industrial economy which was based mostly on the mining and the processing of coal and metals. If you look carefully in the 1810 painting at the abundance of trees and the verdant green hills… you can observe a factory in the background billowing smoke into the distant background. An unforeseen circumstance of societal change from this time period was the degradation of the natural environments. The waterways especially became very polluted, and soils were degraded.
“Coal helped pave the way for the Industrial Revolution. But the benefits of coal did not come without a cost… Few places embody the latter view as much as South Wales, once the largest global producer of coal.” (Medium) Eventually, environmental laws reigned in these problems.The long and complicated clean-up process, which has been ongoing for decades, has transformed many former industrial sites into green spaces. (1)
Henry Harris Marries Ann Thomas
We do not know how they met, but it’s probable that they were introduced through family or friends. In a community that was dominated by many Welsh immigrants, people just knew one another.
When they married, Henry was about 34 and Ann was almost 25 years old. (With this marriage, the Thomas name gave way to the Harris name). Within two years, their first child was born. Amongst their children, it is clear that they named their two oldest ones after Henry’s family members: Elvira, in remembrance of his young sister who had passed away, and Evan, in honor of his father.
- Elvira (Harris) Williams, 1863 – 1889, Elvira carries the family line forward.
- Evan Harris, 1864 – 1910
- Rosanna ‘Rose Ann’ (Harris) Sasce, 1866 – 1944
- Justin Harris, 1868 – 1903
- John Harris, 1871 – 1906
- Sarah ‘Sadie’ Harris, 1874 – 1906
What do the Censuses tell us?
Prior to their 1861 marriage, Henry and Ann each lived in the home of their parents. Henry was living in Tallmadge township, Summit County, Ohio. Ann was in living in the adjacent county to the East, in Palmyra township, Portage County.
They appear to have been a stable household for many years. In 1870, Henry’s mother Hannah was living with them. We did observe something intriguing in the 1880 Census. It could be that daughter Elvira may have been counted twice that year? In the Ancestry file, the Harris family is listed on the right-hand page, but on the left-hand page, a 17 year old girl with the (same) name of Elvira Harris is working at the nearby Richardson family home as a ‘hired girl’. Even though this ‘hired girl Elvira’ is one year younger, perhaps our Elvira Harris was counted twice in this census? (See footnotes).
The Williams family (from Chapter 5), was living very close by.
When we studied the Census data for this family, we saw that Henry had been identified as coal digger, or a miner, for about 30 years, starting in 1840. That is a very long time to do what must have been rather difficult work. By the time of the 1870 Census, he seemed to change his hats, (so to speak) about his profession. He traded in his miner’s helmet for a straw farmer’s cap. Even then, being a farmer was still a lot of hard work!
As we shall see next, this combination of being a miner, or a farmer, was quite typical of Welsh immigrants. It was normal to seek out what they knew from their old communities in Wales. (2)
When Coal Was King
If there is something we all learn in life, it is that change is constant. In these decades, Tallmadge had a long run of prosperity through the mining of coal. But coal seams do eventually run out. This is how eventuality affected the community and may have influenced Henry E. Harris to put on his farmer’s hat.
“Two additional factors played important roles in the growth of the coal industry in Tallmadge: the completion of both the Ohio Canal through Akron in 1827 and the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal in 1841 and the construction of Atlantic and Great Western Railroad lines through Tallmadge in 1864-1865. The connection by canal from Akron to Cleveland enhanced the ability of Tallmadge coal operators to efficiently supply fuel to steamers on the Great Lakes as well as Canadian gasworks in Toronto and Kingston. The Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal enabled Tallmadge coal operators to ship their coal from Akron to Beaver, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio River, thus opening up a still larger market. The coming of the railroad to Tallmadge permitted operators to ship their coal via rail to Akron as well as to Kent, Ravenna, and other points east. Within about twenty years, however, such shipments were abandoned due to the exhaustion of many of the larger veins of mineral in the Tallmadge mine fields. (A History of Tallmadge Coal…)
In retrospect, it is difficult to actually see the traces that the coal industry left on Tallmadge all these years later. It doesn’t seem that the environmental impacts around there were as profound as they were in other parts of Ohio, (or in South Wales for that matter). Most people living today would look around at Tallmadge, and be completely unaware of the period when coal was king. (3)
(Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons via The National Library of Wales).
The Welsh Population of Ohio
This account of Welsh immigration from the BBC News service begins in Cardiganshire [now named Ceredigion], Wales, which was located northwest of Monmouthshire by the Irish Sea (the Atlantic Ocean).
“A total of 36 people left Aberaeron for Ohio in 1818, but by the end of the 19th Century there was a Welsh community there numbering close to 6,000.
