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JESSE RICHARDSON HAEM S
1829-1898

Jesse Richardson Harris migrated to Owenviile from Jamestown in Guilford
County, North Carolina. He drove a stagecoach from Fayetteville to Warsaw, North
Carolina at one time. On this road Sherman's army troops took planks from the Ole
Swamp Church, the present Pleasant Union Church, to get across the muddy creek with
their artillery. These planks remained there for years as the stage traveled this road.
The Owen Home in Owenviile was used as a stop over point on the stage line from
Fayetteville to Warsaw. It was here on April 4, 1857 that Jane Owen and Jesse Harris
■were married. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters, named under the ,
article on William Henry Harris, their second son.
One of the duties of the stagecoach driver during those days was to safely
transport his passengers over flooded streams. Most of the time he would park the
stagecoach by the stream and place the passengers on his back and walk them across the
swollen stream., The men passengers could sometime walk a foot log, but the ladies were
carried. On one of these occasions when the water was high, Jesse carried a very refined
lady across the stream on his back. After a successful crossing and getting the lady settled
back at the stagecoach, she asked him about his family. She found that he had two small
daughters at home. She reached in her purse and brought out a gold writing pen for each
of them. These pens are still in the possession of Aunt Ida's (Reynolds) family. The name
of the lady that gave the pens was never known.
James Reynolds, of Clinton, North Carolina, once asked an old timer if he had ever
known his grandfather, Jesse Harris. The old timer replied, "yes I have. I knew him. He
was a very small man. He wouldn't weigh 90 pounds soaking wet. He had fiery red hair
and he was the only person I ever saw that also had red eyes. And he would fight a buzz
saw."
Family members have been assuming that grand father Harris was in the Civil War.
However, the records of North Carolina do not reveal that he served in the Civil War. He
could have served in the Home Guard, and no records were kept.
Willie Graham, a granddaughter of Jesse has told us something of the occasion
when the Union Troops were camped around his home place and Jane was alone at home
with the children.
The area around Owenviile had a heavy growth of pine trees. There are also many
swampy areas around all sides. Willie says that when the Union Troops, part of Sherman's
Army , came to that area that Jesse left the house. He and Jane had worked out a
previous signal arrangement for him to know if it was safe to return to the house.
Grandmother would hang a white sheet on the line as a signal that the area was clear of
Union soldiers and grandfather would slip in the house. He was usually hiding in a nearby
swamp. He would come to the house, see the family, get as many fresh supplies as could
be spared and slip back into the swamp. It has not been made clear whether the "Home
Guard" duty was hiding out from the Yankees, or keeping watch over his young family.
Since there is not a written record we can find, it is assumed that Grandpa had "bush"
insurance.