By Eunice Ward Harris 

Joseph Harris was born March 26, 1836, at Apperly, Gloucestershire, England, the son of Robert Harris Jr. and Hannah Maria Eagles. He was baptized a member of the LDS Church in 1847. His parents had joined the Church a few years prior in 1840. On 10 February 1841, he, with his parents and two other children set sail on the ship “Echo” at Liverpool to come to America. They were 10 weeks on the trip from England to Nauvoo, Illinois, where they lived until they were driven out with the saints. He was in Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He, with his mother and five brothers and sisters lived in Winter Quarters until 1850 when they started for Salt Lake Valley. His father, Robert Harris Jr., enlisted in the Mormon Battalion in Council Bluffs on July 16, 1846, and served as a butcher. He arrived back at Winter Quarters on December 25, 1847, and the family remained there until they came west in the spring of 1850. 

Joseph Harris was 14 years of age when he came to Utah. On the side of the wagon cover was drawn a violin and under it was written “Utah or Bust.” There wasn’t a night that passed but what he played his violin for the Saints to sing and dance by. He was married on 18 March 1855 to Charlotte Green in Salt Lake City, Utah. He lived in Layton, Utah, until 1870 when he moved to Muddy Creek. His first house was built just across the road and a little distance north of where Arthur M. Ward lives today, on the banks of the “Big Ditch.” In about 1877 he built the house on the west side of the road. He was a good hand at building houses and granaries. In front of his house he built a fence made out of brush and willows which were intertwined. The willows came from the canyon. It was about 2 ½ feet high. They built their fences by setting two posts in the ground and either burning or boring holes in the posts for pegs to be drawn through. Then with poles they would get from “Pole Hollar” they would lay poles across the pegs until the fence was built. It was built on the west side of the road from the Idaho line to the north of George Ward’s place. He planted an apple orchard between the house and the Big Creek Ditch. He brought the first big round leaf cottonwood tree from off the Weber River. He also brought the first currant and gooseberry bushes. He used to hold dances every week in the house that was built on the west side of the road. He would move all of the furniture upstairs and he would play his violin in the bedroom so the people could dance in the front room. 

The first grain that they raised, they cut with the cradle and bound it. The first grain was sown by hand. With a strap over his left shoulder and under his right arm and with the bucket hanging in front, he would take handfuls of grain, alternating one hand after another and broadcast it to the ground. Then they flailed it out with a flail. (Pound it–the grain, out of the head.) They had to harrow the wheat with a homemade harrow made with wooden teeth. They had to water the wheat twice and stay with it for three days at a time. Very little rest did he take and he would have to take a lantern light when it was so dark he couldn’t see to change and set the water. 

He also built the first derrick by taking two pine poles, about 75 feet long. They chained them together about 2 ½ feet from the tops. Then they had two guy ropes fastened to this chain. They anchored them in the ground on each end of where the stack was. The fork was just a two-tined one.  

In 1872, the crickets took all of the grain so they had to go to Utah to work to get grain. Joseph went to Kaysville. Again in 1877 they went to Kaysville for the purpose of obtaining grain. In 1878 they made a floor, patted it down until it was very smooth. Set a pole in the middle and laid their wheat in a circle with the heads toward the inside. Then they would attach a horse and he would walk over the heads to flail the wheat. The old floor stood for many years after they used other methods of threshing wheat. In 1879 they got dropper rakes and mowers. Joseph Harris was the first to have one. He was always first to have anything that would make the work easier. He was also the man to buy the first binder to bind wheat. He planted sugar cane up in the field east of his home. Then he went to Kaysville and got the old mill and two large vats and set them up on the banks of the Big Ditch. He boiled the juice of the sugar cane and made molasses. He built a dam in the haylands so that the hay could be watered to make it produce more. He made beautiful hay stacks. When he stacked straw, he never wanted cattle around the stack yard. He wanted everything that he did to look perfect. He had pride in everything that he did.  

He was a great musician. He went all over the valley playing for dances. He was playing in Malad when they shot up the steps of the “Old Peck Hotel.” 

In 1879 Joseph Harris, along with neighbors, built the first bridge that was constructed across the Malad River. Some of the men from Portage donated the slabs for the bridge. It was used until 1902 when it was abandoned and a new one was built. Chips and bark were placed on top several times to make it last longer. 

Joseph was a great gardner. He took pride in everything that he did. He would fatten his pigs on the vegetables that were not used by the family. 

The first school was taught by Frank Carpenter’s wife. Aunt Charlotte Harris Moon went to this school across the road from where Uncle Moon lived. The next school was taught on the tithing lot. Next it was at Uncle Moon’s house. In about 1881, he prepared a float. His daughter sewed a flag from red, white, and blue material which was placed on the front of his wagon. Ev Harris drove the horses and Joseph Harris played second violin to his father’s first violin. They went to Portage and at every house they passed, they would stop and play a tune. When they passed Eliza Hall’s house, she came out on the dirt ground, barefooted with a ribbon in her hand and stepdanced. When she was through she threw the ribbon in the air and went back in the house. 

In preparing the float, he first covered the wagon with white and on the float rode his three daughters, Lucy, Charlotte, Pauletta and his daughter-in-law, Sarah L. Harris and also his wives, Charlotte and Elizabeth. There was also Mariah Green and Elizabeth Green. They helped sing at several of the places.  

Joseph petitioned the government for a post office. Before this time, we had to go to Portage for the mail. Joseph Harris was postmaster for about four years. He also kept the stage horses to exchange the horses hauling the mail in 1880 from Corinne to Malad. 

We were a Branch of the Portage Ward of the Box Elder Stake with Oliver C. Hoskins as Bishop. Joseph Harris was appointed presiding Elder of the Branch. When the Stakes were divided, we were put in the Oneida Stake with John D. Jones as Bishop of the Cherry Creek Ward. Joseph Harris held the position of presiding Elder  until 1886 when John D. Jones was released and Joseph Dudley was put in as Bishop. He was a very industrious man. Everything he did, he did well. He set a good example for his family. There was one thing he didn’t like and that was a liar. “To my back they are one thing and to my face they are another,” he always said. “If you haven’t got a name, you had better be dead because your name is all you’ve got,” was another of his sayings. 

They made their own wood sleighs which were used to haul wood and posts from the canyon and also haul the pigs they killed. They were made of maple, and maple pegs were used to fasten the shoes on.  

Joseph Harris died January 1, 1896. He was the father of 15 children who were reared in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His family never knew hunger because he was a good provider.  

Family records will show that many of his posterity have served as Bishops in the Church. Much talent in music can be found in his descendants. He left a rich heritage and a wonderful example for his family to follow while he never did anything that might be called great, still he was the kind of man who laid the foundation for the things we now enjoy. 

The following descendants of Joseph Harris have been bishops: 

Joseph R Harris Son 

Arch Harris Grandson – Son of Ev Harris – St. John Ward 

Verl Moon Cherry Creek Ward 

Ellis Harris Woodruff Ward 

Morgan Harris   Cherry Creek Ward 

Lorenzo Harris    McCammon Ward 

The following descendants of Joseph Harris have been in the Bishopric: 

Stillman Harris Grandson – Counselor  

Ira Moon Grandson – Counselor 

Verlin Moon Great-grandson – Counselor