Skip to content

Obituary · primary-source record

Carlyle W Harris

circa 23 September 1869 (computed from age at death) – 8 May 1893

From a newspaper account quoting the original coffin plate

Editorially verified

At-a-glance facts

Record type

Obituary

Date of death

8 May 1893

Date of birth

circa 23 September 1869 (computed from age at death)

Age at death

23 years, 7 months, 15 days

The obituary

Plate, photographedPage 1 of 4

Inscription transcription

Carlyle W Harris
Murdered May 8, 1893
23 years 7 months 15 days
Transcription from the Ancestors at Rest archive.

Researcher's notes

Newspaper account

The Wheeling Register, 9 May 1893, carried the headline "A Quick, Easy Death. Carlyle Harris Pays the Full Penalty of His Crime." Carlyle Harris was a prisoner in Sing Sing who was sent to the electric chair; his relatives had a coffin plate made with the inscription.

1880 United States Federal Census

I went and had a hunt for Carlyle W. Harris in the 1880 United States Federal Census on Ancestry.com. I found him as you can see below.

FieldValue
NameCarlyle W. Harris
Home in 1880New Barbadoes, Bergen, New Jersey
Age10
Estimated birth yearabt 1870
BirthplaceNew York
Relation to head-of-householdSon
Father's nameCharles L.
Father's birthplaceN. Y.
Mother's nameFanny
Mother's birthplaceN. Y.
Marital StatusSingle
RaceWhite
GenderMale

Household members (1880)

NameAge
Charles L. Harris39
Fanny McCready36
Carlyle W. Harris10
Robert McCready Harris7
Richard Allen Harris5
Jennie Howland5M
Jessie Harris Howland21
Mary Bonnet40

Sources consulted

  • Wheeling Register, 9 May 1893
  • 1880 United States Federal Census

Record submitted by

Thomas Roberts — to the Ancestors at Rest archive

Source & citation

Source type
Original photograph
Provenance
Submitted by Thomas Roberts to the Ancestors at Rest archive
Transcribed by
Ancestors at Rest archive — original contributor not recorded.
Last verified
2026-07-09
Permalink
/records/obituaries/harris-carlyle-w-1893/
Image vs transcription
Both — no photograph of the coffin plate itself survives, but its inscription is reproduced within the newspaper article photographed here.

Citation: "A Quick, Easy Death. Carlyle Harris Pays the Full Penalty of His Crime," Wheeling Register, 9 May 1893 — quoting the coffin plate of Carlyle W Harris (abt 1869 – 8 May 1893), preserved in the Ancestors at Rest archive (https://ancestorsatrest.com/records/obituaries/harris-carlyle-w-1893/ : accessed [your access date]).

More from the archive

Matched automatically from the archive’s name and place indexes — research leads, not confirmed relations.

Have a coffin plate, funeral card, or cemetery record?

The archive grows by contribution. If you have a transcription or photograph of a death record, share it and help another genealogist find their ancestor.

Submit a record →