Update on the Harris Family Problem

I had my DAR Fall Forum this weekend, so I wasn't able to prepare a post again this week, but I did want to give a little update on the family I mentioned last week. I went to our local genealogy library on Friday with the rest of the State's DAR members. My one goal was to find information about this Harris line.

Long story short: I found information about the family, but I'm not sure how helpful it is yet.

I found a lot of records for my "son" Patriot, John, and his second wife. I even found where he adopted his wife's children from her first marriage. I have a sneaky suspicion though that the service currently linked to John may not be for John. The source of John's service is the fact that his wife Lavinia received land through a land lottery for being the "widow of a Revolutionary War soldier."

She had been widowed twice by this point though. Sometimes, widows had to prove they were married to the soldier during the time of service to receive benefits on behalf of the man. She didn't marry John until 1816. Her previous husband died in 1809, and they would have been married during his time (if he did in fact serve) during the War.

AND I still haven't proven his first wife yet (my ancestor's mom). I don't "have" to prove her name, but I feel like it would provide a better argument for my case if I can show the prior applications using Lavinia as Lucy's mom are wrong. (Not to mention proving they were wrong about her dying before they got married!)

Then, for David, my other Patriot -- and John's father -- I was able to figure out through some of the ladies who have higher levels of access to previous applications what the nature of Captain David Harris' service was. I was able to figure out the names of the men he supposedly served under, so that will make proving his service with a new source infinitely easier than trying to figure out who is who amongst all of the David Harrises around Georgia at the time.

I'll keep you updated on the progress with this family in future posts, but that's it for the update for now.

Reason A. Colburn

My fourth great-grandfather, Reason A. Colburn was born 4 September 1836 in Alabama. His parentage is thought to be John Colburn and Susan Blankenship, but I have not found any proof of this relationship yet.

On 8 February 1859, Reason married Elizabeth Catherine Wyers. Together, they had at least the following children:

• James A. Colburn
• John H. Colburn
• Jerrie L. Colburn
• Nancy Kizzie Colburn
• Thomas J. Colburn
• David L. Colburn
• Mary M. S. Colburn

Clipping from 1880 census

The more I look into this man, the less I think I know about him. There seem to be several men with the name of Reason Colburn living in Alabama around the time he was. There was my fourth great-grandfather, there was another man about the same age who married a Polly Ann Carter, and there was a man born about 1805.

At least one of the Reasons served in the Confederate States Army in the Alabama Infantry. My ancestor fought (at least) with the 40th Alabama Infantry, Company D, according to his tombstone. There are also records for a Reason Colburn serving with the 28th Alabama Infantry, Company A. While the services in both units spans similar timelines, the two have gaps in places the other helps to fill. So there is a possibility the same man served in both companies.

More work will need to be done to completely rule out my Reason's involvement with the 28th Infantry, but I'll leave that for a Civil War Souls post. Still further research needs to be done on this family in general. I must say, I have unknowingly neglected this family in my research to this point. I need to do some actual digging and see what comes out of it.

Reason Colburn
Photo provided by Thomas Cardenas

Sources:

• 1880 Spencer, Fayette County, Alabama U.S. Federal Census (accessed on Ancestry)
• Tombstone, Reason A. Colburn (as posted by Martha Reid (Chapter) 19 UDC on Find A Grave)