A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 39

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912

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JOHN HARRIS, who has been identified with mines and mining throughout most of the years of a long career, is a native of Wilt- shire, England, having been born in Westburg, October 17, 1839. When a boy of fifteen he was taken to Blacnavon, Wales, one of the great min- ing centers of the world, and began his career as mine helper. In 1869, emigrating to America, he spent the first three years in Camden, Ray county, Missouri, and in 1872 located in Callaway county, which has been his home for forty years. He soon located on the farm near Fulton where the present mines are, where he had eighteen acres under- laid with the coal strata, and he developed it and was a producer for some thirty years. He then bought a feed business in Fulton, and after conducting it five years sold out, and has since been largely retired, own- ing several houses from which he derives a comfortable income.

Mr. John Harris married in England Miss Mary Castle, of Chep- stow, Monmouthshire. They had a family of nine children, namely : Ada is the wife of James M. Miller, of Bonne Terre, Missouri ; Mary died at the age of twenty; Anna is the wife of William Stebbins, of Scranton, Kansas; Fred is the mine boss of the Harris-Trigg Company; Rhoda is at home; Agnes is the wife of Thomas J. Trigg; Bert is a house mover and carpenter ; Walter C. is also connected with the coal company ; Grace is a clerk and bookkeeper.

The beginning of the present fire-clay works at Fulton, one of the first large industries of Callaway county, was founded and the first large deposit of fire-clay was found by Mr. John Harris, who first located the clay deposits in this vicinity. The stratum of this class of clay, fifteen feet in depth, lies just below the coal veins. Mr. Harris has mined great quantities of the material, and it has been shipped for years by the carload to Chicago and St. Louis and millions of tons have been used in the home industry.

EDWARD HENRY WINTER was born on a farm near New Truxton, Warren county, Missouri, April 5, 1879. His parents, Frederick A. Winter and wife, nee Richterberg, were both born in Germany, where their childhood days were spent. In their youth they came to America

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to make their home and at once settled in Warren county. After their marriage, they established their home on a farm near New Truxton, which has continued to be the family home for over half a century. As the parents of a large family, they often suffered the pangs of poverty, and shared to the fullest extent the hardships of pioneer days.

Under such conditions Edward Henry Winter grew to young man- hood, and learned early in life the value of a dollar and the meaning of a full day's work. Early in life, too, he learned many important and impressive lessons at the hands of a kind mother and a devoted father, which guided him rightly in later years. Owing to the straitened cir- cumstances of his family, he spent his boyhood days at hard labor in aiding to provide food and raiment for the family. The rudiments of an education were given him in the little school house on the hill, where the facilities for teaching were indeed limited. However, by burning midnight oil and by incessant work, he was enabled to finish the public school at the head of his class at the age of eighteen years.

In the same month that he attained his twentieth birthday, on the 27th day of May, 1896, the family home was destroyed by a cyclone. In the reconstruction of the home he received injuries, which, it was be- lieved, would leave him a cripple for life. It was then that his parents decided to give him a more liberal education, and in the fall of 1900 he enrolled as a student in Central Wesleyan College of Warrenton, Missouri, and completed the preparatory course in one year. In the next three years he completed a full four years' course and was gradu- ated with honors in June, 1904. He then spent a year in the United States customs service, after which he was chosen business manager and editor of the Banner at Warrenton. By industry and continued hard work the paper was gradually built up, and it is now one of the leading country weeklies in northeast Missouri. Mr. Winter is now sole owner of the well equipped plant, which does a large printing business in addition to publishing the paper.

Mr. Winter was married on October 18, 1905, to Miss Dena M. Koelling, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Koelling, of Truxton, Missouri. Two children have been born to them,-Lyman Lawrence and Dorothy Marie. Mr. and Mrs. Winter are members of the German Methodist church, in which they take an active interest. Politically Mr. Winter is a Republican and has been favored with positions of honor and trust at the hands of his party.

