After he was orphaned, his uncle John J. Harris of Houston County, Georgia became his guardian, the guardianship bond being filed in 1855. It appears, however, that John J. died soon thereafter. While his brother went to Gadsden County, Florida and was apprenticed to C.E.L. Allison at the Quincy Republic newspaper, according to a family story young Alex traveled along with a minister and his family, perhaps a circuit rider. However, the 1860 census locates Alex with the Noah Gainey family. Mrs. Gainey was a Zeigler, and this is probably how he became introduced to the young lady, Amanda Daniels, who became his wife (Amanda was a niece of Mrs. Gainey's).
By 1863, Alex was in Decatur County, Georgia and enlisted as a Private with Charles Geddes Campbell's Siege Artillery. Within a few months, he was promoted to 3rd Corporal, Company B, 29th battalion, Georgia Cavalry. Not much is known about his CSA service, and the records of the 29th Battalion are difficult to trace as the companies were spread from Florida to the path of Sherman's March. In one source, Capt. John T. Wimberly of Company B is noted as being in Liberty County, Georgia when Judson Kilpatrick came through as part of Sherman's March. Alex appears in a List of Prisoners of War surrendered to Brig. Gen. E. M. McCook by Maj. Gen Sam Jones, CSA, at Tallahassee, Florida, May 10, 1865.
He settled and married in 1868 in Decatur County, Georgia to 23 year old Amanda Eliza Daniel, 6th child (of 10) of William Daniel (born 1803 Georgia) and Elizabeth Ann Waters (born in Georgia in 1813, a sister of Ephraim David Waters).
The family moved to Texas from Decatur County, GA by 1875 and finally settled in Seymour, Baylor County. Alex was a road builder/overseer on the Throckmorton Road in the early 1880s. Amanda died in Baylor County, Texas in 1889, and Alex never remarried.
Their children were: William Alexander (b. 1870, Decatur County, Georgia), Francis Eppes (b. 1872, also in Decatur County), Ina Pearl (b. 1875 in Texas), Sidney Eugene (b. 1878 in Texas), male infant (b. 1880, Texas) & Clara Alice (b. 1882, Baylor County, Texas).
In 1915, Alex traveled back to Florida to visit his brother, Frank Harris, who was by then editor of the Ocala Banner and a sometime governor candidate. This visit was reported in the newspapers, from which we know that Alex visited friends or business contacts in Tampa on his way home.
Son William Alexander had relocated to Arizona by 1910. The rest of the family kept moving after the 1910 census and, except for grandsons Henry Alexander and Sidney Eppes who stayed in Texas, all moved out to points in New Mexico and Arizona. Henry lived and died in Texas, but Sid eventually moved to Phoenix as well.
By the 1920 census, Alex was living in the household of his granddaughter Lucy, Clara's daughter, in Phoenix, AZ. Alex is listed as the informant on his sons Willie and Epps death certificates in 1929 and 1933, respectively.
After he was orphaned, his uncle John J. Harris of Houston County, Georgia became his guardian, the guardianship bond being filed in 1855. It appears, however, that John J. died soon thereafter. While his brother went to Gadsden County, Florida and was apprenticed to C.E.L. Allison at the Quincy Republic newspaper, according to a family story young Alex traveled along with a minister and his family, perhaps a circuit rider. However, the 1860 census locates Alex with the Noah Gainey family. Mrs. Gainey was a Zeigler, and this is probably how he became introduced to the young lady, Amanda Daniels, who became his wife (Amanda was a niece of Mrs. Gainey's).
By 1863, Alex was in Decatur County, Georgia and enlisted as a Private with Charles Geddes Campbell's Siege Artillery. Within a few months, he was promoted to 3rd Corporal, Company B, 29th battalion, Georgia Cavalry. Not much is known about his CSA service, and the records of the 29th Battalion are difficult to trace as the companies were spread from Florida to the path of Sherman's March. In one source, Capt. John T. Wimberly of Company B is noted as being in Liberty County, Georgia when Judson Kilpatrick came through as part of Sherman's March. Alex appears in a List of Prisoners of War surrendered to Brig. Gen. E. M. McCook by Maj. Gen Sam Jones, CSA, at Tallahassee, Florida, May 10, 1865.
He settled and married in 1868 in Decatur County, Georgia to 23 year old Amanda Eliza Daniel, 6th child (of 10) of William Daniel (born 1803 Georgia) and Elizabeth Ann Waters (born in Georgia in 1813, a sister of Ephraim David Waters).
The family moved to Texas from Decatur County, GA by 1875 and finally settled in Seymour, Baylor County. Alex was a road builder/overseer on the Throckmorton Road in the early 1880s. Amanda died in Baylor County, Texas in 1889, and Alex never remarried.
Their children were: William Alexander (b. 1870, Decatur County, Georgia), Francis Eppes (b. 1872, also in Decatur County), Ina Pearl (b. 1875 in Texas), Sidney Eugene (b. 1878 in Texas), male infant (b. 1880, Texas) & Clara Alice (b. 1882, Baylor County, Texas).
In 1915, Alex traveled back to Florida to visit his brother, Frank Harris, who was by then editor of the Ocala Banner and a sometime governor candidate. This visit was reported in the newspapers, from which we know that Alex visited friends or business contacts in Tampa on his way home.
Son William Alexander had relocated to Arizona by 1910. The rest of the family kept moving after the 1910 census and, except for grandsons Henry Alexander and Sidney Eppes who stayed in Texas, all moved out to points in New Mexico and Arizona. Henry lived and died in Texas, but Sid eventually moved to Phoenix as well.
By the 1920 census, Alex was living in the household of his granddaughter Lucy, Clara's daughter, in Phoenix, AZ. Alex is listed as the informant on his sons Willie and Epps death certificates in 1929 and 1933, respectively.
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ALEX E. HARRIS
1844 - 1937
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