1857 George Cohen Harrison born near Savannah, Georgia, died in Fort Worth, Texas

George Cohen Harrison BIRTH NOVEMBER 5, 1857 • Chatham County, Georgia; DEATH JULY 12, 1953 • Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas.

George Cohen Harrison was married to:
Mary Pleasant Chandler 1867–1943; BIRTH MAY 28, 1867 • Washington County, Texas; DEATH AUGUST 30, 1943 • Moore, Frio, Texas, USA

(Click photos to enlarge)

Ancestry.com’s page for George Cohen Harrison:  https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/69705632/person/34199704285/facts

FamilySearch’s tree is here:  https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/97R5-579

PARENTS:

Harris Kollock Harrison b. Jan 13, 1827, married to Sarah Elinor Elkins b. May 7, 1829.

CHILDREN: 

1) Margaret Elizabeth Harrison 1890–1979

2) Ada H Harrison 1893–1976

3) Mary Chandler Harrison 1901–1993

4) George Kollock Harrison 1903–1986

SIBLINGS:

1) Emogene Georgia Harrison 1850–1850 (died as an infant)

2) Paul Harrison 1851–1851 (died as an infant)

3) William Kollock Harrison 1853–1919 m. Martha Lines 1868-1949

4) Thomas Jenckes Harrison 1855–1954 m. Mollie Hill 1863-1904

5) Linton Hines Harrison 1856–1931 m. Mamie Campbell 1864-1933

6) George Cohen Harrison 1857–1953 m. Mary Pleasant Chandler 1867-1943

7) Catherine “Katy” Harrison 1859–1864 (died as a young child)

8) Maggie A. Harrison 1860–1936 m. George William Saunders 1858-1881

9) Harriet M. Harrison 1862–1878 (died age 16)

10) Frances Pauline “Fannie” Harrison 1863–1947 m. Peter W. Cawthon 1857-1915

11) Sarah Gertrude Harrison 1868–1950 m. Lee Saunders 1863-1898

STEPMOTHER: 2nd wife of Harris Kollock Harrison – Ellen E DeBerry 1842–1899  their children:

12) Faith Harrison 1872–1953 m. Robert C. Ledford 1859-1933

13) Hope Harrison 1872–1957 m. 1st Thomas E. Hawkins who died bf 1900, and 2d Wm Wallace Turner

(Note: The memoir below indicates they had 15 children in all.  There were probably 2 others not named that died as children I would assume based on the memoir).

AUNTS and UNCLES through Father Harris Kollock Harrison’s side:

1) Rebecca Catherine Harrison 1808–1861 m. Jesse Peoples 1813-1856
2) George Paul Harrison, Sr. 1813–1888 m. Thursa Adelaide Guinn 1821-1902
3) Mary Franklin Harrison 1817–1907 m. William M. Forrester 1822-1908
4) Harriet Louisa Harrison 1821– m. William Bullard
5) Susan Elizabeth Harrison 1824–1862 m. Joseph Henry Hines 1820-1871

AUNTS and UNCLES through Mother Sarah Elinor Elkins’ side:

1) Samuel Elkins 1813–1855 m. Harriet Patterson
2) Mozelle Martha Elkins 1814–1901 m. Robert Bourquoin 1806-1845
3) Pharos Neopolian Elkins 1815–1846 (she does not appear to have married)
4) Julia Elkins 1816–1877 m. Ebenezer Jenckes 1810-1860
5) Wiley Elkins 1818–1824 (died at age 6)
6) Lydian Ann Elkins 1821–1894 m. Willard Mason Allen 1819-1857
7) Thomas P. Elkins III 1822–1886 m. Lavinia Blackman
8) Caroline Elkins 1831–1877 m. James G. Watts 1826-1880
9) Salina Valeria Elkins 1833–1891 m. Morgan Rawls
10) Charles C. Elkins 1835–1863 m. Anne Carle
11) Leander Lafayette Elkins 1837–1904 m. Elenora P. Carle
12) Augustus R. Elkins 1839–1842 (died at age 3)

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MEMOIR:

George Cohen Harrison died in 1953. He wrote the following Memoir’s Second Edition at 94 years of age. He passed away July 12, 1953 before it could be finished.

