Harris Family Papers and Tin Cup Records

Solomon Hirsch and Hannah Levi Hirsch had six sons who immigrated to the United States and changed their last name to Harris. They were born in Fordom, Posen (Poland) and settled in New Jersey. Solomon Harris followed his brothers to the United States at the age of 13. He settled in Orange, New Jersey with his brother Julius Harris, who had established a dry goods store. Sol was a peddler in Bloomfield, New Jersey until he had saved enough money to... go west. He and his brother Eli went out west and settled in Virginia City, Colorado. The brothers opened the Harris Bros. Beehive dry goods store by 1880 when Solomon became the town's treasurer. Because of confusion with Virginia City in Nevada and Montana, the town was reincorporated as Tin Cup in 1882. The name of Tin Cup came from Tin Cup Gulch which was named in 1859 when a prospector found gold and carried it back to camp in a tin cup. By the mid-1880s Solomon Harris returned to Bloomfield, New Jesey and opened another Harris Bros. Behive store. He married Clara Goodman of the Goodman Matzos. Eli Harris moved to Denver, Colorado.