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003gii Thomas Harris.

14.8.1869-30.1.1938

Thomas Harris was born on 14th August 1869 in Ecclesfield, Wortley, near Sheffield,

West Yorkshire. Not wishing to repeat myself too many times most of Thomas’ early

life is told in his mother’s story. A brief outline is that soon after he was born his

father emigrated to America early in 1871 and so his mother moved back to the

Manchester area until they also emigrated in 1872. They went firstly to Michigan

where his grandparents lived and his sister Katie was born in 1873. By 1878 the

family was living in Missouri, probably St. Louis (not sure) where his brother George

was born in 1878. The family then moved to Joliet, Illinois, the State next to Missouri,

where four more of Thomas’ siblings were born. Robert was born in 1880, William

in 1882, Sarah in 1890/1 and Roscoe in 1892. Finally the family moved to Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania by 1900 and Thomas lived there for the rest of his life.

Thomas never married and lived with his parents and siblings all his life. The 1900

Census for Pittsfield Allegheny, PA does contain numerous errors but I have included

it just to show who the family consisted of at that time. By 1900 his brothers John

William and Robert and his sister Katie had all died. It is most likely that four more

siblings had died as the Census shows his mother as having had 12 children with only

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five still living. Thomas is shown as a labourer at a mill but there are no other details.

His place of birth is wrong but the date of birth is correct.

!900 Census for 4647 Hatfield St., Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.

The next 10 years brings numerous changes to the Harris household. Firstly, if my

research is correct, Thomas’ brother George left the family home, his brother William

married in July 1905, and then sadly on the 5th September 1905 his father died. This

would mean that he was the only wage-earner in the household as his sister Sadie

(Sarah) was only 14 years old and his younger brother Roscoe was 12 years old. The

1910 Census below shows the family were still living in Hatfield St., although they

were in a different house, and Thomas was now working as an Oiler at the City Water

Works. Perhaps it was this responsibility that influenced him not to marry? It is

interesting to note that on this Census his mother was shown to have had 16 children

with only five still alive. Roscoe (Russell) was born when she was 46 years old in

1892 so she may have had another pregnancy after his birth but exactly what is the

true number of children she bore will never be known. All that can be said is that all

these deaths must have had a terrible effect on every member of the family.

1910 Census for 4742 Hatfield St., Pittsfield, Allegheny, PA.

By 1920 his sister Sadie had married a Charles Henninger and already had two

children. His mother was shown as living with Sadie and her family, so he was

shown as head of the family of himself and his brother Roscoe. In actual fact the two

families were actually living in the same house, which was rented, so probably they

lived more like one family but the Landlord charged two lots of rent. Thomas was

now 49 years old and working as an engineer at the City Fire Department. The

Census shows that he arrived in America in 1872 and was naturalised in 1892.

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1920 Census for 177 48th St., Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.

In October 1921 Thomas’ brother Roscoe married, but Thomas still had his mother

and sister’s family living in the same house so he was not alone.

1923 must have been a very sad time for the family as Thomas’ mother died on 9th

July 1923 and then less than two weeks later his brother Roscoe died on 22nd July

1923. So, of the 16 children his mother is reported to have born there were only four

still alive. So many deaths he must have known!

1930 Census for 154, Stanton Court, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.

I am pleased to note that although Thomas’ sister and her husband had moved and

bought their own house they still had him living with them. He was by then 59 years

old and still working as an engineer at the Water Department. I wonder if it should

have said Water Department on the 1920 Census rather than the Fire Department.

The final information I have of Thomas is a copy of his Death Certificate and

Obituary, kindly provided by Mr. Steininger. Thomas died on 30th January 1938 from

Cancer of the Stomach. He lived with his sister until his death so always had his

family around him. I hope his life brought him joy as well as a lot of the heartache he

must have felt.

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This is the best copy I can make of the Death Certificate.

His mother being shown as Eliza Kelland confirms I have the correct family.

From The Pittsburgh Press 2/2/1938