Our Family Reunion

Biography____________________

Joel Harris had an off-color personality and attitude about life. He was better known by the nickname "Wildcat" Harris. It might be from association with the oil fields in East Texas during the oil boom days, however, I think the name has earlier roots. Joel Harris was born January 30, 1856 in Alabama. In the 1870 census records of Chambers Co., Alabama there is listed a Joel Harris age 15 working as a farm hand for Elias Chambers. There is a year discrepancy in the age, however, Joel may have fudged about his age to get the job. This will have more significance a little later. According to Early Alabama Marriages, he married Paulena Elizabeth Moore, August 26, 1877, she was 16 years old.

Vivian Harris Weeks, (Grover Cleveland Harris' daughter), reiterated several stories from Grover about Joel Harris. Grover recalled the move from Alabama by train. He was very young, probably 5 or 6 years old. Vivian indicated the move was to Texas, However we know that Arrie was born in Arkansas in 1892, therefore we are researching land records for purchases made around 1891 in Arkansas. By 1900, Joel had moved his family to Bloomburg, Cass Co., Texas. We find Joel in the 1900 Census with his wife, Paulena Elizabeth and these children at home: Alonzo, age 20; Julia E., age 18; Grover C., age 14, and Arrie M., age 8. We know Joel owned 2 farms in Cass Co., TX. He was a seemingly successful farmer.

Their move from Arkansas to Texas may have been motivated by an incident told to Vivian by Grover. Joel (Wildcat) Harris appears to have been a rabble-rouser and he was involved in an unpleasant situation in which a man was killed. This may have prompted the move to Texas as she recalled.

Grover told Vivian about another incident in which Joel as a young man suffered from amnesia, this may be when Joel adopts the middle name of the Southern renown political writer, Joel Chandler Harris of Atlanta, Georgia. He may have read either his political writings or the infamous Brer Rabbit Tales. This incident had to occur after 1875, when the works of Joel Chandler Harris became more widely publicized. It is my theory that his name is not Joel Chandler Harris, instead, this name recognition may be associated with his earlier relationship with Elias Chambers, a similar sounding name. Or possibly his middle name may be Chambers if they were related on his maternal side.. We are still pursuing the answer to this riddle..

We know Joel returned to Nashville, Howard Co., Arkansas between 1910 and 1918. Nanna, Willie Mae Parker Forbes, recalls visiting her grandparents in a beautiful home in Nashville, Arkansas. She was a young girl, maybe 10 or 11. She remembers Joel had 2 residences in Nashville. a farm and a home in town.

We know that Joel was residing in Nashville, Arkansas in March of 1922. An excerpt from the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, mentions an incident involving Joel Harris and his companion Walter Gibbs. The article describes the vigilantism that was rearing up in the oilfield 'boom' towns of Arkansas and Texas during the prohibition era. There was rampant lawlessness, prostitution and violence with little law and order, leaving the vigilantes and the KKK to create their own brand of law and order. It seems that Joel (Wildcat) Harris's extracurricular activities kept him on the wrong side of the 'law'. He was warned about "sleeping with Negro women" and later "beat with a plank".

Each edition will highlight a family group and we need your input. to make this interesting. This edition has been dedicated to Joel C. Harris and Paulena Elizabeth Moore.

In our next edition, the Biography of John Wesley Swearengin and Mary Frances Bowen. If you have any information about them or their descendants please contact us.