J.B. Blackwell, a nephew by marriage, put the 2nd edition together for George Cohen Harrison, and wrote a short Introduction at the beginning. The following is the text of both the Introduction by J.B. Blackwell, and the Memoirs of George Cohen Harrison which follows the Introduction:

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION
by J.B. Blackwell

While arrangements were being made to publish the second edition of this inspiring little booklet, its author took his leave of this world. He passed to his reward Sunday, July the 12th, 1953, at the home of his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. V.C. McNamee, Fort Worth, Texas. He had reached the mellow, ripe age of 95 years and eight months. His passing was easy and peaceful, like a child going to sleep. It seems fitting that this grand old Christian gentlemen should have taken his departure for his heavenly home on The Lord’s Day. So was the going from us of a great man, one of the Earths’ choicest. The funeral service was at the Baptist Church, Moore, Texas, which church he helped organize about sixty years ago, and where his membership had remained. Rev. W.J. Darnell is the pastor. The body was laid to rest beside that of his dearly beloved wife, who had preceeded him in death by about ten years.

Uncle Cohen, as he was affectionately called by most of his many friends, was an exceptionally good man; generous, kind, tenderhearted as a child. He is survived by an elder brother, Mr. T. J. Harrison, who is my wife’s father. He had this to say, “Cohen was always a good boy. I don’t believe he ever took the Lord’s name in vain in all his life.”

To me, the predominant quality of his long and richly fruitful life was his sublime faith in a merciful, living God. Who through Jesus Christ he trusted as his Guide, Helper and Saviour in this life and the life to come. He veritably walked and talked, lived and prayed as if conscious of, and in the light of His Presence. He believed the church to be God’s medium for propagating the saving gospel of Christ, and for the edification and comfort of Christians. No wonder one of the tenets of his life was to attend services at his church regularly – never missing a service unless providentially hindered. I think a conservative estimate of the number of church services he attended during his length of years would be about ten thousand – every one of them a joy to his heart, no doubt. There is a picture imprinted indelibly on my memory of a hack, which was our name for a two seated buggy; Uncle Cohen and Aunt Mary occupying the front seat, and their four children the back seat. Parents and children neatly dressed in their Sunday clothes. The hack is being drawn by two horses with Uncle Cohen holding the reins. They are on their way to Sunday School, which is a six mile trip over indiffernt roads, from farm to church. The scene is typical for it continued till the children grew up and one by one went away to school or employment. A “Model T” Ford at length supplanted the hack. After the children had all gone away from the farm Uncle Cohen and Aunt Mary kept on going to church services as long as they were physically able.

Toward the last, when Uncle Cohen felt that he was nearing the Great Divide, he was heard to say many times: “The path grows brighter and brighter as I draw nearer the Land of Perfect Day”.

George Cohen Harrison “had finished his course. He had fought a good fight. He had kept the faith.” Who can doubt “There was laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord he trusted, the righteous Judge, would give him at that day, and not to him only; but unto all them also that lvoe His appearing.”

MEMOIRS OF GEORGE COHEN HARRISON

George Cohen Harrison, in his 94th year, undertakes to jot down some of his recollections of his father, Harris Kollock Harrison, born 1827, died in 1874.

His father, William Harrison, sprang from the English Colony founded by Capt. Oglethorpe (?) in 1733 on the Savannah River 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The site of this Colony afterwards became the beautiful city of Savannah, Ga.

I know very little of my Grandfather, except that he married a Miss Keller and was a Missionary Baptist preacher, and in the old family Bible there is given an account of his ordaining a negro into the Baptist Ministry.

