Harris Corporation
The "Harris Automatic Press Company" was founded by Alfred S. Harris in Niles, Ohio, in 1895. The company spent the next 60 years developing lithographic processes and printing presses before acquiring typesetting company Intertype Corporation. In 1957, Harris acquired Gates Radio, a producer of broadcast transmitters and associated electronics gear, but kept the Gates brand name alive by putting the Gates sticker on the back of numerous transmitters that were labeled Harris on the front panels.
Young Harris
Harris was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1834 and began his law practice in Elberton, Georgia, where he was quite successful and represented Elbert County in the state legislature. He and his wife moved to Athens in 1840. He became well known and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from Clarke County in 1841 and from 1847 to 1852. He was also a delegate to the 1865 convention that drafted the 1868 Constitution of Georgia. Harris was appointed as judge of the Inferior Court of Athens
In 1850, Harris owned seventeen slaves in Athens, Georgia.
Harris was one of a group of Athens businessmen who founded the profitable Southern Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1847. He was initially named Secretary and Principal Director where he proved his financial skill by smart management of the company's assets. Harris was company president from 1866 until his death, and the business became one of the largest in the southeast United States. Susan Bevel Allen, whose family worked a plantation, married Harris in 1835. The couple had no children. She died on May 18, 1888 at age 70 after 53 years together.
In the spring of 1893, Harris suffered a serious illness from which he never completely recovered. He died in 1894 and was buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens. His funeral was well attended, indicating the respect and admiration he had earned.