Jordan Carroll Harriss Jr.
Jordon Carroll Harriss Jr. was born on September 8, 1840, in Perry County, Illinois, to Jordan and Lucinda Harriss. His father was a farmer who owned $3,200 of real estate and $1,100 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Perry County, and by the early 1860s, he was working as a farmer. He married Margaret Thornton on June 5, 1861, and they had at least two children: Clara, born around 1862; and Clarence, born around 1867.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 7, 1862, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company A of the 81st Illinois Infantry on August 26. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 7 ¼ inches tall, with fair hair and gray eyes. The regiment took part in the siege of Vicksburg, and Confederate forces captured him in June 1863. They imprisoned him at Andersonville Prison, and he remained there until April 1865. He eventually earned a promotion to sergeant, and he mustered out on June 17, 1865.
He returned to Perry County after the war. His wife died on September 3, 1869, and he married Eliza Strait around 1870. They had at least five children: Walter, born around 1872; Hershal, born around 1874; Grace, born around 1879; Judson, born around 1884; and Earl, born around 1887. He served as a sheriff and county clerk, and by 1870, he owned $8,500 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property.
He eventually became a minister. Through his ministerial work, one writer observed, he was “well known for years in…Illinois and western Kentucky, in Missouri and Nebraska.” He applied for a federal pension in April 1888 and eventually received one. He died in Blue Island, Illinois, on February 2, 1919.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (3293) | Harriss, Jordan Carroll Jr. | 1840-09-08 | 1919-02-02 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Corporal
- Rank out: Sergeant
- Rank highest: Sergeant
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 4
- (3783) [writer] ~ Jordan C. Harriss Jr. to John R. Teague and Sarah J. Teague, 24 November 1862
- (3784) [writer] ~ Jordan C. Harriss Jr. to Margaret V. A. Thornton, 14 November 1862
- (3792) [writer] ~ Jordan C. Harriss Jr. to Margaret V. A. Thornton, 14 October 1862
- (3798) [associated with] ~ Edward M. Harriss to Margaret V. A. Thornton, 20 December 1862
People - Records: 5
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (900) [enlisted] [A] ~ 81st Illinois Infantry
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Andersonville Prisoners of War, available from Ancestry.com; Illinois Marriage Index, 1860-1920, available from Ancestry.com; Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947, available from Ancestry.com; Perry County (IL) Advocate, 7 February 1919
