Licensed by Logan Presbytery 12 April 1839

Ordained by Logan Presbytery 10 April 1841

A card from our pastor at Clarksville, Texas, contains the following, under date of September 13: Father J. G. Harris has been confined to his bed for some weeks, and is now very feeble. His recovery is very doubtful. He is calmly awaiting the summons whenever it may come.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, September 23, 1897, page 376]

HARRIS.--Rev. Josiah Graham Harris was born in Warren County, Ky., Nov. 14, 1816, and died at Clarksville, Texas, at 3:05 p.m., Sept. 21, 1897, aged 80 years, 10 months, 7 days. His father, Rev. Wm. Harris, was among the first group of young men ordained to the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, after the organization in 1810. That patriarch was the father of twelve sons and five daughters, six of the sons becoming ministers and one of the daughters being the wife of a minister, Rev. G. L. Blewett. Of this large family only two now remain: Rev. Wm. B. Harris, of Mackinaw, Ill., aged 84 years and Mrs. Nancy Blewett, of Dallas County, Tex., aged nearly 80 years. These venerable people visited their brother here about four years ago; and, on Sunday, during their visit the elder brother preached at the Cumberland Presbyterian Chruch at the morning hour, and the younger at the night; and both, together with their sister, dined with the present pastor to him an historic day. The subject of this sketch was married on Nov. 15, 1842, to Miss Martha Cross, of Albany, Ky. To them were born eight children. Three of these died in childhood and for ten years the mother has slept beside them in the family burying ground, two miles southwest of Clarksville. The other five, four sons and a daughter, were at his bedside when he breathed his last. His ministerial career extends over a period of about sixty years. Many will call him blessed as a result of his labor in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. Coming to Texas from Kentucky, in 1857, his residence through a long life was about equally divided between these two States. One was the scene of his nativity, childhood, youth and manhood almost to its prime; the other received him in full armor, profited by the labors of his ripened manhood, and nursed him while the mellow evening shadows thickened around him. He came to Texas a Royal Arch Mason, and was for half a dozen years High Priest of Harmony Chapter, No. 15. His lodge, Friendship, No. 16, laid him to rest under the evergreen among his dead. The funeral services at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, were conducted by the pastor, assisted by Rev. Charles Manton, of Paris, and Rev. F. E. Lawler, of Alvarado. A good man is gone. A shock of corn in full ear is garnered. He has returned bearing his sheaves. He has left behind him the legacy of a good name and an exemplary life. "He being dead yet speaketh."
S. M. TEMPLTON.
Clarksville, Texas.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, December 9, 1897, page 745]

Ordained Ministers Deceased

Name: J. G. Harris
Occupation: retired
Presbytery: Red River
Place of Residence: Clarksville, Tex.
Date: Sept. 21, 1897
Age: 81

[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1898, page 163]