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'''John Spafford Harris''' (December 18, 1825 – January 25, 1906) was a native of [[New York]] who was a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[U.S. Senator]] for [[Louisiana]] during [[Reconstruction]].

'''John Spafford Harris''' (December 18, 1825 – January 25, 1906) was a native of [[New York]] who was a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[U.S. Senator]] for [[Louisiana]] during [[Reconstruction]].

Harris was born in Truxton in Cortland County in southern New York State and educated in the common schools.  In 1846, at the age of twenty-one, he relocated to [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], to work as a clerk in a mecantile establishment, a job he filled for three years. In 1863, he moved to Natchez in [[Natchitoches|Natchitoches Parish]], where he became at the close of the [[American Civil War]] as one of the largest cotton [[planters]] in Louisiana. <ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-h/|title=Harris, John Spafford|publisher=''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'': Louisiana Historical Association|accessdate=April 15, 2020}}</ref>

Harris was born in Truxton in Cortland County in southern New York State and educated in the common schools.  In 1846, at the age of twenty-one, he relocated to [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], to work as a clerk in a mecantile establishment, a job he filled for three years. In 1863, he moved to Natchez in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches Parish]], where he became at the close of the [[American Civil War]] as one of the largest [[cotton]] planters in Louisiana. <ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-h/|title=Harris, John Spafford|publisher=''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'': Louisiana Historical Association|accessdate=April 15, 2020}}</ref>

In 1868, he was elected to the state constitutional convention and appointed to a committee of seven to handle state affairs until the new constitution could be written. He briefly served in the state Senate in 1868.. Upon the readmission of Louisiana to the Union, Harris was elected by the state legislature for a partial term in the U.S. Senate and served from July 9, 1868, until March 3, 1871. In 1881, newly-installed President [[Chester Arthur]] named Harris as the surveyor general for [[Montana]], where he resided thereafter.<ref name=lahist/> Harris died at the age of eighty in Butte in Silver Bow County in western Montana. He is interred at Forestvale Cemetery in the capital citi of [[Helena]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000246|title=John Spafford Harris|publisher=Bioguide.congress.gov|date=1950|accessdate=April 15, 2020}}</ref></ref>  

In 1868, he was elected to the state constitutional convention and appointed to a committee of seven to handle state affairs until the new constitution could be written. He briefly served in the state Senate in 1868.. Upon the readmission of Louisiana to the Union, Harris was elected by the state legislature for a partial term in the U.S. Senate and served from July 9, 1868, until March 3, 1871. In 1881, newly-installed President [[Chester Arthur]] named Harris as the surveyor general for [[Montana]], where he resided thereafter.<ref name=lahist/> Harris died at the age of eighty in Butte in Silver Bow County in western Montana. He is interred at Forestvale Cemetery in the capital citi of [[Helena]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000246|title=John Spafford Harris|publisher=Bioguide.congress.gov|date=1950|accessdate=April 15, 2020}}</ref></ref>