“CAPT. B.W. HARRIS is of Scotch descent.  His father Benjamin Harris, was a native of Albermarle County, Va., and there married Miss Elizabeth Ware.  He removed to Ohio about 1834, and to Jasper County, Ill., in 1836, where he entered some 500 acres of land, on a part of which the town of Newton in now situated.  He was widely and favorably known, having served as Justice of the Peace for several years, and built the first court house in Newton.  He made a trip to California, and on his return home died in Jasper County in 1851.  His wife died in 1858.  His children were as follows: Henreitta, Benjamin, Mary, Elizabeth, William, Samuel, B.W., Sarah and Joseph.

Capt. B.W. Harris was born in Virginia, in 1833, and was three years of age when he came to this county, where he was reared, and subsequently married, in 1853, Miss Julia E. Jones, a native of Randolph County, Ill., and born in 1833.  The result of the union was three children, namely: Winnie, Frank and Charlie.  Her father, Robert Jones, was a native of Kentucky, where he was born in January 11, 1800…

Capt. Harris entered the service in 1861 as First Lieutenant of Company K, Thirty-Eighth Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. Carlin, and served until the close of the war, leaving the army with the rank of Captain.  He assisted in the organization of the State militia in 1880, and is now Captain of the Newton Guards.”

Source:  Counties of Cumberland, Jasper, Richland, Illinois, F.A. Battey and Co., Chicago, 1884, pages 496-7.