Rush Ryan or Rush Harris?
Several months ago, I started getting messages from a couple of people looking for information on a James Rushing Harris. One message said:
“Hi, I am trying to get through a brick wall in researching my great grandfather who we knew as James Rushing Harris or Rush Harris, born Mississippi @1861. We got a lead from an old paper from my grandmother’s things that lists a Molly (Mollie) Duncan as a sister of J.R. Harris. There was another name listed as Sarah Ryan or Rimes on that same paper. (We) are wondering if this Simpson Ryan who married a Margaret Harris and had a daughter Mary Lee ( who married a JC Duncan) is the right lead. Would Rush Ryan actually been Rush Harris, and just got listed as Ryan on the 1880 census? Do you have any information on this family. You show as a DNA match with me, which leads me to believe we are in the right track.”
My first reaction was that they have the completely wrong family. The “Rush” in the 1880 census that I have is “Rush RYAN,” not “Rush HARRIS.” Another message said:
“The AA Hollowell listed as a mother in law is the SAME AGE as Margaret Harris, so who’s mother in law is she? We found a marriage record for JR Harris and Emily Hollowell for 1879 in Marshall, MS. So, we are thinking that Rush and Emily were actually married, that AA Hollowell was Emily’s mother, and that Margaret Harris was Rush’s mother – thus making him J. Rush Harris that we are looking for. Of course, there is not much other data out there. We do have a handwritten note in my Grandmother Harris’ Bible that Mollie Duncan (married to Jim Duncan) was Rush Harris’ sister. That would also line up with the information on the 1880 census.”
Knowing how incaccurate some census information can be from that time, this is all very, very, plausible. Especially since I also found these two marriage records:
In 1870, James Rushing Harris would have been about 9 years old.
Jump forward to 1879, and he is 18:
On the 1880 census both Rush and Emily are listed as 19, so this fits completely.
My Harris DNA match goes on to say:
My James R Harris married Louisa Tidwell Summers in @1887 and my grandfather Harris was born in 1889.
So, if all this is correct, and Rush is actually James Rushing Harris, and Emily is actually Emily Hollowell, what happened between their marriage in 1879 and his marriage to Louisa Tidwell Summers in 1887? Where does Bert fit in to all of this?
Here is what my current theory is:
Here is some of Louisa Tidwell’s history according to Ancestry.com: 
Louisa Tidwell was born in 1868. In November of 1883, when Louisa was 15, her mother dies, though her father is still alive and would be for another several years. But, in that same month of November 1883, Louisa is married to James Summers. According to his information, he was born in 1846, so, he is 37 at this time. Maybe Louisa’s father thought it was best for her to be married after her mother died? Who knows. In any case, this 15 year old girl marries a 37 year old man. They have a daughter a few years later in 1886.
According to our Harris cousins:
…Lucy Tidwell born 1868 Lafayette Misssissippi and she married Rush Harris in Panola County Mississippi in 1887. They moved to East Texas in the late 1890’s from Mississippi after a gunfight between Rush Harris and Lucy’s 1st husband James Summers (my grandmothers father). I think Summers survived the gunfight but Rush Harris lost a leg, or so the story goes!
So, if this story is correct, it’s possible that perhaps Rush and Emily had a baby, (Bert), and Emily dies in childbirth(?). Rush, now 24, at this same time finds Louisa, now 18, and they have an affair. Lousia’s husband Jim Summers finds out, a gunfight ensues, and at the end, Louisa decides to leave Jim Summers for Rush Harris.
Meanwhile baby Bert is living with his grandmother Margaret (Harris) Ryan and her husband Simpson Ryan. In light of everything that is happening with Rush, they might have all thought it better that Bert be raised by the Ryans, and ultimately, Bert is either adopted officially or they just give him the Ryan name.
Most of this is conjecture, but it all seems very plausible. I will add a Part 4 to this story if I find out any more significant explanation.