My Genealogy Hound

EDWIN MORRIS HARRY, justice of the peace at Norristown, his office being at No. 415 Swede street, was born in Norristown, February 11, 1853. He was the son of Charles P. and Rebecca D. (Markley) Harry, both parents being members of old families in Montgomery county. The couple had five children: Mary Harry, Dr. C. Howard Harry, Edwin Morris Harry, Abraham Markley Harry, and Anna D. Harry, all of Norristown. Charles P. Harry (father) was a leading dentist of Norristown from 1839 until close to the time of his death, which occurred in 1886, at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife survived him five years and died at the age of sixty-nine years. Both were Presbyterians in religious faith. He was a church trustee and otherwise prominent in church work. During the invasion of Pennsylvania by Confederate troops prior to the battle of Gettysburg in 1863, he enlisted as an emergency man and served for a short time.

Rees Harry (grandfather) married Mary Snyder. He died in 1824, well advanced in years, leaving twelve children. He had a jovial disposition and was a great hunter.

Abraham Markley (maternal grandfather) was a lifelong resident of Montgomery county. His wife was Mary Ann Darrah. He was superintendent of the Norristown Water Company, of the Cemetery Company, the Norristown Bridge Company and of the Norristown Gas Company, and lived for many years at the Montgomery House, now the Hotel Montgomery, of which he was the proprietor. He died at the age of eighty-four years. He was of German descent and his wife was Scotch-Irish. They had five children.

E. M. Harry has lived all his life in Norristown. He attended the public schools for a time but select schools principally; also the Philadelphia Polytechnic College of Civil and Mining Engineering; and in 1876 was graduated from the Philadelphia Dental College, being vice-president of his class. He practiced dentistry in Norristown for seventeen years. He was elected assessor for the second ward of the borough of Norristown and served in that capacity for twelve years. He was appointed by Governor Hastings to fill out the unexpired term of O. N. Urner, justice of the peace, at his death in 1897, and is now serving his second term in that position.

Politically Mr. Harry is a Republican. He has for many years been active in the interests of his party, and has served as borough and county committeeman for a number of years.

December 7, 1882, he married Miss Tillie J. Quillman, daughter of Jacob F. and Henrietta (Meeh) Quillman, of an old Norristown family. Mrs. Harry is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church of the Trinity. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and is Past Sachem of Beaver Tribe, No. 62. He lives at 323 cherry street, where he owns his home.

The founder of the family in America was David Harry, a native of Wales; who came to Pennsylvania and settled in Whitemarsh, in what was then Philadelphia county, about 1698. He was married in 1699 to Lydia Powell, of Philadelphia, who was the daughter of David Powell. They were married at Germantown Friends Meeting House, December 2, 1699. David Harry purchased from Thomas Farmer, in 1700, one thousand two hundred and fifty acres of land situated in Whitemarsh. His son Rees was born in 1701, and married Mary Price of Haverford, October 12, 1727, in Haverford Friends Meeting House. He died in 1787, aged eighty-six years. He had a son, John, who was born October 14, 1736. He married Alice Meredith in 1768, and died August 12, 1800. His second wife was Letitia Jones, a widow, and they had one son, Rees Harry, who was the grandfather of Edwin Morris Harry.

The Markley family are of German origin, They were early settlers in what is now Montgomery county The father of Abraham Markley was Isaac Markley, who married a Miss Heiser. They lived near Jeffersonville, two miles above Norristown. He was a contractor and constructed the Philadelphia & Reading turnpike, They had five children.