Today, it is thought there may be about 100,000 people in the state who can claim some Welsh descent… The group landed at Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore, where their travails began in earnest. Traveling in wagons to Pittsburgh and then onwards by raft down the Ohio River, they intended to reach a pre-existing Welsh community in Cincinnati, 500 miles (800km) away. Exhausted, they spent the night in Gallia County – where their rafts blew away in a storm – and from there they never moved.
They subsidised their living farming poor land by working on the highway between Chillicothe and Gallipolis. From those harsh beginnings, Wales-Ohio project historian Arwel Jones explains the Welsh immigrants’ luck was about to change. ‘For a decade or more life was very tough and not many more followed the 36 to Ohio, then came the railways, and not long after, the civil war. The Welsh were hard workers, and used to iron, so they formed co-operative forges which made rails all over the US, and produced cannonballs for both the Unionists and the Confederates. That encouraged 3,000 or 4,000 more to leave Cardiganshire between 1830 and the end of the century, spawning success stories…’” (BBC News)
Further, we learned more about this mass migration of Welshmen. “In the early nineteenth century most of the Welsh settlers were farmers, but later there was emigration by coal miners to the coalfields of Ohio and Pennsylvania and by slate quarrymen from North Wales… As late as 1900, Ohio still had 150 Welsh-speaking church congregations.” (Wikipedia) (4)
We have written previously, an immigrant population seeks out what they know when relocating to a new community. This was very true for many of our family lines. For the Williams, Harris, and Thomas lines, almost all generations were either farmers, or miners. Although that is indeed true and this generation continued to do the same vocations, the world was changing again and becoming much more modern.
Just think of all the changes…
Ann Harris died on April 11, 1890 of pneumonia. We were able to locate her obituary in the Y Drych Welsh language newspaper. Originally published in Welsh, we translated it into English (as shown below on the right). “Y Drych, established in 1851, was a weekly Welsh-language newspaper published by Mather Jones. It contained news and information, focusing on religious matters.” (Wikipedia)
for the May 1, 1890 issue. Notes: We compiled this specific piece of artwork from original sources for this chapter, and carefully managed a new and accurate translation of Ann’s obituary. The English translation is shown at right.
(Source: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, The National Library of Wales).
Henry E. Harrris seemed to have lived his life like the Welsh rivers that he viewed as a child — flowing from the landscape Wales, across the Atlantic Ocean, to the farm fields and coal seams of Northeast Ohio. Henry lived much longer than his wife, carrying on well into the 20th century, passing away on April 25, 1920, just after his 93rd birthday. Just think of all the changes he bore witness to in his long life! (5)
Following are the footnotes for the Primary Source Materials,
Notes, and Observations
Before We Leave Mynyddyslwyn Parish
(1) — three records
Henry Harries
in the England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936Rg4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Monmouthshire > Baptist > Piece 0630: Mynyddyslwyn, Beulah Chapel (Baptist), 1803-1837
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2972/records/45968
Book page: 19 or 21, Digital page: 25/119, Last entry on page.
Note: For the record of his April 21, 1827 birth.
The National Library of Wales
View of a stone bridge across the valley and river at Risca in Monmouthshire,
Coloured aquatint by Edward Pugh, circa 1810
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_a_stone_bridge_across_the_valley_and_river_at_Risca_in_Mon.jpeg
Note: A view of the bridge at Risca, showing horses pulling ore and coal wagons along the tramroad. The copper works can be seen in the distance.
Medium
A Future Black as Coal? — The Underground Heritage of Wales
https://medium.com/tourism-geographic/a-future-black-as-coal-a019113680db
Note: For the text.
Henry Harris Marries Ann Thomas
(2) — twelve records
Henry E. Harris
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZD5-64M?lang=en
Book page: 1216 Digital page: 628/637, Left page, first entry.
Note: For the copy of the April 30, 1861 marriage record.
and
Henry E. Harris
in the Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61378/records/2833785
Note: Their marriage date is April 30, 1861.
For the names and dates of their children we looked at and reconciled many sources, such as family trees, Find A Grave profiles, etc. Here is one example for a family tree (which is not ours):
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/62607448/person/282197451285/facts
H. E. Harris
in the U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918
Ohio > Summit, 1874
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1127/records/3962102
Digital page: 85/138
1850
Evan Harris
in the 1850 United States Federal Census
Ohio > Summit > Tallmadge
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/records/19601199?tid=62607448&pid=282197451798&ssrc=pt
Digital page: 28/60, Lines 31 through 36.
Note 1: Evan 46, Hannah 58, Henry 23, Mary 16, Hannah, Alvira 10.
Note: Evan is listed as a coal digger (miner).
Note 3: Contributor C. E. Tabbert’s notes on daughter Elvira from the FindaGrave website:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/269329914/elvira-harris
1850
Ann Thomas
in the 1850 United States Federal Census
Ohio > Portage > Palmyra
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/records/19581414
Book page: 207(?), Digital page: 8/26, Lines 28 through 35.
