Santa
Clara County
Biographies
DR. JAMES THOMAS HARRIS
It is given to few members of the
medical profession to so continuously combine professional and municipal
service as had Dr. J. T. Harris, a resident of San Jose since 1874 and now
holding the office of city physician for the second time. Dr. Harris needs no
introduction to a public to whom his venerable, kindly and intellectual face
has so long been familiar, or among whom his deeds of disinterested courtesy
and thoughtfulness have come to be taken as a matter of course. He is of the
old, practical and reliable school, a man in whose hands the affairs of the
city are safe, and who takes no experimental chances with human life. Dr.
Harris is a native of Missouri, and was born December 28, 1838. His father, Garland,
was born in Madison county, Ky., and his mother, Julina B. (Perkins) Harris, was born in Chenango county, N.
Y. His paternal grandfather, Higgenson Harris,
removed from his native state of Virginia to Kentucky when a child, and about
1819 settled in Boone county, Mo., of which he was one of the pioneers. His
death in 1861, at the age of eight-seven, followed upon a useful and fairly
successful life, but the state profited still more by the career of his
brother, Tyra, who was a prominent politician of Boone
county, serving in both the lower and upper houses of the state. Garland Harris
continued to farm in Boone county until 1849, when he
evidenced his grit and determination by leaving a comfortable and assured
agricultural income to tempt fortune on the Pacific frontier. Arriving in
Sierra county after a tedious tramp across the plains,
he soon afterward stepped into political and other prominence, serving as
justice of the peace and county judge, and otherwise assisting with the
adjustment of riotous conditions. In March of 1872 he returned to Missouri,
spent the winter with his friends, the following summer again making the
journey to the Pacific. Settling in San Jose, he made the town his home for the
balance of his life, his death occurring
February 24, 1890, at the age of eight-two years seven months and nineteen
days. He was a Mason and a Republican, and was a man of liberal tendencies and
great public spiritedness. Twice married, he had three children by his first
wife, two of whom are living.
Dr. Harris was deprived by death of
the tender care of his mother when he was a lad of five, and in 1849 he went to
live with an uncle in Boone county, Mo. He had the
average training of the early country schools, and at the age of sixteen began
to look out for himself, hiring out as a farm hand in his native county. After
getting a fair start he established a home of his own, marrying, June 7, 1866, Ada Ann Thomas, daughter of Clifford Thomas, a pioneer of
Boone county. The breaking out of the Civil war created a demand for all
able-bodied and patriotic sons of the Union. Enlisting in October, 1862, he
became a soldier in Company E. Sixty-first Missouri Militia, serving until the
disbanding of the company in August, 1864. In 1865 He entered the office of the
county clerk of Boone county, as deputy, under Gen. J.
B. Douglass, holding the same until January, 1867. Mr. Harris’ faithfulness and
ability displayed while holding this position were recognized and appreciated,
as was shown when, in February, 1868, he was appointed assistant United States
assessor for Boone and Audrain counties, under General Douglass, United States
assessor. Mr. Harris served until the office was abolished in May, 1873. During
this time he had served as justice of the peace of Columbia township
for three years, and as police judge of the town for the same length of time.
Having determined to follow the
example of his father and immigrate to the west he resigned as justice and
police judge and came to San Jose in July 1873, and the following March went to
Mexico, returning to San Jose in December 1874. For several years prior to this
he had been interested in medicine, having studied on and off as opportunity
offered, and in 1876 entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk,
Iowa, graduating there from in the class of 1877. For a few months following he
practiced medicine in San Jose, and in 1878 located in Los Gatos, where, in
1879, he was elected coroner and public administrator of Santa Clara county. In November, 1880, he located permanently in San
Jose, and was eventually reelected coroner and administrator, serving three
terms, or six years, and until January, 1887. March 1, 1893, Dr. Harris was
appointed city physician of San Jose for four years, and in 1900 he was
appointed a member and the secretary of the United States board of pension
examiners, holding the same until August 15, 1894. (sic)
February 1, 1903, he was appointed city physician, was reappointed to the same
office in 1904, and is holding it at the present time. During all this time the
doctor has kept up his regular practice, has established and maintained a
precedent of excellence which many have been glad to follow and emulate, and
has probably been as busy and unremittingly faithful a man as the county has ever
numbered among its professionals. At present he is further distinguished as
president of the Santa Clara County Medical Society, having been elected in
June, 1904, and he is also a member of the State Medical Association. Dr.
Harris is associated with John A. Dix Post, G. A. R., of San Jose, and with
Friendship Lodge No. 210, F. & A. M., having formerly belonged to the lodge
at Columbia, Mo. For many years he has been a stanch Republican.
Mrs. Harris died October 25, 1881,
leaving three children, of whom James T., Jr., who is a bookkeeper, resides in
San Jose; Lou, who is now Mrs. Persich, resides in
San Francisco; and Garland is a resident of the state of Nevada. Dr. Harris
wields a broad and helpful influence in general affairs in San Jose, and his opinion
and counsel carry with them the weight of good judgment and practical
reasoning. His acceptance in the community as one of its most capable and
substantial leaders has met with little of the friction which usually surrounds
the efforts of men in high places, and his fine and sympathetic personality has
seemed to harmonize and ward off the rivalries and jealousies which distinguish
the profession in nearly all communities. He is honored and esteemed by all
regardless of party or personal prejudice, and his long life is felt to have
been a strong, and upright and more than ordinarily useful one.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1037-1038. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.