Harris, Lemuel

Born: 1790-04-18 New York

Died: 1864-09-01 Tazewell County, Illinois

Flourished: Tazewell County, Illinois

Lemuel Harris was a farmer, landowner, and son-in-law of Nathaniel Sniffen. Harris spent his early years in Westchester County, New York. He emigrated to Illinois in 1835, settling on 160 acres in Morton Township, Tazewell County. In 1850, Harris owned real property valued at $8,000. By 1860, the value of his real property had increased to $11,425, and he had a personal estate of $1,000.

Harris married four times. He first married Mary Kearney, with whom he had four children. He next married Theodosia Reynolds, with whom he had no children. Theodosia Harris died in 1846, and Lemuel next married Mary Sniffen Lovlett, daughter of Nathaniel Sniffen. Lemuel and Mary Harris had one son, Lemuel J. Harris. Nathaniel Sniffen sued Harris over a land purchase in 1855, retaining Abraham Lincoln as his lawyer. Sniffen had given Harris the money to buy 230 acres of land and obtain a title in Sniffen’s name. However, Harris used the money to purchase the land in his own name. Sniffen sued to convey the land and the case continued for several years before being dismissed by the court in 1862. In February 1861, Lemuel Harris married Jane Crawford, with whom he had one son. Lemuel Harris was an active member of the Baptist Church, and he adhered to Jeffersonian Republicanism in politics.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Biographical, 1894), 449; History of Tazewell County Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1879), 479; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Tazewell County, IL, 44; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Tazewell County, IL, 145; Sniffen v. Harris, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137498; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Tazewell County, 22 February 1861, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Gravestone, Mount Hope Cemetery, Tremont, IL.