HARRIS, JOHN (1865-1938)

HARRIS, JOHN, Presbyterian minister, St John's Church, Chatham, 1914-18; b. Rhoscrowther, Pembrokeshire, Wales, 24 Jan 1865, s/o Thomas Harris and Sarah Davies; m. Marie Althea - , a native of Shropshire, England; d. London, Ont., 13 Mar 1938.

John Harris was trained for the Presbyterian ministry in England and ordained there. He came to Canada in 1912 to serve the churches at Thorburn and Sutherland River, Nova Scotia. He stayed two years, and in November 1914, was inducted as minister of at St John's Church, in Chatham.

Harris proved himself to be a forceful preacher and spellbinding public speaker. In 1915, he gave a series of monthly lectures on "The Great Missionaries." In the same year, the text of an address he delivered on the theme of "war" was printed in the Chatham World. In 1916, he spoke to a full house at the church hall on "Lord Kitchener: His Life, Battles, and Victories." There was "not a dull moment during the whole lecture, and often the witty sayings and humorous anecdotes aroused the audience to hearty laughter." A 1916 paper of his on "The Centenary of the Settlement of the First Presbyterian Minister at Chatham" was one of several historical articles to appear in the World.

In 1917 Harris was granted a PhD degree by "Oskaloosa College," a diploma mill in Iowa, and was subsequently known as "Rev. Dr. Harris." He resigned from St. John's in 1918 to accept a call from a church at Soddy, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. While there, he was reported to be writing a book on the history of Presbyterianism on the Miramichi, but this may not have materialized. He moved to Miami, Florida, in 1922, where he organized two new churches. He returned to Canada in 1928 as minister of Chalmers Presbyterian Church, in London, Ontario. He and his wife and only child - Ivy Althea Harris - have a tombstone in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, in London.