TYRE P. HARRISON. The family of which the subject of this review is an honored and popular representative is one that has been prominent in the history of northeastern Missouri since the early pioneer days, and supplementing the data appearing in the sketch here presented further details concerning the family record may be found on other pages of this work, in the record headed by the name of Crockett Harrison. To the article mentioned reference may readily be made for information concerning the ancestral history of him whose name initiates this para- graph. Mr. Harrison has the distinction of being one of the vigorous and progressive farmers and stock growers of Callaway county, and fur- ther interest attaches to his career by reason of the fact that he was born on the fine farmstead which is his present place of abode and which is one of the model places of Callaway county, the same being eligibly situated one-half mile east of the village of McCredie.

Tyre Potts Harrison was born on his present farm on the 19th of November, 1869, and is a son of William and Harriet J. (Jameson) Harrison, the former of whom was born in Callaway county on the 28th of May, 1823, and the latter of whom was born in the same county.

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The father passed to the life eternal on the 13th of October, 1887, and the mother's death occurred in July, 1895; she was born in the old Jameson homestead, three miles east of Fulton, the judicial center of Callaway county, and elsewhere in this publication is entered a memoir to her father, the late Samuel Jameson, one of the sterling pioneers of this section of the state.

William Harrison was born on the old family homestead, southeast of the village of Auxvasse, and was a son of Thomas and Sally (Potts) Harrison. Thomas died of cholera, at St. Charles, Missouri, while on his return from a trip to St. Louis, his remains being interred in the ceme- tery at St. Charles, where a monument has been erected to his memory. At the age of sixteen years William Harrison went to the lead mines at Galena, Illinois, and his financial resources were represented in the sum of $5.00, given to him by his widowed and devoted mother, to whom he returned the amount at once, saying he did not want the funds, as she was in most moderate circumstances. He made the trip on foot, and barefoot at that, and he was absent from home for some time, thus be- coming dependent upon his own resources when a mere lad. At the age of twenty-eight years he married and settled on the farm now owned and operated by his son, Tyre P., of this review. The original place comprised one hundred and sixty acres, and by energy and good management he achieved success which enabled him to increase his landed estate to an area of seven hundred and twelve acres, all in one body. Of this fine estate he continued to be the owner until the time of his death, and for many years he devoted special attention to dealing in mules, an enterprise which he conducted on a somewhat extensive scale. After his return from the lead mines he was for a time engaged in the butchering business, with headquarters at Columbia, Boone county, and his sales were made from a wagon, with which he covered the country districts, and in the early days drove his mules through to St. Louis, from which point they were shipped by boat down the Mississippi river to Louisiana. In the initial stages of his enterprise along this line he drove his mules through the entire distance, and would remain in the south until he had disposed of all of his stock. He became one of the leading buyers and shippers of mules and was associated with other prominent dealers in this profitable branch of industrial enter- prise. He retired from active business about four years prior to his de- mise, and he died, of Bright's disease, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he had gone for treatment. He was a man whose entire life was characterized by the highest principles of integrity and honor and he held the unqualified esteem of all who knew him. He served as president of the board of directors of the State Hospital for the Insane, at Fulton, and was a director of the old Callaway County Savings Bank from the time of its organization until his death.

As a citizen William Harrison was broad minded, liberal and public spirited, and he was ever ready to give his support to measures and enterprises projected for the general good of his home county and state. He was an active and effective exponent of the cause of the Democratic party, and was twice elected representative of Callaway county in the state legislature, where he did specially effective service in furthering wise legislation, particularly in connection with the sup- port of the state institutions. He was not identified with any religious organization, but his wife was an earnest adherent of the Christian church, the remains of both being interred in the old Auxvasse cemetery and his funeral services having been conducted by Rev. John F. Cowan, who was pastor of the Auxvasse Presbyterian church for half a century. Though he received but meager educational advantages in his youth,

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Mr. Harrison profited much from self-discipline and through the lessons gained under the direction of that wisest of all head-masters, experience. He was well fortified in his opinions concerning matters of public im- port, and was influential in those things which touch the general welfare of the community. He was genial and kindly, tolerant in judgment, and greatly enjoyed the company of his many friends, his attractive resi- dence, which was erected by him in 1874 and which is one of the best farm homes in the county, having ever been known for its cordial hos- pitality and good cheer.

