HARRISON, John

HARRISON

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 5/31/2021 at 17:51:47

John Harrison
born Dec 1824

John Harrison, one of the early pioneers of Douglas Township, Ida County, was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, in December, 1824, a son of James and Elizabeth (Clendening) Harrison, natives also of that county. Our subject removed to Scotland with his parents when a lad, where he was reared and educated. In 1855 he came to the United States, locating in New York, but was afterward engaged in a sawmill for J. Irvin, at Savanna, Carroll County, Illinois. He next purchased forty acres of land at Morrison, Whiteside County, that State, which he afterward sold. In 1864 Mr. Harrison enlisted in the civil war, in Company C, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, under General Farnsworth, was wounded in the cheek, and honorably discharged at Benton Barracks, Missouri, after the close of the struggle. He then resided in Morrison, Whiteside County, Illinois, until 1868, when he took a pre-emption claim on section 2, Douglas Township, Ida County, Iowa, and at that time this township contained only six voters. He was obliged to go to Sioux City with ox team to mill; often killed deer where Holstein now stands, and there was only one family between his home and Ida Grove. Mr. Harrison’s house was the stopping place for travelers, and was also a stage station. A number of years afterward he sold that place and went to Dakota, but eighteen months later came again to Ida County, where he now owns 200 acres of land, forty acres of which he has owned since 1868. The Sioux river flows through the farm, and Mr. Harrison is engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and he has a registered shire horse.
At Argyleshire, Scotland, near Glasgow, in 1845, our subject was united in marriage to Miss Jeannette Stevenson, a native of that place, and a daughter of Peter Stevenson. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison have six living children, namely: Elizabeth Nightser, of this township; Thomas, of Aurora, White Lake county, South Dakota; Mary Jane Ashton; David; Addie Geddes, a successful teacher of Washta, Cherokee County, Iowa; and Matthew M., an artist and painter by profession. They lost one son, James, who died at Savanna, Illinois. Mr. Harrison votes with the Republican Party, and has served in many official positions. Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R., William Baker Post, No. 298, of Correctionville. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are numbered among the prominent and early pioneers of Ida County.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.603