REUBEN HARRIS, LT, USN

Reuben Harris '46

Date of birth: July 7, 1823

Age: 34

Loss

Reuben died of consumption on October 28, 1857 in New York while returning home to Ohio on sick leave. He had earlier been re-stationed due to ill health, in 1853.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

From 1846 to 1848, Reuben served on the Independence. In 1849 he was on the Raritan, but he wanted to be acting master of the Germantown. After being on leave, he was stationed from 1850-1852 at the Navy Yard in Memphis, Tennessee. Reuben was involved with classmate Robert Marr’s work doing daily observations of the Mississippi River. In January 1853, Reuben was ill and took leave, but later he was assigned to the store ship Lexington with Richard Price (Class of 1847.) Reuben wrote the Navy in May about a problem they had. Without any help in the Wardroom Officers Mess, he said: “We found ourselves at a loss how to regulate our mess without the services of a cook and steward…” The Bureau of Construction was forwarded the letter and said that only one cook and one steward for officers were sufficient for other store ships and brigs of war.
In 1855 he was on the Susquehanna laying the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. He took a leave, and then returned in 1856 making a $70/month allowance for his family. At times when he was on leave, besides going home to Newark, Ohio, he went to Mississippi to see his brother Horatio J., an attorney -- to Jackson in 1848 and to Vicksburg in 1853. Reuben was survived by his mother, Horatio, and only one sister Margaret. His father and the other six siblings had already passed.

He was born in, and appointed to the Naval Academy from, Connecticut. He is buried in Ohio.