CHARLES HARRIS is engaged in farming and stock raising in Loami Township, where he has carried on these industries very profitably these many years. He is a native of Morgan County this State where his birth occurred August 25, 1836. His father has been a well known and influential citizen of this county for many years and is one of the many wealthy men of Loami Township, where he owns a large body of land. His name is William P. Harris and he was born in Green County, Ky. His father was Charles Harris who was a pioneer farmer of Kentucky and died there many years ago.
The father of our subject passed his early life in the State of his nativity. He was married to Malinda Miles, who was also of Kentucky birth. She died in 1851. She was a member of the Methodist episcopal Church and was strong in the faith to the last. Mr. Harris emigrated from his old Kentucky home to Sangamon County in 1852. He purchased land in Loami Township and in the course of years acquired wealth and became proprietor of eight hundred acres of fine land in this township. In 1875 he retired from active business to enjoy his handsome competence amid the comforts of a pleasant home in Waverly. He was Justice of the Peace several years. In him the Baptist Church has one of its most consistent members and most liberal supporters.
Charles Harris is one of eleven children, of whom five are living, and he was born in a log house, which was a typical pioneer home. His education was conducted in a log schoolhouse with slab seats, a puncheon floor, and a rude fireplace for heating purposes. He early received good training in farming, and at twenty years of age actively entered upon his career as a farmer on his own account, his father giving him eighty acres of land which he improved. He now owns one hundred and eighty acres of land in Loami Township upon which he has placed many valuable improvements and has the land under admirable tillage, so that in many respects it is one of the most desirable pieces of property in the township. He has his farm well stocked, and he pays much attention to raising cattle and hogs.
That our subject enjoys the coziness and comforts of an attractive home is due in part to the faithful co-operation of his estimable wife to whom he was married September 11, 1856. Mrs. Harris is a native of Kentucky and was born near Mount Sterling. She is a daughter of David and Elizabeth (Morris) McLaughlin, who were also natives of Kentucky. They came to Sangamon County about 1850, and here her father carried on farming many years. He died in 1887, his wife having preceded him in death many years dying in 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Harris, have had seven children as follows: Isabel (deceased); Lizzie, William D. (deceased), Charles E., Clara M., George and one who died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Harris stand well in their community, as their neighborly kindness and many excellent traits of head and heart have attracted to them warm friends. They are esteemed members of the Presbyterian Church and are strong in the faith. Politically our subject is a stanch Republican and has been a delegate to a county convention. Socially he is connected with the Masons.