Her Stories

- Documenting the Role of Women in Local History -

Ann Dunlop Harris was a woman of paramount importance in the development of the community of Bellefonte. Born in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, on March 14, 1765, Harris was the daughter and the wife of the town's two founders, and she played a crucial role in Bellefonte's formative years.

In 1795, a caravan carrying Ann Dunlop Harris, her husband James Harris, and their three children made its way over the Seven Mountains from Mifflintown and headed for the future community of Bellefonte. The Harris family joined Ann's father, Colonel James Dunlop, who had arrived in the area two years earlier. Dunlop had learned of the rich iron deposits and planned to build an iron furnace along Spring Creek. Dunlop purchased lands in 1793 eight miles from Centre Furnace. Built by Colonel John Patton and Colonel Samuel Miles in 1791, Centre Furnace was located near Mount Nittany along another portion of Spring Creek.

As Shippensburg was very much a frontier town at the time of Ann's childhood, she was accustomed to pioneer life. Twice Ann had witnessed Indian's capture of her father. She was, therefore, up to the challenge of relocating, creating a new life, and forging a destiny in the untamed lands of the future community of Bellefonte. "The Big Spring," which was located on the newly acquired Dunlop-Harris lands, and the fast-flowing Spring Creek determined how Dunlop and Harris planned the town. Dunlop's house, the first to be built, still stands at the corner of High and Spring Streets.

The naming of Bellefonte is a story often told. In one version, French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand is credited with naming Bellefonte. According to Harris family legend, Ann Dunlop Harris asked the visiting Talleyrand what he thought the name should be. Talleyrand suggested that it be called "la belle fontaine" to reflect the beautiful Big Spring, and Ann changed and shortened the name to "Bellefonte".

Ann Dunlop and James Harris had married June 1, 1790. They raised nine children. Known affectionately by her family and friends as Nancy, she was remembered as a woman of keen intellect. Harris compiled a metaphysical text entitled The Alphabet of Thought. The book was published anonymously in 1826 when Harris was 61 years of age. The book was issued "By a Lady" because the subject of metaphysics was viewed as an inappropriate subject and far outside the realm of female knowledge. Nevertheless, John Blair Linn, in hism 1883 History of Centre and Clinton Counties, recognized Harris as "a woman of more than ordinary mental powers, and talents for philosophical investigation, which she improved by study and converse with the able theologians of her day."

The Alphabet of Thought addresses many complex philosophical issues, such as spiritual substance, the nature of truth, and the essence of God. Harris's granddaughter, Nancy D. Orbison, remembered Harris as "a woman of uncommon powers of mind and a model of Christian consistency. No one could know her without highly esteeming her . . . but to write such a book, while her growing family, busy husband, and the welfare of a large household were never neglected, was indeed to do what few women could have accomplished."

Harris outlived her husband by 18 years. She died on April 8, 1844 at the age of 77 at the family's estate at Willowbank. She is buried in Bellefonte's Union Cemetery.

Links:
Bellefonte Burial Records DB