Add Harris, county sheriff, was chosen to occupy his present position by the Democratic party in 1886, and is now filling the duties of his second term, in a manner highly creditable to himself and to the satisfaction of the community at large. He is a native-born resident of the county, his birth having occurred in 1847, and from earliest boyhood he has been familiar with the duties of farm life, and his youth was also spent in attending the public schools, where he acquired a good practical education. He started out in life for himself at the age of eighteen years, and his labors to acquire a competency have met with fair results. Having grown to manhood in this county, he has seen a great change take place, and has noted a gradual improvement yearly in its growth and prosperity. He is a member of the school board in District No. 8, and has always been a patron of education and a believer in free schools.
He is a son of Benjamin and Martha (Thrower) Harris, who were born in Alabama and Kentucky, respectively, but in 1829 Benjamin came with his father, William Harris, to what is now Poinsett County, Ark., and squatted on the land near where our subject now resides, the country at that time being almost a wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild animals. Here the grandfather died, a few years ago. Benjamin Harris was married in this county, and settled on the farm which is now occupied by our subject. They reared a family of eleven children, the names of those living being as follows: William, who is married and is a resident of the county; Add, the subject of this memoir; Elvira (Mrs. Sparks), of Harrisburg; Mary Ann (Mrs. Rice), residing near Paragould; Sophia, residing with her brother Add; Frances (Mrs. Ervin), a resident of Bolivar Township; Benjamin, a lawyer of Harrisburg, and Malvina (Mrs. Perry), of Paragould. The father of our subject took an active part in the early history of the county, and was quite a prominent politician, being the first man elected to the State Legislature from this district, and was also a State senator in 1877. During the Rebellion he was captain of a company in the Thirteenth Arkansas Regiment of infantry, and was a participant in the battle of Belmont, but was taken sick and confined in the hospital at Memphis, Tenn., for some time. His death occurred in this county, in 1881. His widow resides with her son Add.