Isaac Harris
(1730-1808)
MSA SC 3520-16804
Biography:
Isaac Harris became a prominent blacksmith in Annapolis, Maryland by the 1760s when he operated a shop near the dock in partnership with Jonathan Pinkney.[1] Sometime between 1763 and 1764, close friend and artist Charles Willson Peale painted a portrait of Isaac Harris, which is thought to be lost.[2] Throughout the 1760s and 1770s, Harris worked on the William Coffing House (c. 1771) and had several accounts working on ships for the Navy. He also supplied the Armory with firearms and gun locks and was involved with the construction of Market House.[3] It is thought that Harris mentored Simon Retallick Sr circa 1774-1779.
Harris was often described in court records as a "gentleman," but encountered financial difficulties after his retirement.[4] Upon Isaac Harris's death in 1808, his inventory listed his accounts to amount to clothes, a chest, one slave named Parish, and some silver that in total amounted to $29.85.[5] A testamentary bond filed at the time his death indicated that he was severely in debt.[6]
[1] Maryland Gazette, 16 August 1764.
[2] Sellers, Charles Coleman, Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1952, no. 363.
[3] NEH Southern Urban Society Project, MSA SC 829.
[4] ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COURT (Judgement Records), MSA S1447.
[5] ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventory) Isaac Harris, 1808, Volume JG 7 Page 35 [MSA C 88-10, 1/3/12/35].
[6] ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Testamentary Bonds) Isaac Harris, 1808, Volume JG 5 Page 91 [MSA C 31-7, 1/3/11/22].
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|