Father was born 12 miles north from the city of Savannah, where he lived till the end of the Civil War. He and his brother, Gen. Geo. P. Harrison, seemed to have conducted their business jointly. They were rice farmers on the Savannah River and owned 140 slaves at the close of the Civil War. Under the law of the Southern Confederacy, on owning a certain number of slaves must remain at home to produce “stuff” for the Army, so while Father went to the front to fight the Yankees, Uncle Paul remained at home to mange the plantation and to produce “stuff” to feed the Confederate Armies. Father fought through the Civil War, was in at least four major battles, came through without a scratch, and why — let a Yankee prisoner give the reason, or rather his version of the matter. After one of the battles this prisoner pointed to Father and said, “That man is immortal.” When asked for an explanation, he said, “When I went into the fight I resolved to kill the Captain of the Company in front of us. I selected him as he wore a white hat. I am a dead shot. I drew a bead, my gun snapped, I would turn my gun away from him and fire. This I repeated several times with the same results. So I repeat, he is immortal. Powder and lead can’t kill him.” He gave the result, but not the cause. We have Father’s version in his own words. Before every battle he had his men to fall to their knees in prayer, after which he believed God would send the spirits of his children who had died in infancy to protect him and he was indeed invulnerable.

Just before the close of the war Father was taken prisoner and held for eight months. By this time Sherman had begun his devastating march through Georgia. As he began to approach Savannah, Mother took her silver and other valuables, with the help of a trusty slave, buried them in the hen house, and, leaving everything, took her seven children to Savannah, where she had a well-to-do Sister who gladly welcomed us. Father was still in prison. He came to us three days before the City fell as a paroled prisoner. He went to the Commanding General, Joseph E. Johnson, and asked him how long he thought the City could hold back Sherman’s thrust. He said, “I will hold the City until Wednesday morning if it takes every man, woman and child to do it.” Somehow Father “rigged up” a wagon and a pair of old mules and put Mother and we children in the wagon, and I think we were the very first to cross the River on the pontoon bridge which had been thrown across the River into South Carolina.

Now what! A wife and seven hungry children in a wagon with no means. Can you imaging a more tragic situation? But the man of God did not despair. Had he not promised to be with us to the end? We drove up the River on the South Carolina side. Father had a friend operating a steamboat on the River, and he picked us up — wagon, mules and all — and carried us some 100 miles, stocked our wagon with food and landed us where we had wealthy relatives behind Sherman’s Army. We reached them by traveling some days slowly with the wagon and the mule. The roads were muddy, so our progress was very slow, and provision the good Caption of the boat had given us was getting very low — down to one sack of meal, in fact. So, for some days we had only mush to eat, and I believe without salt. Mother had never cooked a meal, and would not have known how to prepare food if we had had adequate supplies. Father was a hearty eater and always had lived well, and I heard him say one, “If I could again sit down to a table with a baked turkey at one end and a baked pig at the other, I would be happy.” The next day we stopped near a big white house to make camp, which was made in this way. Father and Uncle Tom, Mother’s brother who was with us, would cut two forked sticks and set them in the ground about seven feet apart and lay a pole from one to the other. Then they would cut pine saplings and place the cut end of these on the pole, which would be about three feet from the ground. This made a snug place to sleep. Father and Uncle Tom were fixing one of these camps when a stately old gentlemen came out from the big white house and demanded to know who we were and what we were up to. Father told him they were Confederate soldiers and that they were preparing to camp there, whereupon he told them Confederates could not camp on his land. For a time it looked like there would be trouble, but the old man changed tone and invited us to his house and pretty soon supper was announced. It turned out to be some kind of a celebration they were having, and at one end of the long table which was ladened with good things there was the baked turkey and at the other end the baked pig. To cut the story short, Father lived over it.

Our first stop was at the home of a wealthy brother-in-law, William Bullard. His barns and grain were burned and his stock killed, but still they seemed to have plenty. They gave us some thrilling accounts of how Sherman treated them. They lived in a large, two-story house and they had a fire burning in the chimney of the upper story. A soldier took the blazing logs out of the fire place and threw them into the middle of the floor to burn the house down on the head of the family of several girls and one boy.

