Nathaniel, the fifth
child of John Harris and Orpha Greer,
was born 27 Oct 1893 in
Concho, Arizona. At the time, his oldest sister Myrtle was seven,
brother John was six, Bina was four, and Lillian was two
years old. They enjoyed their baby brother, whom they called
Nat, and it is known that their father was loving, attentive, and playful
with his little children.
Nat grew up
on the Greer Ranch. Having learned ranching
in his youth, he
continued that kind of work until he joined
the Army in 1917
during World War I. In Laurie Jo Greer Rhoton's book "The Greer Trail,"
she has printed some of the letters Nat wrote home from his base
in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
Soon after returning home
from the war, he married Edith Viola Thomas 27 October 1920 in St. Johns. They made their home in Holbrook for a few years. During
that time, Nat worked as a store clerk. Nat and Edith ran
a cafe at Peach Springs and later operated the Phantom
Ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon for Fred Harvey. They had no children and were later divorced. Nat stayed
several months with the George E. Crosby family and
helped his sister Florence operate the Crosby's lodge at Greer.
Nat later moved to Yuma,
Arizona, and then to Whittier, California, where he worked in a welding
shop with his brother Jim. He married a young widow,
Marjorie Akers, who had two sons, Michael and Robert,
and they lived in Seal Beach, California. In 1956 Nat developed
cancer of the
throat. He died 2 April 1958 and is
buried in Costa Mesa, California.
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