Harris, Morris B.

Born in Albion, Illinois, in 1866, Morris B. Harris studied at the University of Indiana and Wittenberg College before moving to California in 1889. He initially taught school in Fresno County while studying law, earning admission to the bar in 1895. He subsequently established a highly prominent legal practice in Fresno alongside his brother, E. M. Harris, and served as president of the Fresno County Bar Association.

A prominent Progressive Republican, Harris achieved wide political and civic influence, serving as president of the Board of Trustees for the Fresno State Normal School and as California State Director of the Four Minute Men during World War I. Elected to the California State Senate in 1918, he authored key legislation including the Harris Enforcement Bill and the California Irrigation Act. Married to Ohio native Jessie Boggs, with whom he had two children, Marjorie and Ronald, Harris stood as one of Central California’s most distinguished attorneys and lawmakers.