Silas Harris (1824-1897)

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1846-47: Veteran of Mormon Battalion
High Councilor in the Kanab Stake

Biography

Silas Harris was born 14 October 1824 in Bono, Lawrence County, Indiana, United States to Moses Harris (1798-1890) and Frances Smith (1804-1891) and died 12 March 1897 Glendale, Kane County, Utah, United States of unspecified causes. He married Sariah Aldridge (1834-1902) 2 September 1849 in Independence Rock, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.

At the age of ten years he was healed of a severe illness by the administration of the Elders, it being the first miraculous manifestation of the power of God that he had witnessed. At the age of fourteen he was baptized by Elder Harvey Green and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Wm. Hawk. In October, 1838, he moved with his parents to a place near Montrose, Iowa, where they lived until the exodus of the Saints from Nauvoo. The family joined the camps of Israel in the spring of 1846.

Mormon Battalion Veteran

Participant in the march of The Mormon Battalion. This unit of the US Army served in the Mexican-American War and was the only religiously based infantry unit ever created by Presidential order. It consisted of nearly 500 men recruited exclusively from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the Mormons). They undertook the longest infantry march in U.S. military history (as of 1847) and in the process marked out and creating the first continuous wagon road to California which linked the future states of New Mexico, Arizona, and California to the United States. Most members served an initial 12 month term (Jul 1846- Jul 1847) with some members re-enlisting for an additional 12 months afterwards. Silas marched in Co B of the Battalion.

A few days prior to Silas arrival at Council Bluffs word reached them that the Saints were called upon, by the U. S. Government, for a battalion of soldiers to fight Mexico. Without any serious thought on the subject Silas said he was going. The saying uttered lightly proved prophetic. Joining Company B under Captain Jesse D. Huner, he remained with the Battalion, sharing its hardships, until they were disbanded at Los Angeles in 1847. At Fort Leavenworth he was taken ill with the mumps, but rather than go on the sick list in care of an unfriendly doctor, he continued in the ranks, not fully recovering until they reached Santa Fe. Much of the time during the march he served as teamster. Remaining in San Francisco during the winter of 1847–48, he, in connection with his uncle Wm. Hawk, advertised to take a mail to the Missouri river at the rate of 50 cents per letter. The enterprise proved a success. The party consisting of sixteen men left San Francisco Apr. 15, 1848, and arrived in Salt Lake City about the middle of June.

Utah Pioneer

Here Silas remained in SLC until August 1848, Wm. Hawk going on with the mail. With a party of twelve other men he started for Council Bluffs Iowa, with pack animals Aug. 20th, meeting Pres. Brigham Young and a company of Saints on the head of Sweetwater; they were unloading part of their teams and returning them to the Missouri river to assist other emigrants the following spring. The two parties traveled together the balance of the way, arriving at their destination about the middle of October. Here Silas rejoined his parents (near Council Bluffs) where he attended school the following year. In June, 1849, the family started for Great Salt Lake City in Capt. Taylor's company. Sept. 2, 1849, he married Sariah Aldridge, daughter of Wm. Aldridge and Betsey Vanblaricum, at Laramie, Elder Reddick N. Allred performing the ceremony. Arriving in Great Salt Lake Valley, he settled at Bountiful.

San Bernardino

In the spring of 1851 he moved with his family to San Bernardino, Cal., in company with Chas. C. Rich and Amasa M. Lyman, locating on the Bernardino ranch, he having purchased a portion of the same from the Church. Apr. 19, 1855, he started on a mission to Washington Territory, in obedience to a call from Apostle Amasa M. Lyman. He traveled a distance of sixteen hundred miles with a pack horse. On Lewis river, Washington Territory, he and his companions organized a branch of the Church, having baptized a number into the fold. He returned home the following November, 1855.

Adair Spring Monument

Sharris1868 — Silas Harris Sandstone Block With Silas Harris' Name Carved in Front Surface, Discovered in Leeds Utah in 2002.

In 1857 San Bernardino was broken up. Elder Harris sold his property at a great sacrifice and moved to Utah, settling at Washington, Washington county. In the spring of 1858 he was a member of an exploring expedition to the White Mountains, to find a location for the Saints, in case they should be driven out by their enemies. He left his family encamped in a wagon Apr. 19. 1858, explored Paranagate Valley and went to Meadow Valley, where he put in a crop; returned home about the beginning of August. In the spring of 1859 he moved his family from Washington and assisted in founding Harrisburg, in Washington county; here he was chosen and appointed presiding Elder over the branch.

Kane County, Utah

In 1872 he moved to Glendale, Kane County, Utah, at which place he was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a High Councilor of the Kanab Stake of Zion by Apostle Erastus Snow. This position he held up to the time of his death, which occurred at his home at Glendale March 12, 1897. Elder Harris was the father of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, all but one of whom survived him.

Children

Offspring of Silas Harris and Sariah Aldridge (1834-1902)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
William Silas Harris (1850-1932)
Alonzo Harris (1852-1929)
Melissa Harris (1852-1852)
Warren Harris (1855-1903)
Asa Leroy Harris (1857-1915)
Elizabeth Sophia Harris (1860-1922)
Sarah Frances Harris (1862-1952)
Moses David Harris (1864-1954)
John Riley Harris (1866-1947)
Minda Minerva Harris (1869-1929)	25 March 1869 Leeds, Washington County, Utah, United States	18 November 1929 Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States	Edwin R Cutler (1868-1949)
Lois Abigail Harris (1873-1957)
Vernessa Harris (1876-1948)

Siblings

Offspring of Moses Harris (1798-1890) and Frances Smith (1804-1891)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
Silas Harris (1824-1897)	14 October 1824 Bono, Lawrence County, Indiana, United States	12 March 1897 Glendale, Kane County, Utah, United States	Sariah Aldridge (1834-1902)
Kesiah Harris (1826-1827)
John Smith Harris (1828-1895)	7 December 1828 Bono, Lawrence County, Indiana, United States	27 January 1895 Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico	Nancy Lydia Aldridge (1831-1891) Idora Quntilla Jones (1863-1915)
Anna Retta Harris (1831-1908)
Lydia Harris (1832-1925)
Thomas Jefferson Harris (1835-1837)
WIlliam Jones Harris (1837-1904)
Samuel Harris (1839-1843)
Mary Ann Harris (1841-1842)
Cynthia Ann Harris (1843-1848)

Residences

Vital Records

Washington County, Utah/1860 U.S. Census - Living in Washington, Utah with extended family and parents.

Gravestone

Location : Harris Cemetery (Utah), Kane County, Utah
Pvt Silas Harris at Find A Grave

Footnotes (including sources)

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