Another thing related to us. In Texas, at that time, silver and gold were quite common as money. No so in the eastern part of the country. Silver was rarely seen as money in circulation. Uncle Bullard had the reputation of being somewhat miserly. He had got hold of $1,000.00 in gold. When Sherman approached, he took the $1,000.00 to a poor widow who lived in a cabin with a dirt floor and, with her permission, he dug a hole in her floor and buried his $1,000.00. Somehow, the Yankees found out he had this gold and took him to a tree and hung him three times, trying to make him tell where this money was. At this moment, my Aunt, a tall, stately woman weighing around 250 pounds, had come through Sherman’s Army and appeared on the scene and rescued him, else she no doubt would have been left a widow, for it is believed by those of us who knew him that he would have given up his life rather than his money.

From there we went on to Washington County, where Father had another brother-in-law who was very wealthy — Joe Hines by name, and whom Sherman had touched very lightly, having only killed some of his stock to feed his army. Up until this time, every Gin or mill we saw had been destroyed by Sherman’s Army.  Uncle Joe Hines was a cripple, hence was exempt from military service. Being a fine businessman, he used the opportunity to become very rich. It seems to me I remember he owned several thousand acres of land and perhaps at least one hundred slaves, a big water mill where lumber was made, and wheat and corn was ground. Why was Joe Hines property not destroyed by the Yankees? Prayer. Uncle Joe was an outstanding Christian for a radius of fifty miles. He fed the widows and orphans and the poor of the land. They came to his mill with empty sacks and went away with them full. And when Sherman was approaching, destroying everything in the way of mills, gins, etc., Uncle Joe got down upon his knees in his mill and prayed that for the sake of the poor and suffering, whom he had been feeding and would continue to feed, so long as he could, and for Jesus’ sake to spare his mill and property. He then went back to his residence, some half-mile from the mill, believing God would answer his prayer, and left his trusty old negro in charge. The man who was the head of this barbarous business of _________, rode up to the door of the mill and said to the old negro in charge, “Old man, we give you this mill,” and rode on, and as I remember nothing of Joe Hines was molested except, as I said, a few stock which were killed for food for the army.

Father and family of wife and seven children were welcome guests of Uncle Joe Hines about one and one-half years, living in the over-seer’s house and engaging in farming until the fall of the year 1866, when he came with his family to Grimes County, Texas, where he had Sister and Brother-In-Law William Forester, a big-hearted noble, Christian gentleman.

Father rented a rice farm four miles east of Navasota.

Up to now Mother had been sad about finances. Father, before the end of the War, was worth at least $50,000.00. When Mother took her children to Savannah at the approach of Sherman’s Army, as mentioned before, she took nothing with her except a quilt and there happened to be a silver spoon along. The quilt, of course, is worn out long ago, the spoon is in the ___________. What about the plantation? Uncle Paul was twelve (?) years Father’s senior, and like a father to him. Uncle Paul, being a staunch believer in the Confederate cause, sold all the land for Confederate money, which you know was worthless at the end of the war. Sherman and the negroes took everything left on the home place, so Father and his family were left penniless, Father and seven children, the oldest thirteen – a boy — and a delicate wife of an aristocratic family who had never cooked a meal — typical of many another family of the South. He faced the problem with the same courage and trust in God that characterized him on the field of battle, as he fought for what he believed was right. He rented a good farm and went to work with his four boys — aged from 7 to 13 — and some hired help. Soon he had crops growing and an independent living for all. Up to this time I have mentioned the religious life of Father, and I record it here that he was the most Godly man that I have known. He didn’t hang his religion in the closet with his Sunday suit on Sunday night, but was active everyday as a Christian. There was no church near this farm we lived on, but there was a log cabin on the adjoining farm which was empty. He put seats in it and held Sunday School and Prayer Services every Sunday.

