The excellent ability and industry of our subject coupled with integrity and geniality have lead him to give strict attention to a thriving business guided by a skillful hand, and have given him the excellent prestige which he enjoys at this time together with the good will and esteem of all.
Frank T. Harris was born in Highland, Wisconsin, on June 21, 1874, being the son of William and Catherine (Sleep) Harris, natives of England. They were married in Wisconsin and the mother died in Darlington, in that state, in June, 1884, aged twenty-nine. The father of our subject came to the United States with his father when he was a boy, settled in Wisconsin and there learned the shoemaker’s trade. He now owns and operates a shoe store in Pullman, Washington. Our subject attended school in Wisconsin until eleven and then came to Genesee, where he studied some more. The father operated a drug store and Frank early learned the apothecary’s art. In 1893 he went to Spokane and engaged with the Spokane Drug Company, a wholesale and retail concern. He served a proper time there and then spent one year in surveying. When the call came for troops in the Philippine struggle, he pressed to the front and enlisted in Company D, First Idaho Volunteers, under Captain Edward Smith of Moscow, and Colonel Figginson.
Mr. Harris participated in the first battle of Manila and continued in the conflict until its surrender. He was in thirteen battles and skirmishes. On August 25, 1899, he returned and in the same year he bought the business which his father was conducting in Leland, he having come thither from Genesee. Our subject has two brothers and one sister, William, in North Dakota: Frederick, in Spokane; Cora, wife of H. Sampson, at Harrison. Idaho. He also has two half-brothers and two half-sisters, John, in North Yakima; Herbert, in Pullman: Beulah and Ethel, with their parents.
On April 30, 1901, Mr. Harris married Mabel, daughter of Mary (Johnson) Chapman. The father died in Dixie, Washington, in April, 1899. The mother is still living in Washington. Mrs. Harris was born in Iowa, on June 15, 1884, and her wedding occurred in Lewiston. She was educated in the graded and high school in Lewiston.
Mr. Harris is a member of the I. O. O. F., Leland Lodge No. 90.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903