Josiah Harris

   Another name for Josiah was Joseph Harris.

  General Notes:

Research of N. Baum of www.rootsweb.com

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Biography, G. Frederick Wright, 1916, "A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio, Vol. 1", (The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York), pp. 202-203
JOSIAH HARRIS
The old constitution provided for a president judge of the Court of Common Pleas, "well versed in the law," and associates who were to be representatives of the county and not required to have other qualifications than plain common sense and good moral standing in the community. As a rule, despite their lack of legal training, they were worthy representatives of the people and useful assistants to the presiding judge. Of these early associate judges none measured up to a higher standard than Josiah Harris, of Amherst. He was a Massachusetts man and one of the founders of the town, upon the site of which he first encamped in 1818. In the following year the first election in Black River Township was held in his log house, and in 1821 he was chosen justice of the peace for a territory which embraced what are now Black River, Amherst, Russia, Brownhelm and Henrietta townships. During the three years of his service, it is said that only five appeals were taken from his docket and only one of those ever came to trial in the Court of Common Pleas. He was the first sheriff of Lorain County and served two terms, the limit of the old constitution.
Squire Harris was appointed associate judge in 1829 and served seven years in that capacity. During that period Hon. George Tod, father of Governor Tod, and Hon. Reuben Wood, who afterward became chief justice of the State Supreme Court and governor of the sate, were the president judges of the court.
In 1827 Judge Harris represented Cuyahoga County in the state House of Representatives. Such was the condition of the roads and conveyances at that time that Judge Harris rode his horse to Columbus, wintered him there, and returned on horseack in the spring. After representing Lorain and Medina in the House two terms, he was elected senator from the same district and served for two years. Alhough a member of the dominant party in the Legislature, he successfully resisted its attempt to repeal the charter of Oberlin College, then obnoxious to many on account of its abolition tendencies. At the time of his death in Amherst Village, March 26, 1868, at the age of eighty-four, Judge Harris was one of the oldest postmasters in the United States, having held office for more than forty years. He was first appointed by Postmaster General Return J. Meigs, whose terms expired in 1823 as a member of the Monroe cabinet.

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Family links:
Parents:
James Harris (1754 - 1843)
Martha Parke Harris (1761 - 1839)
Spouses:
Charity Messenger Harris (____ - 1837)
Anna Groves Moore Harris (1798 - 1871)*
Children:
Charity Emeline Harris Tenney (1809 - 1893)*
Milo Harris (1822 - 1904)*
Ann Eliza Harris (1840 - 1842)*
Mary Laurette Harris Hitchcock (1842 - 1900)*
Siblings:
Josiah Harris (1783 - 1868)
Polly Harris (1787 - 1794)*
Martha Harris Messenger (1790 - 1870)*
Lydia Harris Wadsworth (1792 - 1836)*
James Harris (1795 - 1800)*
Loring Harris (1805 - 1811)*

Josiah married Anna Groves Moore, daughter of James Moore and Mary Tyler Brown, on 1 May 1840. (Anna Groves Moore was born on 20 May 1798 in Thetford, Orange County, Vermont, died on 26 Oct 1871 in Kenosha, Kenosha County, Wisconsin and was buried in Cleveland Street Cemetery Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio, USA.)