Harrar/ O’Hira, James and George

James Harrar (b.1875) and George Harrar (b.1879

Harrisville, NH

The Harrar brothers worked as servants of color in the Nubaunusit House Hotel in Harrisville, NH, in 1900.  George (21) and James (24) were born in Massachusetts. The 1900 census lists both of them as Black.  The document also notes that their father was from NJ and their mother from NH.

According to a blog post on the Historic Harrisville website, written by Jeannie Eastman, the Hotel was purchased by Charles Asa Blake of Jaffrey in 1881.  It ran as a 16-room hotel with white enameled bedsteads and matching furnishings at the turn of the 20th century.  The Harrar brothers were two of eight servants listed in the hotel in 1900.

In 1910, James was still in town but George had moved on.  James worked as a teamster and lived next door to the Widow Blake and her children.  Also in his household lived a white farm hand named Charles A. Writ (51 years old) and a 60-year old French Canadian lodger named Peter Sibly.  In the 1910 census, James’ last name was recorded as “O’Hira” and his race as “mulatto.”

SOURCE MATERIALS

Eastman, Jeannie. “Charles Blake and the Nubanuisit House.” Historic Harrisville website. November 2019 blog.

U.S. Federal Census, 1900, 1910- Ancestry.com

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

JAMES HARRAR, born in Massachusetts in 1875.

GEORGE HARRAR, born in Massachusetts in 1879.