Kentucky Frontiersman: George Harris and his wife Martha "Patsy" Maddox

George Harris was born Feb. 9, 1773, in Somerset County, Md., and christened at Green Hill Church, Stepney Parish. He spent his youth on his father's Worcester County, Md., plantation called Alderbury. The plantation Alderbury was in Worcester Co Md, later Wicomico Co, Md., but was not located in Snow Hill Parish, but in Stepney Parish. George Harris left home about 1793-1794 for Kentucky. George Harris arrived at Limestone, river port of the Ohio Valley, in the 1790s.

What was Kentucky like at the end of the 18th Century? By then, the Revolutionary War was ten years in the past, and veterans from Virginia had received bounty land in Kentucky & Ohio. Col. John Harris and his brother Jordan Harris of Powhatan Co, Va., received thousands of acres in Fayette Co, Ky. along the Licking. One of the Licking tracts of John Harris became the home of Charles Harris. Part of this land, Harrisburgh Hill, remained in the Harris family for 185 years. Harrisburgh located northwest of Grant's Lick at end of Harrisburgh Hill Road. Old Harris log structure near home of John Dawson. 

Capt. George Harris was an adventurer, promoter, entrepreneur, politician and soldier. He was the first of Charles Harris' sons to leave home for the West. It was no small venture to travel through the trans-Allegheny region. He proceeded by horse and on foot across the Alleghenies to Ft. Pitt on the Ohio River. George reached Kentucky in 1794 where he joined Capt. Edward Terrell's Co., Huston's Battalion, of the Ky. Mounted Volunteers, under the command of Wm. Kavanaugh, July 14 to Oct. 26, 1794. Troubles with marauding Shawnees caused a conscription of all able-bodied men between ages of 18 to 45. George joined the Kentucky Militia soon after his arrival in Limestone, Mason Co. He rose through the ranks from Lieutenant on Jan. 21, 1797, to Captain of the 15th Regt. on Aug. 28, 1798.

On Oct. 21, 1801, Capt. George Harris married Patsy Maddox, sister of his friend and neighbor, Hezekiah Maddox, in Maysville, Mason County. Two months later, George was best man at Hezekiah Maddox's wedding to George's sister Rhoda Harris, on Dec. 26, 1801. Within a year, both families moved south onto one of the vast tracts owned by John Grant along the Licking River. Patsy Maddox Harris died 1823 in Harrisburg, Campbell Co, Ky. George Harris married (2) Jane Hudson of Boone County on June 10, 1824. The Maddoxes had lived in Mason County since 1794 (Mason Co Ky. Tax List, p.17) when Notley Maddox brought his family from Charles Co, Md., to Kentucky. It is possible George Harris took up residence with a Maddox family in Mason County since his name is not found on a tax list until 1799.

Campbell Co tax lists from 1802-1834 show George Harris owned from 2 to 6 horses at various times. Horses were used for militia service as well as transport. He was the first of the Harrises to settle in Campbell County and build a home, operate a tavern, and establish a ferry across the Licking River. On the motion of George Harris, it is allowed two hands to attend to his ferry across Licking near mouth of Bowman Creek. (Ct. Order Bk 1:7) He paid taxes in Campbell on Aug. 7, 1804, for 150 a. on Licking River in John Harris' patent on the west side of the Licking. On Dec 19, 1809. Hiram Allen sold him 100 a. across the river on the east side in Jacob Rusamon's survey. The town of Harrisburg, therefore, was laid out on the east bank. (Falmouth Outlook Supplement,Dec. 15, 1978, p. 28) It was platted by Omer R. Powell, Deputy Co. Surveyor, Nov. 29, 1818.

Coincidentally, this was the same year George's brother, Charles Harris Jr, was planning his hostelry and laying out town of Snow Hill in Clinton Co, Ohio. On July 24, 1818, George Harris posted a notice on the courthouse door of his intention to make application for a town seat at the Sept. court. Site of the Harrisburg was opposite house & farm of George Harris. Nothing, however, came of these attempts to found a town or sell lots because of severe flooding in Licking Valley. Undeterred, George Harris built a house on east bank and lived there for many years. His children were all born there. Marriage records of many Baker and Harris relatives show Harrisburgh as the place of their birth. This property subsequently passed to the Rahe family, and today this tract is located at a bend in the Pond Creek Road just below Harrisburgh Hill. It has reverted to farm land.

George Harris fathered sixteen children by two wives, and died in 1834 at age 62 at his home in Harrisburgh. His estate was probated May 23, 1836. He was probably buried on the Harrisburgh Hill farm. He left few written records to tell of his life. In the 1840s, most of his children by Patsy Maddox had left Campbell for Clinton Co, Ohio. Neil Harris, great-grandson of George Harris, left a valuable family history, a key resource in identifying descendants in Snow Hill Remembered.

Photo: 1900 Harris Reunion at old Harrisburgh Hill log cabin (from Snow Hill Remembered p. 56)

George Harris died in 1834 without realizing his dream of founding a Licking River town. According to a court record, some of his children by second wife Jane Hudson were taken in by friends & relatives. Jane Hudson Harris moved to Newport where her beloved daughter, Achsay Harris, died.  Zarilda Harris grew up, moved to Covington, and married James L. Hackathorn. Jane Harris died in the home of her daughter, Zarilda, in Covington in the 1880s at age 90.

      Children of George & Martha "Patsy" Maddox Harris:

1. Betsey Harris b. c1803

2. Squire Grant Harris b. Oct 18, 1803; d. Oct 23, 1876

3. Nancy Ann Harris b. c1805; d. 1870

4. Lewis C. Harris b. Nov. 13, 1807; d. Nov. 27, 1900

5. Mary Green Harris b. c1810

6. Maria Violetta Harris b. Sept. 1, 1812; d. 1857

7. Malinda Harris b. c1815 Harrisburg Hill; m. Taylor Kees (b. 11 July 1810) June 7, 1831;  d. July 22, 1877.

8. George Green Harris b. c1822, d. Sept. 27, 1862

Settlement of Patty Harris Estate in  Campbell Co Ky. Inventory & Sales Book 2 (1814-1840) p. 252

"Adminstrator acknowledges that he received money from the estate of NOTLEY MADDOX to be divided among heirs, the children of said Patty Maddox, to wit, $323.26, dated 26 day of Sept. 1836."

Children of George & Jane Hudson Harris:

9. Charles C. Harris b. Mar. 1825

10. Amanda D. Harris b. c1826

11. Catharine Harris b. c1828

12. Achsah Bryson Harris b. c1830

13. Patsy Violetta Harris  b. c1831

14. Zarilda Jane Harris b. c1832

15. Martha Harris b. c1833

16. Rebecca Harris b. c1834

Bibliography

"Snow Hill Remembered: History of the Harris Family of Md., Ohio, Ky.," Richard E. Stevens, Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 1994, pp. 37-58, pp. 158-159.

"Northern Kentucky Historic Back Roads Tour," N. Ky. Bicentennial Commission, 1992.

"Campbell County Kentucky: 200 Years: 1794-1994," Campbell Co. Historical Society, Alexandria, Ky.   

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