Edward Harris (September 7, 1799 – June 8, 1863) was a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

horse breeder Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

who accompanied

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

on two of his expeditions to observe birds and mammals of America. Harris was commemorated by Audubon in the common names of the

Harris's hawk Harris's hawk (''Parabuteo unicinctus''), formerly also known as bay-winged hawk or dusky hawk, and known in Latin America as the peuco, is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south to Chile, central Argent ...

, the

Harris's sparrow Harris's sparrow (''Zonotrichia querula'') is a large American sparrow, sparrow. Their breeding habitat is the north part of central Canada (primarily the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, ranging slightly into northern Manitoba and Saskatchewa ...

, and the Harris's antelope squirrel, and by

John Cassin John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithology, ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and vice president at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification ...

in the binomial of the

buff-fronted owl The buff-fronted owl (''Aegolius harrisii'') is a small owl. It is found in widely separated areas in every South American country except French Guiana and Suriname.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F ...

, ''Aegolius harrisii''. Edward Harris introduced the

Percheron The Percheron is a horse breed, breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province, from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray (horse), gray or black (horse), black in col ...

horse to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1839 and established the first Percheron breeding line in the United States.Mischka, pp. 34-5Smith-Cadbury Mansion
Courtesy of Moorestown Historical Society

Life

In 1798, Edward Harris, Sr. purchased the Smith–Cadbury Mansion and farm, located near the center of

Moorestown, New Jersey Moorestown is a Township (New Jersey), township in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of ...

, where Edward Harris, Jr. was born the following year. After inheriting the property at his father's death in 1822, Edward Harris, Jr. lived there and farmed the land until 1849. He met the ornithologist

in 1824 after which the two men became close friends, Harris providing Audubon with some financial assistance for the publication of ''Birds of America''. Harris took part in two of Audubon's expeditions: in the spring of 1837 in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, and in 1843 along the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

Footnotes

References

* Mischka, Joseph (1991). ''The Percheron Horse in America.'' Heart Prairie Press. * Purdy, James C. (1886). ''Moorestown, old and new: a local sketch.'' Printed by Percy J. Lovell, Moorestown, New Jersey. 1799 births 1863 deaths American ornithologists People from Moorestown, New Jersey Scientists from New Jersey 19th-century American zoologists Farmers from New Jersey 19th-century American farmers {{US-ornithologist-stub