To this family also belonged William Garis, a member of the famous old Easton Union Guards, who went with this organization by "Durham Boat" to Philadelphia to participate in the demonstration in honor of General Lafayette on his visit to the United States in 1824.

William Edwin Garis was born in South Easton, September 26, 1849, and as a youth attended the public schools and the Poughkeepsie (New York) College of Business, entering his father's establishment after the completion of his studies, and learning furniture designing and manufacture. In an emergency caused by the illness of one of the traveling salesmen of the house, he was sent to cover the territory while still in his teens. His first order, an unusually large one, was given contingent upon his ability to duplicate an elaborate suite of furniture for his customer, a condition his trained skill as a designer enabled him to meet with complete satisfaction. This was the beginning of his long and successful experience as a furniture salesman, although he subsequently acquired the ownership and assumed the management of the business, which enjoyed a substantial prosperity until 1892, when a nervous breakdown compelled him to retire from business responsibilities. He made his home on a farm in Forks Township after his retirement, following agriculture along scientific lines, later managing Austin D. Mixsell's Bucks county farm. In 1915 he became a member of the firm of Garis & Shiner, and since that time has engaged in real estate dealings in Bethlehem, their firm a highly rated and well-known organization in the city. Mr. Garis is a member of the Bethlehem Real Estate Board, the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, and is a communicant of Grace Lutheran Church.