Of the children of William and Harriet Jaily (Jameson) Harrison four attained to years of maturity: Samuel Thomas, who held pres- tige as one of the representative members of the bar of Callaway county, was engaged in the practice of his profession at Duluth, Minnesota, at the time of his death, in July, 1911, at the age of fifty-eight years. He attended Westminster College, at Fulton, and was later graduated in the law department of the University of Missouri. He served eight years as prosecuting attorney of Callaway county, and in 1888 he re- moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where he gained distinctive precedence in his profession and where he passed the residue of his life. Virginia Stone Harrison became the wife of Dr. Martin Yates and died, at Ful- ton, in 1888. William, who was born May 29, 1866, was graduated in Westminster College and in the law department of the historic old Uni- versity of Virginia, at Charlottesville. He became associated in the practice of his profession with his brother, Samuel T., at Duluth, Minne- sota, and is still one of the representative members of the bar of that city, where he is now associated in practice with William Harrison, a son of his brother and former partner. Tyre P., of this review, is the youngest of the children who attained to adult age.

Tyre Potts Harrison was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he con- tinued his studies for two and one-half years in Westminster College. At the age of twenty years he initiated independent enterprise as a farmer and stock grower, on the old Harris homestead, six miles north of Fulton. In 1890 he returned to the old homestead and purchased the interests of the other heirs, whereupon he instituted his farming enterprise with characteristic vigor and ability. The best evidence of his splendid success is that afforded in the fact that he has added to his landed estate until it now comprises eleven hundred and fifty acres, all in one body. This is one of the largest and best improved farms in Callaway county, and is devoted to diversified agriculture and stock- growing. Mr. Harrison gives special attention to the feeding of cattle and mules, and he places on the market from one hundred to two hun- dred and fifty head of cattle each year, besides shipping from two to four carloads of mules. St. Louis is his principal market, and he buys and feeds an average of about one hundred mules each year. In supply- ing the requisite fodder he devotes about two hundred acres of land to corn, and he carries forward his enterprise with marked aggressiveness and discrimination, so that he is now numbered among the substantial stockmen of his native county. Fairness and integrity have character- ized his course at all times, and thus he has secure vantage ground in the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has come in contact in the varied relations of life. He is a representative of the most progres- sive element in the citizenship of northeastern Missouri, and his success has been worthily won. Mr. Harrison is vice-president of the First National Bank of Fulton, and was president of the bank at Auxvasse at the time of its consolidation with the First National Bank of Fulton. He is interested in other farming lands in Callaway county, including

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a well improved farm one mile east of Auxvasse, in partnership with his nephew, John Yates, and another on Nine Mile prairie. In 1902 he engaged in the real estate business in connection with his other important enterprises, and he has handled a large amount of valuable land in his native county.

In politics Mr. Harrison is a Democrat, but he is essentially a busi- ness man and has had no desire for the turbulence of practical politics or for official preferment of any description. He is a member of the Presbyterian church at Auxvasse, as was also his wife.

On the 24th of May, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Harri- son to Miss Sarah V. Grant, daughter of Samuel Grant, a well known citizen of Callaway county. She was summoned to the life eternal on the 11th of April of the following year, leaving a son christened Tyre Potts Harrison, Jr., who was born April 7th and who died two weeks later. Mr. Harrison has not contracted a second marriage, and his aunt, Mrs. Minerva Boyd, widow of Joseph Boyd, presides over the social and domestic affairs of his beautiful home.