We moved to Falls County. The place we rented there had two dwellings. The family occupied one and the other was not used. Father took the neighbors and went to the “bottom” and cut down big trees and split them open, bored holes in them and put in legs and seated this extra house where he held Sunday School and Church Services when he could get a Preacher. We lived in another place where there was no house and no people. Father was restless– he must be busy. Five or six miles out on the prairie there was quite a settlement and he got them together and they built a brush arbor. He went some forty miles and got a preacher to hold a meeting under this arbor and it was a glorious revival. Within a few years a church was built where that arbor stood, and is perhaps serving those people today.

This act of Father’s in thus providing for the spiritual well-being of these people ingraciated (?) their love, and they bought a tract of rich prairie land and offered it to him free if he would accept the gift and settle with his family among them, but he could not accept as he had already bought a home in Bell County.

In Bell County we lived near a school in which we had religious services regularly. Father lived only about two years after settling in Bell County. His was the most glorious death that I have ever known. After giving each of his children a parting admonition, a friend and neighbor came by (named Bob Gage) whom father dearly loved. Father said to him, “Brother Gage, around this cottage angels have been hovering tonight, singing the sweet songs of _____________. Among the Voices I recognize the voice of my Mother and my Wife. I not only heard them but I saw them.” It seemed that God sent a chorus of angels to conduct his happy spirit home. His last words as he went away to God were these. “Blessed pure and holy.”

Thus went home the most Godly man I ever knew. David prayed seven times a day. So did Father if we count the little prayers he always said before meals. His habit was to read from the Bible and pray with his family and kneel for silent communion with God. This was his daily habit – morning and night – throughout his family life.

Some may ask, “Does such devotion pay?” I answer, it pays the largest dividend — not in corruptable things like silver and gold — but in immaterial values. For instance, all his and Mother’s children were Saved in childhood, as I was, except one, who was Saved in early manhood, and all became devout Christians. All but two have passed on to the Glory World and so far as I have been able to witness, the tomb to them was but a tunnel through which they went to the land that is fairer than day. Some of them left an outstanding record. I must mention one. Most people have to go to Job for a pattern of patience and an unfaltering faith. We don’t have to do that — but turn to the life of our youngest sister — Sarah Harrison Saunders, who was instantly killed by an auto in her 84th year, some 12 months ago, at Trinity, Texas. When she was a few days old, her Mother died, leaving her to the care of indifferent nurses, one of whom gave the little one coffee to drink instead of milk. She survived and became the idol of the home. At six, Father, whose pet she was, died, and the home was broken up. She and three older sisters were taken to Georgia, where she was educated and became the pet and companion of a cousin — Miss Fannie Jenckes (?), who gave her two years training in the Moody Institute in Massachusetts. She came to Grimes County where the rest of the family had settled and where she met and married Lee (?) Saunders, A fine Christian Gentleman of marked business ability. They prospered financially and moved to the little city of Navasota, where they built what was said to be the finest residence in that city. Two children came to bless their home — little Rowena, the girl, and Grady, their son. The noble husband suddenly died, and not long after little Rowena sickened and died, leaving my little sister with only the little boy. He was stricken with typhoid fever, from which he recovered, but which left him with restricted vision. He had a love for horses and when he was about 12 years of age a horse kicked him in the fact, knocking both eyes out. Poor little Sister took him in her lap with his eyeballs lying on his cheeks and was driven to Houston, 90 miles away. Did she rebel? No. With Job she said, “Though he slay me, yet will I serve Him!” And she lived up to it for more than forty years. She was a faithful worker in her church, teaching a Sunday School class for some forty years or longer. If this record is surpassed in the annals of Christianity, I haven’t found it.

