Wealthy Planter and Land Surveyor
Benjamin Harris, wealthy planter and land surveyor, was not related to the two illustrious John Wyatt Harrises.
Mr. Harris came to Franklin County at a very early date from Tennessee. He lived for many years near the present Isbell Station. He is said to have been one of the largest slave owners of the country. He also surveyed a large part of the land in the Russellville district. C. E. Wilson, Sr., states that Mr. Harris died very suddenly, while either on a social visit or business call at the home of Tom Gorman, north of Russellville; apoplexy is said to have been the cause of his death.
Those of the first marriage were: 1. Harriet, married W. S. Jones, son of William Stratton and Anne Harris (Cox) Jones; 2. Mary, married Hon. W. P. Jack, a prominent lawyer of earlier Franklin County history; 3. Lucy, married (1) Frank Owen of Lawrence County and (2) a Mr. Craddock of Tuscaloosa.
The children of the second marriage were: 1. John C., a physician of Mississippi; 2. Rebecca, married S. D. Sargent. (Note: someone had corrected the first two initials by writing in the book – H. G. Sargent.)
Mrs. Rebecca Harris Sargent, a graduate of Ward Seminary, Nashville, was the author of several short stories, relating to the Confederacy. She was the mother of B. H. Sargent.
Source: Source: James, R. L. Distinguished Men, Women and Families of Franklin County, Alabama. Russellville, Ala., Private Publication, 1928. 111 p.