1880 - 1957

Alonzo David Harris was the second son of Joel C. Harris and Paulena Elizabeth (Moore) Harris. He was born February 15, 1880 in Chambers County Alabama. Around 1898 I have not located a state birth certificate, yet. Alonzo first appears on the 1880 Alabama Federal Census with his parents Joel and Elizabeth, also, his brother J. T. His age was recorded as 3 1/2 months. Alonzo (Lon) was about 10 years old when the family left Alabama. They settled in the farming community of Bloomburg, Cass Co., Texas by 1900. The 1900 Federal Census records the township as Precinct 7, East Tennesse & Georgia RR, Atlanta, Cass Co. Texas.

Lon married a native Texan, Ida Harrist in 1903. According to the 1910 Census she was born June 5, 1886. Lon was a farmer as a young man. Farming one of the family farms for his father, Sometime between 1917 and 1919, Lon and his father had a falling out over the land, possibly the 200 acres in the "most east 640 acres of the survey in the name of John Germany" [bk F-4, pg 565, Warranty Deeds, August 1, 1917]. This land was sold to M.W. Oliver. According to a Warranty Deed for lots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in block 1 in Stallings Addition of Detroit, Joel Harris and Elizabeth were already residents of Red River Co., Texas.

The bad blood between Lon and his father would never be forgiven. Arrie Harris Evans wrote my Grand Aunt Verna Parker Varnell a letter sometime after Lon’s death in 1957 saying she had wanted to explain to L.D. Jr. about the dispute between his father and grandfather. She said L. D. Jr. had inquired about the problem once, but, she could not discuss it with him because his father, Lon, had previously refused to permit any discussion. She said there had been misunderstandings between Joel Harris and his older children, but she wanted to set the record right. Bobbie confirmed that her father never spoke of her grandparents when they were growing up. She remembers visiting her uncle, Grover Cleveland Harris and his family on occasion, they lived nearby. Vivian Harris Weeks, Grover’s daughter, recalls the visits and has a picture taken during one of them.

Lon and Ida left Cass County around 1919, with their 2 daughters, Lois and Lillian (Bobbie), and their son Alonzo David, Jr., (L.D.) moving to Oil City, in Caddo Parish, LA. This period of American history saw many young men leave the family farm and move to the cities or oil fields of East Texas, North Louisiana, and South West Arkansas. Boom towns were everywhere reaping the rewards of black gold springing from the Caddo Pine Island fields, green fields that once were used for growing cotton and timber.

Lon went to work for Standard Oil Company of Louisiana, one of the 37 companies Standard Oil Company, incorporated by John D. Rockefeller in 1870, was forced to divest by U. S. Anti-trust legislation in 1911. Lon worked for Standard Oil as a pumper, retiring around 1945 near the end of WWII.

Bobbie remembers her parents with fondness. She said they were very dear and caring people. Her father was a devouted family man. According to Willie Jean Harris, Lon Jr.’s wife, they were "passionate about their children". They were close to their grandchildren, Mary Helen Taylor, Lois’s daughter, and Johnnie Sue Wall, Bobbie’s daughter spent a great deal of time with Ida and Lon. Bobbie said that her father was a provided well for his family, they never wanted for anything. Lon and Ida were members of the Baptist Church in Oil City and all the children were involved in the church. Mary Helen played piano by ear and played for the First Christian Church in Shreveport as a young adult.

Bobbie recalls Christmas time was special and everyone received nice gifts. She remembers one Christmas she received a pretty fur coat. She and Lois attended high school in Vivian. Lois born January 2, 1904, married William G. Taylor about 1920. Lillian (Bobbie) born 1908, married Johnny Wall about 1924. Both girls would eventually move away. L.D. Jr. was much younger and probably favored by his mother and sisters. He was very close to his parents, leaving the area only during WWII to join the US Army in 1943, as an engineer in Petroleum Distribution. Willie Jean said that L.D. played football in high school and his parents attended games. L.D. helped his father with the family garden, growing ‘Kentuck’ Wonder Beans. Ida preferred canning and left the gardening to Lon. She and Willie Jean did a lot of canning, and preserving. Ida worked from home for extra income, sewing and quilting. Willie Jean often quilted with her. She was a long time volunteer for the American Red Cross. Ida left this world June 17, 1947, only a month after she had been diagnosed with cancer. She and Lon are buried in the Vivian, Caddo Parish Cemetery.

Mary, Onedra, Coleah & Mae

Several weddings have taken place recently. Erin Elizabeth Swearengin to Samuel Canter, Jr. on February 22. Erin is the great-granddaughter of Susie Ida Harris and James Edward Swearengin; granddaughter of James J. and Juanita Coleach (Call) Swearengin; daughter of Billy Raymond and Brenda Kay (Hickson).

Please check through old cards, letters, address books, or backs of pictures for information that will help me locate the descendants of Julia Elizabeth Harris Taylor of Idabel, Broken Bow, McCurtain Co., Oklahoma. Also the descendants of John Thomas Harris, his daughter was Morra Harris Wilks of Portland Oregon.

Please keep me in mind when you come across information that will help in putting the pieces together. You can call me anytime on 1 800 251 8209, pin 7016 and just read the information to me. If we need a copy, we can arrange to get one later. I have notebooks full of information collected from sources like these. I really enjoy sharing information.