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Jeptha Vining Harris (doctor)

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Jeptha Vining Harris
BornMay 28, 1839
Abbeville County, South Carolina
Died1914 (Aged 74/75)
Key West, Florida
Buried
AllegianceConfederate States of America
Service / branchConfederate States Army
Confederate States Navy
RankAssistant Surgeon
Battles / warsAmerican Civil War
Other workDoctor, customs collector, school superintendent

Jeptha Vining Harris (May 27, 1839  – 1914) was an assistant surgeon for the Confederate States Army and Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. After the Civil War, he was a customs collector, doctor and school superintendent at Key West, Florida.

Biography

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Jeptha Vining Harris was born on May 27, 1839, in the Abbeville District of South Carolina.[1] He was the sixth child of James Walton Harris and Martha Watkins Harris.[2] James Walton Harris was the first child of Jeptha Vining Harris of Georgia and Sarah Hunt Harris.[3]

Jeptha V. Harris grew up in North Carolina and Mississippi.[4] Harris was the nephew of Jeptha Vining Harris (Mississippi general), a Mississippi militia (Confederate) brigadier general during the American Civil War (Civil War) and Mississippi State Senator.[5][6] He was the grandson of Jeptha Vining Harris (Georgia general) and Sarah (Hunt) Harris.[5][6] The elder Jeptha Vining Harris was a Georgia militia general during the War of 1812, prominent lawyer, planter and member of the Georgia House of Representatives.[5][6]

Harris received his college and medical education at the University of Mississippi, graduating in 1859.[7][8]

Jeptha V. Harris married Mary Louise Perkins of Lowndes, Mississippi on March 5, 1861.[1] They had the following children: Marian Harris, Jeptha Vining Harris Jr., Louis Allen Harris and Martha Watkins Harris.[9] Both sons were lawyers.[9]

Soon after he completed college and medical school, Harris served as an assistant surgeon in the Confederate States Army and Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War.[4]

After the Civil War, Harris and his family moved to Key West, Florida, where he became customs collector and lived in the Customs House.[4] He also resumed his medical practice.[4]

Harris was interested in promoting and improving public education. Because of this interest, he became school superintendent at Key West.[4] Harris School, which was built at Key West in 1909, was named for him.[4]

Death

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Doctor Jeptha Vining Harris died November 16, 1916, and is buried in Key West Cemetery, Key West Florida.[4]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Harris, Gideon Dowse. Harris Genealogy. Columbus, Miss., Keith Printing Co., 1914. OCLC 4707316. Retrieved September 23, 2012. p. 76.
  2. ^ Harris, 1914, pp. 75–76.
  3. ^ Harris, 1914, p. 75.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Born, George Walter. Preserving Paradise: The Architectural Heritage And History of the Florida Keys. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59629-152-2. p. 32.
  5. ^ a b c Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8071-3148-2 (pbk.). Retrieved September 16, 2012. p. 120.
  6. ^ a b c Harris, 1914, pp. 74–75, 94.
  7. ^ Harris, 1914, p. 79.
  8. ^ University of Mississippi. 'Historical and Current Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University of Mississippi Forty-Second Session'. University of Mississippi: 1894. OCLC 18523522. Retrieved September 28, 2012. p. 40.
  9. ^ a b Harris, 1914, p. 80.

References

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