Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== USGenNet Data Repository Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ============================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= The Kalamazoo Morning Gazette - News Sunday, 21 December, 1902 p. 22 Turned the First Furrow ENOCH HARRIS Was First Farmer in Kalamazoo County Settled Here in 1830 CHARLES E. HARRIS Has Lived In County 72 Years ELDER HARRIS and His Son Promoted Under Ground Railway Before the War - Still Lives on Part of the Old Farm. Although not the oldest man in Kalamazoo County, CHARLES E. HARRIS, a colored farmer of Oshtemo enjoys the distinction of having resided in the county for a longer period of time than any other living man. MR. HARRIS is 77 years of age and has lived in Kalamazoo county since 1830. His father was ENOCH HARRIS, a free negro who came to this part of Michigan from Marion county, Ohio, during that year and who was the first man to turn a furrow for the cultivation of the ground in Kalamazoo county. When the elder HARRIS came to Michigan he traveled all the way from his former home in Ohio in wagons, bringing his family and farming tools along. He set- tled first on an 80-acre farm where the village of Schoolcraft is now located. Several years later he moved to what is now Oshtemo township and the 40- acres of land now owned and occupied by his son CHARLES E. HARRIS is part of the old homestead. ENOCH HARRIS' mother, it is said was a slave and his father a man who afterwards held the highest office within the gift of the people of the United States. It might be impossible to prove either the truth or falsity of this statement now but the story is not a new one and has been handed down from father to son as one of the traditions of the HARRIS family. At any rate ENOCH HARRIS was never a slave and be- fore he came to Michigan owned a farm near Marion, Ohio. In his youth he lived in one of the southern states. CHARLES HARRIS lives today upon a comfortable little farm five miles west of the city of Kalamazoo alongside the Michigan Central tracks. When he came to Michigan at the age of 5 years. there was not a railroad in the state and this section was thickly populated with Indians and infested with wild game. It was no uncommon thing for the elder HARRIS in an early day to shoot deer and bear upon his own farm and when a young man, CHARLES HARRIS killed many deer and bear. The family soon estab- lished itself upon familiar terms with the savages and during all the years when the greater part of Kalamazoo county was a wilderness, never had any serious trouble with the natives. At the time MR. HARRIS came to Kalamazoo the town was known as the village of Bronson and only five houses had been erected. MR. HARRIS is a bachelor and his sister, MRS. HARDIMAN is his housekeeper. For a man of his years he is surprisingly active and it is not an uncommon thing for him to walke to Kalamazoo and back home again in half a day. Aside from his curly hair and beard MR. HARRIS bears no strong characteristic marks of the race from which he is descended. His complexion is as fair as many white men and his features are those of a Caucasian rather than of a negro. His beard is almost snow white but his hair as black as coal. His mind is clear and active and his memory of in- cidents of an early day are remarkably distinct. The elder HARRIS dug the first grave in what is now Oshtemo township cemetery, the oldest burying ground in the county. The grave is occupied by the remains of a four-year-old girl named SMITH all of whose relatives long ago disappeared from this part of the state. No stone marks the lonely grave but MR. HARRIS says he knows the spot well. For 20 years before the war old ENOCH HARRIS was one of the promoters of the "underground railway" and many a fugitive slave was assisted by him to reach places of safety. Some of the oldest colored families in the state are descended from runaway slaves whom he helped to escape from the pursuit of their masters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Kalamzoo Gazette Thursday, 13 February, 1969 When ENOCH HARRIS and his wife, DEBORAH, arrived in Kalamazoo County, there was only one other cabin on Genesee Prairie east of the Village of Oshtemo. The time was before 1831 and HARRIS was the first black settler in Oshtemo Township. An 1880 Kalamzoo County history tells how BENJAMIN DRAKE, the owner of the other cabin, helped HARRIS build a dwelling. In 1831, HARRIS recorded his purchase of land in Sections 35 and 36 of Oshtemo Township. Using seed he brought with him from Marion County, Ohio, HARRIS planted the first apple orchard in the county. The first marriage in Oshtemo Township involved a member of the HARRIS family. LOUISA HARRIS mar- ried HENRY POWERS in 1836. Although HARRIS died im 1870 and his wife in 1881, his descendants are among black persons now living in Kalamazoo County. According to estimates made by W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, about 9,400 black people now live in Kalamazoo County. Estimated population of the county is 193,000, the institute reports. Emphasis on Kalamazoo's black pioneers and other black people who figure in the history of the U.S. is being stressed now during Black History Week. A permanent collection of material on black history and culture is open to the public in the MARTIN LUTHER KING Memorial Collection on the main floor of the Kalamazoo Public Library. ===============================================================================