Theodore Harris

1842-1894
Hometown: Steuben County, NY

Theodore “Dora” Redding Harris was born in Yates County, NY but by the 1860 Census he was 17 years old and living in Bath with his parents and siblings:

• Marcus (age 19)

• Rodney (age 16)

• Myron and Frank Murphy (twins, age 14)

According to Dora’s pension file, his mother died before he was six years old and his father re-married Marcy M., who sent in affidavit on October 30, 1897:

“I was the stepmother to her husband the late T.R. Harris and I was married to his father Mr. I. Monroe Harris (TR was about 6).

Harris’ military movements as a Civil War Marine:

23 August 1862 Enlisted as a private in Brooklyn by Captain Haywood on the same day as Josiah Gregg. Harris was 20 years old

November 1862 Joined the USS Vanderbilt in November

25 January 1864 Marine Barracks, Brooklyn

1 April 1864 USS Brooklyn, fighting in the Battle of Mobile Bay.

21 January 1865 Marine Barracks in Brooklyn

7 February 1865 Marine Barracks in Washington

26 July 1865 Discharged on Surgeon's Certificate

After the war Dora went into the general store and cigar making business. By January 10, 1884, it was noted in the Watkins Express:

T. R. Harris & Co. the cigar manufacturers of Cohocton recently received fifty bales of tobacco by steamer to NY direct from Havana.

And in May 1885 he was expanding, by now with between 75-100 employees and moving to Corning. According to the Corning Journal, his new factory “plans to be located on Market Street in a new building in the old Miller Block between Cedar and Wall Street.”

Even Currier & Ives created a fishing print sign and label: "Smoke the Brook Trout Cigar" that is highly collectible today.

Dora died on August 27, 1894, in Cohocton, NY and the retail store, T. R. Harris & Company was still in existence into the 1960s.