Have the days of miracles passed? I think not. When Father died he left his second wife with her twin babies, Faith and Hope, and eight children by his first wife — four boys aged 15 to 21 and four girls aged 6 to 10. To put it mildly, Stepmother was unsympathetic to her stepchildren. One boy had left before Father’s death and two others left following Father’s death, leaving only one boy – myself, fifteen years old, to support stepmother and six girl children from two months to 10 years old. It was a desperate situation. But David had said, “I was young, now I am old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or seen begging bread.” Something happened. A frail woman with a heart of gold appeared upon the scene in the sticks on a mountain where we lived fifty miles from a railroad or bus line. How she got there I have never been able to figure out. This was Mrs. Julia Jencks (?) who dearly loved our Mother, who was her youngest sister. She took in the situation and determined to take the four girls back to her home in Savannah, Georgia and care for them and educate them. That took money. Passenger fare for five people for fifteen hundred miles, which she didn’t have, so she wrote to the head official of the Railroad Company and at once he sent free transportation for her and the children. So Aunt Julia Jencks took the children back to her home in Savannah, Ga. and put them in School and kept them there until they were nearly grown — one died in Georgia — the most beautiful death I have ever known. The other three came to Texas to be with their brothers, who generously cared for them and put them in school until they married worthy men and raised families. Among their children are noble men and women to bless the world before they took their departure, one by one, to live with God and loved ones gone before.

Of Father’s children there remain but four of the fifteen that were borne to him. Faith and Hope, the twins by his second wife — noble, outstanding women they are. And two sons — Jencks (?), now in his 97th year and going strong, and writer in the the latter half of his 94th year.

Mother’s name was Sarah Elkins Harrison. What I have written so far I said little about my dear Mother. I wish now to jot down some of my recollections of her together with some recorded facts.

As best I can learn, Mother sprang, as Father did from the English Colony founded by Captain Oglethorpe in 1733; at the very spot where now we find the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia.

Mother was born May 7, 1829 and died June 10, 1868. She was married to Harris Kollock Harrison in 1848, to this union was born 12 children. Paul and Emogene died in infancy, of the others I will speak in detail further in the writing.

Mother was of a well to do aristocratic family. There was one boy and four girls. One at least, Julia, was famous for her beauty. Mother was a beautiful woman, judged by the pictures we have and as I remember her.

Mother was called upon and led a trenious life. Father was called into the service to fight for the Southern Confederacy, leaving Mother with her seven children and forty slaves and the plantation to manage. But she met the responsibility with sublime sourage and tact. Her husband in prison and Sherman began his brutal march through Georgia and as he drew day by day ever nearer. She took her silverware and other valuables, and with the help of the negro foreman, buried them in the hen house. And leaving everything in the care of slaves, took her children to Savannah where she had a well to do Sister.

A year or two before moving to Savannah, her oldest daughter aged about 5, died and Father nor anyone else was there to weep with her. Soon after getting to her sisters, Father came in having escapeed the Yankee prison: after eight months of suffering. I will never forget the scene as Father and Mother wept because the family circle was broken by the death of little Katy, their oldest daughter.

Father, as Sherman approached Savannah, rigged up a wagon and team and circles Sherman’s Army to Washington Co., and from there to Grimes County, Texas.

After reaching Texas, Mother lived less than two years. She died, June 10, 1868, after giving birth to her twelvth child. She died in the triumph of the Christian faith. She and Father were alone. Father realized the end was approaching and was very much distressed. To comfort him she said “Don’t grieve husband, all is well with my Soul.” Thus Mother went on to the Celestial City to be with her Savior and loved ones.

The married life of Mother was most beautiful. This incident will illustrate their regard for one another: in my hearing Father said on one occasion “Sarah I always have felt that I was not worthy of the love and so fine a woman as your are.: Mother replied “I have always felt the same way about you, that I was not worthy of the love of so fine and good a man as you are.”

I have already spoken of the glorious life of one of Fathers and Mothers children, and it has been suggested to me that I say something about the other which I will do briefly.

Of Mothers children only seven reached manhood and womanhood. William Kollock, the oldest, was born Sept. 17, 1853 and died in 1919. Remarkable for his energy and business capacity and self reliance. When only eighteen years old, he drove a heavy wagon and five yoke of oxen hauling freight from Navasota to Crockett, one hundred miles. Had to cross the Trinity River on flat boat. (I was then an eleven year old boy) To pull to the opposite side there were three wagons.

