However, she and their children returned to New York when John Harris prepared to settle in Mexican Texas.
The interim Texas executive government migrated east to safety, and met at the Harris house, which at that time operated as an inn.
A few weeks later, during the Runaway Scrape, Harris fled first to Anahuac, Texas and eventually to Galveston.
[1] After the Texian victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, Harris returned to the Harrisburg homestead, where enslaved Mexican soldiers harvested timber and constructed a log house for her.
In 1841, this simple structure was covered with weatherboard and enhanced with a wraparound gallery supported by classical columns.