The Swartsel House is home to many historical pieces of furniture, including two gorgeous grandfather clocks, the L.W. Watson Tall Clock and the 1812 Clock from the Rossman Hotel. Read below to learn more about the L.W. Watson Tall Clock!

The clock was made by L.W. Watson in Cinncinnati, Ohio between the years of 1820 and 1830. The clock was taken as payment for medical services between the years of 1876 and 1880 when Dr. Joseph Wilson Harris was practicing in Morning Sun, Preble County, Ohio.

Dr. Harris was born July 9, 1839 in Butler County and died April 12, 1906 in Los Angeles, California. He was the son of Thomas Harris, whose father Joseph Harris left Northern Ireland in 1798 during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

Joseph William Harris served in the Civil War as a Captain. He owned a saw mill in Preble County located where Camden College Corner Road crosses Four Mile Creek.

On May 18, 1869, Joseph married Jane Elizabeth Sloan in Morning Sun. They had three children who died in infancy and two children who survived: Richard Stanley Harris, born February 19, 1874, died July 20, 1956 in Spadra, CA and Eunice Lauretta Harris, born April 1, 1877, died May 1975 in Los Angeles. Richard had three daughters: Ruth Elizabeth born February 1, 1915, died September 9, 2000; Virginia Cullie LaMarr born February 3, 1918; and Pauline Stanley Hall born April 19, 1923.

Dr. Harris graduated from the Miami medical college in 1874 and practiced in Morning Sun until he moved to Los Angeles, California in 1886, taking the clock along with him to California. The clock was sent to New Hampshire with granddaughter Pauline Hall after Dr. Harris’s passing.

Dr. Harris was a cousin of Andrew Litner Harris, Governor of Ohio in 1906.

The clock was donated to the society by Pauline Harris Hall.