Josiah A. Harris (January 15, 1808 – August 21, 1876) was the ninth

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1847. Harris moved from

Becket, Massachusetts Becket is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,931 at the 2020 census. History Becket was first settled in 1740, and was o ...

in 1818 to North Amherst in

Lorain County Lorain County is a County (United States), county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 312,964. Its county seat is Elyria, Ohio, Elyria. The county was physicall ...

. Harris was elected sheriff of

Elyria Elyria may refer to: *Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River (Ohio), Black ...

in 1832 and began the ''Ohio Atlas & Elyria Advertiser'', a weekly newspaper. Harris moved to

in 1837 and purchased the ''Cleveland Herald and Gazette'', where he proudly supported the Whig party. He was elected mayor 10 years later in 1847. He began to lose interest in the ''Herald'' and ended up quitting journalism altogether after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He retired to a farm in Rocky River. Harris suffered a series of strokes and died at his daughter's home. He is buried in the Erie Street Cemetery. Harris married Esther M. Race in 1830 and had four children: Bryon C., Brougham E., Zacharia, and Helen.

References

* ''The Encyclopedia Of Cleveland History'' by Cleveland Bicentennial Commission (Cleveland, Ohio), David D. Van Tassel (Editor), and John J. Grabowski (Editor) Mayors of Cleveland 1808 births 1876 deaths Ohio Whigs 19th-century American politicians Burials at Erie Street Cemetery {{Ohio-mayor-stub