JOHN HARRIS JOINED THE LDS CHURCH IN WALES AND BRIGHAM SENT HIM TO NEPHI

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I SPENT A MONTH CHASING DOWN THE HISTORY OF MY MOTHERS KIN FOLKS THAT HAILED FROM THE BRITISH ISLES. THAT ISLE WAS NOT REALLY AN ISLAND, BUT THAT IS WHAT THEY REFER TO AS WALES WHEN I VISITED. I WON'T GO WAY BACK WHEN THE HARRIS NAME WAS HARRY, AND EVEN BEFORE THAT, THEIR WAS ONE HARRY HARRY. NOW BACK TO JOHN HARRIS. THEY TRAVELED BY WAY OF A BOAT ACROSS THE WILD BLUE ANTANTIC OCEAN AND ON TO IOWA CITY, IOWA , AS THAT IS WHERE MANY OF THE NEW MORMON NEWCOMERS WOULD MEET.  THAT FAMILY ARRIVED IN SALT LAKE, WHERE BRIGHAM YOUNG DIRECTED THEM TO NEPHI, BUT MANY OF THE OTHER WALES FOLK WENT OVER TO SANPETE AND NAMED THEIR TOWN......YUP ,YOU GUESSED IT-WALES, UTAH. THE HARRIS FAMILY SET UP SHOP IN NEPHI. THE HARRIS FAMILY HAD SONS AND ONE OF THEM WAS EVAN, ALTHOUGH MANY OF THE FOLKS IN NEPHI AND HEBERVILLE CALLED HIM "EV'. MANY OF THE KIDS OF THE KIDS WERE ALSO NAMED EVAN, BUT THEY WOULD DISTINGUISH THE DIFFERENT ONES BY USING A FIRST OR MIDDLE NAME. SOME OF THEM WERE JOHN AND JAY AND SUCH. WE DO KNOW THAT THE HARRIS FAMILY HAD A SAWMILL IN SAWMILL CANYON OFF THE NEBO LOOP ROAD. EVAN HARRIS, WHO IS MY GRANDFATHER MARRIED A HITESMAN FROM MORONI, AND THEY BUILT A HOME NEAR SALT CREEK, AND LAVON HARRIS JONES SHOWED US KIDS THE FOUNDATION OF THE HOME AND PART OF THE SAWMILL WAS STILL THERE. EVANS BROTHERS WENT TO SCHOOL IN A SHED THAT WAS THEIR SCHOOL AND FOR OTHER PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN THE AREA, AS THEIR WERE A LOT OF SALT MINES; ROCK MINES WHERE THE PINK ROCK WAS THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEPHI HIGH SCHOOL AND WHITMORE MANSION. THAT AREA STILL HAS GOOD FARM LAND WHERE HEBER OCKEY LIVED AND HIS SON- JAMES H. OCKEY SR. AND HIS SON- JAMES H. OCKEY JR. WHO STILL RESIDES THERE AND JIMMY'S SON AND DAUGHTER. NOW BACK TO EVAN. HE AND A BROTHER HAD TWO SAWMILLS AND BROUGHT THE LOGS DOWN FROM NEPHI CANYON FOR THE BUILDING OF THE PIONEER CABIN AT THE NEPHI PARK. EVAN AND ELIZA HAD A DAUGHTER NAMED MAGGIE VERA AND SHOULD BE ATTACHED. AROUND HER NECK IS A GOLD WATCH. SHE DIED ATR AGE 9 AND BURIED IN VINEBLUFF IN NEPHI. AFTER SHE PASSED, EVAN AND ELIZA WAS HOPING FOR ANOTHER GIRL AND LAVON HARRIS WAS BORN. THE WATCH ON MAGGIE WAS REMOVED BY HER FATHER BEFORE BURIAL AND GIVEN TO LAVON. SHE THEN GAVE IT TO ME AND I GAVE IT TO MY SON. I HAD TAKEN IT TO A WATCH DOCTOR WHO SHOWED ME THE VARIOUS SMALL DATES ON IT, AND AS I RECALL IT HAD BEEN FROM THE EARLY 1800'S IN WALES. AFTER I GAVE IT TO MY SON, WE THEN HAD IT STOLEN. I WAS A SCOUTMASTER AT THE TIME, AND ONE OF THE NEW INVITED KIDS WAS A GOOD FOR NOTHIN KID. AT THE TIME I HAD A LOT OF CONNECTION WITH THE SALT AKE COUNTY SHERRIFF'S OFFICE, BUT AS MUCH AS I PEACHED AGAINST IT, A CITY ANNEXED IT AND THE AREA WENT TO HELL. THE NEW OFFICERS SAID THEY WOULD NOT TALK TO THE CULPRIT AS I SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE DOOR LOCKED. I HAD FOUGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION BUT SOMETIMES THE GOOD GUYS ARE BAD, AND THESE COPS WERE CREAM OF THE CRUDE! PERHAPS GOD WILL PUNISH THEM IN HIS OWN WAY. THE OTHER PHOTO IS OF MY SISTER-JAYNETTE GRIMARD AND THEIR APPEARS TO BE A FAMILY LOOK ALIKE. JAYNETTE WAS A YEAR OLD THEN. MAGGIE VERA MADE THE JACKS SACK FROM A FLOUR SACK AND JAYNETTE SAID THE SACK MAY HAVE BEEN TO HOLD JACKS- A GAME OF THE PAST.