Charles McClure Harris (1884 - 1932)

My maternal grandfather ... I never knew him.  In fact, he died when my mother was only seven years old, so she barely knew him herself.  He was taken at the young age of 48 from "glioma of the right frontal lobe of the brain" in doctor-speak (a brain tumor to most of us).

When I read that on his death certificate, I wondered if there was a reason for specifying the right frontal lobe; why not just say a glioma of the brain and leave it at that?  I've learned that frontal lobe activities include intellectual functioning, thought processes, behavior, and memory; and depending on whether he was right- or left-handed, could also have affected his speech and writing.

According to his obituary, "During his sickness and untold suffering for many weeks he never uttered a word of complaint and was ready to go when God called him.  Complications of diseases caused his death."  Mom always said he died from a brain tumor; she never mentioned complications.  Perhaps there were issues that she was unaware of at her young age - issues that her mother never spoke about later.

My grandfather's obituary also stated that, "He was born and reared on a farm and spent his entire life toiling at farming as an occupation."  Yes, he was born on a farm on Fork Ridge (Marshall County, WV), and yes, he was a farmer ... but he was also a street car conductor according to my father.

In the photo at the top, my grandfather is wearing his streetcar uniform and a hat with the number 295 on it.  I have a pair of large, oval antique frames with photos of my grandparents in which he is also wearing the streetcar uniform.  The Marshall County WVGenWeb Virtual Wheeling Area Trolley Museum includes several photos with motormen wearing the same style hat as my grandfather, and one Benwood photo shows men in the same white shirt and white tie combo that he is wearing.  It appears likely that my grandfather would have been employed by the Wheeling Traction Company, the name under which the Wheeling Railway Company was reorganized in 1899.

Although my grandfather's birth registration says he was born on the 23rd of January 1884, there is a lot of conflicting info that says it was actually the 20th.  Charlie, as he was commonly known, married Dessie Charlotte Aston on 29 September 1920.  They had two daughters, Eva Mae born in 1922, and my mother, Alda Louise born in 1925.  My grandfather's death on 15 June 1932 marked the end of a three-month battle against the brain tumor.  As he had become a member of the Fork Ridge Christian Church in October 1908 when he was 24, he was buried in the cemetery that sits behind the church.