Page 9 - Town Crier November 2016 Rev C

ISSUE NUMBER 161 NOVEMBER 2016
THE TOWN CRIER

Harrisburg Plantation Cemetery
Contributed by Elaine Hunt

The Harris Family Cemetery residing on an island in Lake Hartwell had its beginning during the early 1800s when
the Harris family moved from Abbeville County to the Pendleton District. During the late 1780s, John Harris Sr. and
his wife Mary Handy Harris moved the family from Pennsylvania through Maryland into the Long Canes area of
what is now Abbeville County. Rev. Dr. John Harris had at least three preaching stations in SC: (1.) Upper Long
Cane, near the village of Abbeville; (2.) Rocky River; (3.) Lower Long Cane or Hopewell, on the waters of Little
River. According to the “Annals and Memorials of the Handy’s and their Kindred” p. 51, Dr. John Harris served dur-
ing the Revolutionary War as physician & surgeon in militia.
Their son, John Harris Jr., married Mary Pickens in 1784 while the family still lived in Abbeville County. He joined
the state militia in Abbeville at the age of sixteen. After a severe head wound in a battle near Savannah, he went on to
fight in other major battles including Cowpens and the siege of Yorktown. Using his military service bounty money,
he purchased land in Anderson County that would become his plantation, Harrisburg. Here he and his wife raised
eleven children many of whom lie buried in the nearby family cemetery. (see photo below)
The book by Clara Mae Denham Haines, “Visit our Family Tree,” states that in 1917, Miss Mamie Price visited the
cemetery and traced the names and dates on the gravestones. While vandals and weathering damaged many of the
stones, fifty-nine undamaged graves were still in original locations. In the 1960s, the family requested the graves not
be re-located during the building of Lake Hartwell as the cemetery would rest high enough above the high water mark
and would be safe from inundation. Below is a list of known Harris burials located in the Harrisburg Cemetery. This
list is incomplete since information about the 1917 work of Miss Mamie Price remains elusive.
Charles Perry Bruce, Sr. Born 1753, died 1843; Mary Handy Harris Bruce, Born 1796, died 1839; Andrew Pickens
Harris, born January 30, 1785, died June 27, 1859; Anna Irving Harris, born 1768, died 1852, Benjamin Harris, born
December 22, 1808, died 1875; E. Harris; Dr. Handy Harris, born January 7, 1769, died June 4, 1805; Infant (1) Har-
ris; Infant (2) Harris; Infant (3) Harris; Infant (4) Harris,
Jane Russell Harris, born January 16, 1787, died January
15, 1847; Rev. Dr. John Harris, Sr., born September 29,
1725, died 1790; Dr. John Harris II, born December 6,
1762, died April 26, 1845; Col. John Ewing Harris III, born
February 22, 1789,, died January 31, 1838; Mary Pickens
Harris, born February 19, 1766, died May 27, 1836; Mary
Dashiell Handy Harris, born November 8, 1733, die July 5,
1801; Sarah “Sally” Hamilton Harris, born 1767, died
1834; Unknown grave, Unknown child.

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