Milan Harris, son of Bethual, was born January 29, 1799. He it was who did so much for the town of Harrisville, giving it its name, serving it as its first representative, etc. He received only a common school education, and before he was twenty-one he worked alternately on the farm and in the custom-shop, carding wool in summer and dressing cloth for customers in the autumn and winter. At the age of twenty-one he taught school in Dublin and Nelson several terms. In 1821 he began the manufacture of woolen goods at Saxton’s River, Vt., and in 1822 began the same business here, which he continued up to September, 1874. He died July 27, 1884. He held several military offices, most of the town offices in Nelson; was a director of the State Foreign and Home Missionary Society, of the Ashuelot Fire Insurance Company, and of the Manchester & Keene railroad. He was also a justice of the peace, and held many positions as delegate, etc., to religious and temperance synods. He represented Nelson in the legislature four or five terms, was two years 1n the state senate, was the first representative from Harrisville, and was also two years in the senate from here. Mr. Harris married Lois, daughter of Nehemiah Wright, for his first wife, May 21, 1822, who died December 19, 1842. Their children were as follows: Milan W., born September 22, 1823; died August 28, 1873; Charlotte Elizabeth, born September 27, 1825; Lucretia Jane, born March 27, 1828, became Mrs. J. R. Russell, and died February 28, 1875; and Alfred Romanzo, born March 22, 1830. His second wife, Harriet Russell, he married July 20, 1843, who bore him one daughter, Harriet L., born March 9, 1850, now the wife of Samuel G. Kittridge.