Note: John 51, Hannah 52, Rees 19, Ann 15, Margaret 12, David 9, John 6, Anna Jenkins 4.
1860
Hannah Harris
in the 1860 United States Federal Census
Ohio > Summit > Tallmadge
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7667/records/42152554
Digital page: 15/30, Lines 1 through 9.
Note 1: Hannah 58, Henry 53*, Sarah 30, Mary 26, Anna (Hannah) 22, Thomas 3, Daniel 1, Henry Rees 9, Eliza Rees 7
*His age should be listed as 33.
Note 2: Where is the father Evan? Henry is listed working as a miner.
Note 3: Daughter Sally had previously married Solomon Reese (presumably by the 1850 Census, because she is not listed). Her children, Henry (9) and Eliza (7) are living with this family. (See footnotes in Chapter Nine).
1860
Ann Thomas
in the 1850 United States Federal Census
Ohio > Portage > Palmyra
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7667/records/41939194
Book page: 66-67, Digital page: 8-9/26, See note below.
Note 1: John 61, Anna 62, Rees 19, Ann 24, Margaret 22, David 19, John1 6, Anna Jenkins 14.
Note 2: This census carries over two pages. The parents are on lines 39-40 on page 66; the rest follow lines 1-5 on page 67.
1870
Henry Harris
in the 1870 United States Federal Census
Ohio > Summit > Tallmadge
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/37748887
Book page: 7, Digital page: 7/32, Lines 10 through 16.
Note: Her parents are Henry and Ann.
Note: Henry 43, Ann 32, Elvira 8, Evan 6, Rosanna 4 , Justin 1, Hannah 72.
Note: Henry Harris, his wife Ann*, and his mother Hannah are born in Wales; all others, Ohio.
Note 1: * This is an enumeration error. Ann was born in Ohio.
Note 2: His occupation is Miner.
1880
Henry E. Harris
in the 1880 United States Federal Census
Ohio > Summit > Tallmadge > 181
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/records/18590812
Book page: 21, Digital page: 21/30, Lines 16 through 23.
Note: Henry 53, Ann 44, Elvira 18, Evan 16, Rosanna 14 , Justin 12, John 10, Sarah 6.
Note: It is interesting to note on the adjacent left page (Digital page: 20/30), on line 49 — https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/records/18590623
A 17 year old girl with the (same) name of Elvira Harris is working at the nearby Richardson family home as a ‘hired girl’. Even though this ‘hired girl Elvira’ is one year younger, perhaps our Elvira Harris was counted twice in this census?
When Coal Was King
(3) — two records
Akron-Summit County Public Library
A History of Tallmadge Coal:
A Tale of Woodchucks, Welshmen, and a Canal
by Judy Anne Davis, 2006
https://www.akronlibrary.org/images/SpecCol/TallmadgeCoal_.pdf#:~:text=
Notes: In library reference use only. For the texts about the mining operations
and coal seams running out, etc.
Vector
Agriculture Tools
https://www.freevector.com/agriculture-tools-111636
Note: For the image of farm tools.
The Welsh Population of Ohio
(4) — three records
The National Library of Wales
An 1841 poster advertising passage to America,
written in English and Welsh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Americans#/media/File:Emigration_To_New_York_1841.jpg
BBC News
Marking 200 years since Welsh settlers arrived in Ohio
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-44240447
Note: For the text about Welsh immigrants to Ohio.
Welsh Americans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Americans
Note: For the text.
Just think of all the changes…
(5) — seven records
Ann Harris
in the U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/125051575
Note: Census data documents and her birth record, and her obituary say that she was born in OHIO. Only the 1870 Census indicates Wales for her birth, which is likely an error.
and
Ann Thomas Harris
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151377869/ann-harris
Note: Her dates are from June 5, 1836 to April 11, 1890.
Anna Harris
in the Summit County, Ohio, U.S., Death Records, 1866-1908
Death Index Registers, 1869-1908 > E – K
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1596/records/47484
Book page: 110, Digital page: 160/169
Note: This confirms her death date of April 11, 1890, (pneumonia).
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
The National Library of Wales
Y Drych
(Welsh newspaper), May 1, 1890 issue
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3539982/3539985
Newspaper page: 3, Right column, lower portion.
Note: Center section of an article titled Tallmadge, Summit Co., O.
Note: The plain text version can be accessed through the manual links (which partition the articles) and are found on the lower portion of the webpage.
Y Drych
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Drych
Note: For the data.
Henry E. Harris
in the U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/240217665?tid=&pid=&queryId=3ce57210-d200-4299-8f41-578eb079cf81&_phsrc=NmT5&_phstart=successSource
and
Henry E. Harris
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/269323209/henry_e-harris
Note: His dates are, 1827 to April 25, 1920.
Our Ancestors, Our Narratives 
