From Proud Heritage, Volume III by DCPA. This 352 page hardcover book is available online.
Dewitt Clinton Harry was a great-grandson of Anna Maria and Martin Harry, who immigrated from Germany in 1749. Dewitt was born in Woodstock, Virginia, August 16, 1817, and married in 1847 Matilda Chastine Butler, who was also born in Virginia. The 1860 census of Hawkins County, Tennessee listed Matilda and Dewitt, a shoemaker, with their nine sons. The 1870 census of Sullivan County, Tennessee, listed the Harrys and their eleven children.
D.C. and Matilda and their children “came to Dallas in 1873. Of their eleven children, ten are identified with the city of Dallas: Ed B., who is connected with his brother, O.K. in the iron business; D.C. of the firm of J.M., Harry & Co., manufacturers of brick; J.M., a member of the above firm; O.K., our subject; John D., who died in this city in 1888; T.C., a member of the firm Harry Bros., engaged in the hardware business; H.W., also of the firm Harry Bros.; W.A., who died in the city of Dallas in 1877; George Y., engaged in the plumbing business on Ervay Street; Jeff D; Elizabeth, wife of M.P. Dazey, engaged in the feed business on McKinney Avenue.” O.K. Harry “has taken an active interest in politics, voting with the Democratic party, and has represented the Eleventh Ward two terms in the City Council, and is now serving as Mayor” (Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, 1892.)
The National Bank of Commerce of Dallas, as of July 12, 1892, listed D.W.C. Harry as vice-president and director and J.M. Harry as director.
Dewitt died June 25, 1876, and Matilda died November 30, 1881. They and eight sons are buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Their son, James Martin, was born August 8, 1850, in Staunton, Virginia, and Feriba E. Brewer was born September 19, 1849, in Mt. Meigs, Alabama, to Mary J. Crockett and Reuben H. Brewer. James and Feriba “Ella” were married October 24, 1877, in Dallas. They had seven children: Reuben Dewitt, James Morton, Jennett Chastine, Lizzie Daisey, Emma Digh, Eleanora English, and Lucy Lanier.
Reuben D. married Cora Dean Smith in 1899. They had two sons: Reuben, Jr., who married Elsie Stark, and Samuel W., who married Eva (last name unknown). Neither had any children. James M. and his wife, Lena C. Woodson, were married by the Rev. George W. Truett in 1901. Their one daughter married Leo Blasingame, and they had no children.
Jennett and her husband, Tom Cavanaugh, divorced. There were no children, and Jennett took back her maiden name and worked as a lay administrator for the Methodist Episcopal Church home missions in Texas and Missouri.
In 1905 Lizzie and DeWitt B. Bennett were married and had one daughter, Mary Eleanor, who married Kenneth Butler and had no children. Emma and Ellis A. Turner married in 1908 in Dallas, but made their home in Houston. They had two sons: Ellis, Jr., and his wife Pat had no children. Harry Adam and his wife, Genevieve, had two sons, Harry, Jr., and Steve.
All were buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
By Howard Cox
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