CROCKETT HARRISON. Progress is man's distinctive mark and achieve- ment the ultimate goal of his ambition. He who conserves develop- ment and progress has justified his being, and it matters not whether his sphere of endeavor has been one of exalted order or one that has been limited but avaliable for productive effort. The Harrison family of northeastern Missouri hes been one prominently concerned with the development and upbuilding of this now opulent section of the state, and well it is, from a purely historical standpoint, that this publication is able to give specific recognition to a number of those who have dignified and honored the family name and played well their part on the stage of life's activities.

Crockett Harrison, the able and popular cashier of the First Na- tional Bank of Fulton, the judicial center of Callaway county, was born on a farm near Benton City, Audrain county, Missouri, on the 28th of March, 1869, and is a son of James M. and Jane (Sayers) Harrison. James M. Harrison was born in Callaway county, on the 1st of Decem- ber, 1827, and was a son of Major John and Mary (Crockett) Harrison. Major Harrison was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, about the year 1790, and he served with distinction as an officer in the War of 1812. In Virginia was solemnized his marriage to Mary Crockett, like- wise born and reared in .Montgomery county, both families having early been founded in that section of the historic Old Dominion State. About the year 1818 Major Harrison, accompanied by his wife and their two children, made the long overland trip, with team and wagon, to Mis- souri, and they first settled at old Boone's Fort, where the sons of Daniel Boone were living at the time. Three years later Major Harri- son established his home in the vicinity of Columbia, Boone county, where he remained until the spring of 1827. He then obtained a tract of land four miles east of the present village of Anxvasse, Callaway county, and the creek which traversed the land is still known as the Harrison branch. In the meanwhile his father, Thomas Harrison, had settled in the same locality, which was then on the extreme frontier, and had built a somewhat pretentious building, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period, this structure having been conducted by Thomas Harrison as an inn or tavern until his death, which occurred in 1836. James and Thomas Harrison, brothers of the major, likewise came to Missouri about the same time. James, who had married a niece of Mrs. Mary (Crockett) Harrison, wife of the major, settled in Audrain county, just across the line from Callaway county, and he reared a large family of children. He was a man of prominence and influence in the pioneer community and was commonly known as Judge

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Harrison, as he served as one of the early magistrates of Audrain county. His home was near Locust Grove, one of the first postoffices established in that county. Thomas Harrison, the other brother, settled on Harrison branch, in Callaway county, and there developed a pro- ductive farm. He died in 1836 and left a large family of children, the maiden name of his wife having been Sally Potts. Concerning them more specific mention is made in the sketch of the career of their grand- son, Tyre Potts Harrison, on other pages of this work. .

Maj. John Harrison became one of the representative citizens of Callaway county, where he reclaimed a farm from the wilderness, and he died on his old homestead, four miles east of Auxvasse, in the early '70s, at the age of eighty-two years, his wife passing to the life eternal about the same time. He received his military title through his service in the state militia in the early days, and two of his sons, Thomas and Crockett, were valiant soldiers in the Mexican war. Major Harrison was a man of energy and progressive ideas, and it may be noted in this connection that he laid out the first road from Callaway county to Hannibal. He plowed a furrow the entire distance, working all day and camping at night, and in this laudable enterprise he was assisted by other ambitious settlers. Like the average pioneer of this section, he was a "mighty Nimrod," and through his prowess with the rifle and shotgun he did much to supply the family larder. He joined the Chris- tian church under the preaching of Alexander Campbell, the founder of this denomination, and he and his wife were zealous workers in the same. They became the parents of seven children: Thomas, who, as already noted, served in the Mexican war, was associated with a man named Van Bibber in a contract to bring back from Mexico the horses of his and other regiments, and in doing this they traversed a section in which they were almost constantly menaced by warlike Indians and border desperadoes. Thomas died in Callaway county in 1901, at the age of more than four score years; Rebecca never married and her death occurred about the year 1870; Crockett, who likewise served in the Mexican war, as well as the first Sioux war, died in 1871, a bachelor ; Benjamin F., who had been a prominent stock grower and dealer in Callaway county, finally engaged in the livestock commission business in Chicago, where he died in the late '90s; Samuel, who became one of the prosperous farmers and stockgrowers of Callaway county, was eighty years of age at the time of his death; Virginia, who died in 1889, was the wife of William H. French, of Callaway county, and her husband, who died in 1912, was the last of the Mexican soldiers from this section who served in Doniphen's regiment; and James M. was the father of him whose name initiates this review. Three of the brothers in the above family were numbered among the California argo- nauts of 1850. They first made the attempt to go to the New Eldorado by steamboat, but the boilers of the vessel exploded and they there- after made their way across the plains to their destination, being meas- urably successful in their quest for gold.

James M. Harrison, about the year 1856, settled on the fine prairie near Benton City, Audrain county, and there he developed a splendid landed estate of four hundred acres. He was energetic and possessed of good judgment, so that his success was of unequivocal order, the while he so ordered his course as to merit and receive the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He was a Democrat in politics, but never manifested any predilection for public office, and both he and his wife (Mrs. Jane Sayers of Callaway county) were zealous members of the Presbyterian church. He died at the home of his son, A. S. J. Harrison, in Mexico, Audrain county, on the 2d of February, 1904, at the age of

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seventy-six years, his devoted wife having been summoned to eternal rest in June, 1889, at the age of fifty-six years. Concerning their chil- dren the following brief record is entered: Ella is the wife of Robert H. Brown, of Audrain county ; Lute M. died when a young woman, un- married; Ped D. resides in Mexico, Missouri; Helen S. is the wife of James O. Trinsley, of Mexico, Audrain county; Albert S. J. resides upon the old homestead farm; Crockett is the immediate subject of this review; Dr. J. Frank is one of the representative physicians and sur- geons of Audrain county and is engaged in the practice of his profes- sion at Mexico; and James is engaged in the livestock commission busi- ness in the city of St. Louis.

Crockett Harrison was reared to adult age on the home farm and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools. After leaving school he continued to devote his attention to agricultural pursuits for five years, after which he was engaged for ten years in sell- ing merchandise, at various places in this section of the state. On the 1st of April, 1909, he assumed a position as assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Fulton, and on the 1st of January, 1911, he was elected to his present important office, that of cashier of this strong and popular institution, of whose directorate he is a member. He has shown marked discrimination in directing the executive affairs of the bank and is one of the progressive and popular business men of the thriving judicial cen- ter of Callaway county, where his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. His political allegiance is given to the Demo- cratic party ; he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the degree of Master Mason, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church in their home city.

On the 6th of March, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Har- rison to Miss Olive Allen, daughter of John Allen, a representative citizen of Mexico, Audrain county, and they have two children,-Crock- ett A. and J. Frank.

SAMUEL JAMESON. It was given to the honored pioneer to whom this memoir is dedicated to create and perfect the instrumentalities through which he achieved large and worthy success as a member of the world's noble army of productive workers, and he was long numbered among the progressive and representative farmers and stock growers of Callaway county, where his memory is held in lasting honor by all who were familiar with his sterling character and earnest devotion to the nor- mal activities of industrial and business life. He stood "four square to every wind that blows," and it is most consistent that in this publica- tion be incorporated a brief review of his career.

Samuel Jameson was born in Montgomery county, Kentucky, in the year 1797, and his death occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Boyd, east of the village of Auxvasse, Callaway county, Mis- souri, on the 3d of April, 1875. He was reared in his native state and was about nineteen years of age at the time of his immigration to Missouri. Here he first settled in Boone county, and when about thirty years old he wedded Miss Malinda Harris, a daughter of Tyre Harris, another of the prominent and honored pioneers of northeast Missouri. Further data concerning the Harris family are given in the sketches of the lives of Tom and James Harris, sons of Tyre Harris, on other pages of this work. Soon after his marriage Mr. Jameson came to Callaway county and located on a tract of land three miles east of Fulton, the judicial center of the county, the place being at the present time the home of Robert Rogers. On that farm Mr. Jameson continued to reside for thirty-five years, within which time he developed the place into one

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 39

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 912

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912