Brother Kollock came back with us, but he left his heart with one of the old maids, and after a year went back and married her. Then after several years, the old maid sister and his wife died. He married again and died in 1919, leaving his second wife and one son. She has since died, and the son is in possession of the property worth about $100,000.

Brother Kollock was quite religious. The outstanding religious work of his life was building and conducting the best Sunday School in the 150 year old church they had, according to his neighbors.

The next child born to Father and Mother was a son. Thomas Jenckes, born Feb. 2, 1855; and is going more or less strong in his 97th year. Married into one of best families of Grimes County to Miss Mollie Hill. They raised to manhood and womanhood, four boys and two girls. All of them worthy citizens and some outstanding Christians were among them.

Converted in his early teens, I have never heard him express a doubt of his Salvation, neither have I ever heard him us Gods name in a flipant manner. Nor use a word which might not have been spoken in the company of ladies. To his second and third marriages no children were born. He is now a widower, living with is son-in-law and daughter in San Antonio. To me, his youngest brother, he had always been kind and generous.

Linton Hines Harrison was born May 15, 1856. Died about the year 1931. He ws married in the year 1883 to Miss Mamie Campbell, daughter of Hon. W. L. Campbell, of a pioneer family and prominent in the political affairs of his county, a member of the legislature. To them was born six children, three boys and three girls, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood except one boy hwo died in his early teens. All became worthy members of society. Brother Linton was of a happy disposition, and I might say the most devout Christian among the boys in the family. When it was fashionable to shout I have heard him shout in the congregation. Again, as I reached his bedside at Abilene, which proved to be his death bed. Though suffering the most excruciating pain he was rejoicing in his suffering, he said it seemed to bring him in close fellowship with his Lord. He died a most triumphant death.

The next point of age is George Cohen Harrison, born in Georgia, November 5, 1857.

I grew up during the Civil War and the turmoil and strife that followed, so like the rest had little school advantages. Had to make a hand in the field at seven years of age. I have done many different thinks in my life, Railroad clerk, storekeeper for 4 years, Secretary for Grimes County Farmers Alliance, farmer and stockman. Started at scratch and when the depression came was worth $20,000.00. The depression broke me.

I was married June 12, 1888, to Mary Chandler, a woman noted for her beauty and accomplishments. Her father G. L. Chandler, was a graduate of Baylor University and the son of Rev. P. B. Chandler. He was one of a boat load of missionaries sent by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. Her Mother was a sister of Judge John Henderson; of the supreme bench and Tom Henderson an emenent lawyer.

Wife, after blessing my life for fifty-five years, went to her heavenly reward; which is surpassingly great I am sure.

To us were born six children, two boys and four girls. One boy and one girl died in infancy. One boy and three girls reached adult age. Two of the girls became public school teachers, the youngest a music teacher. All of them more or less prominent in Christian service. The boy is a good carpenter.

As to my religious record. We go back ninety years, when my dear Mother would gather her children and those of the slaves in her front lawn and teach them in the way of God. I have been in the work, especially the Sunday School work, whenever possible ever since. This dates about the year 1862, when I was about five years old. Since then have worked 35 years in every department of the Sunday School. In 1878, in my 21st year of age, I was elected superintendent of the Pine Grove Sunday School; located five miles east of Anderson Grimes County. Served in that office almost continually for more than sixty years, in various churches. Also as teacher for about sixty-five years. I wish to say humble candor for my work has been very imperfect. Only by His sustaining grace that it was done at all. And in conclusion can say the heavenly road grown brighter as the shadows lengthen and Christ more real and precious as the days go by.

Maggie A. Harrison was born November 30, 1860 near Savannah Georgia. In her 23rd year she married George Sauners, a noble man of a good family. 4 months after her husbands death, she became a Mother of a son. The son is now a Stewart in the Methodist Church. He has made good in every relation of life. Sister Maggie I have said and repeat without any qualification was the best woman I ever saw. Quiet in disposition, but true in every relation of life. As I hastened to her death bed, as she died in Houston, some twenty years ago; her first words to me as I reached her bedside was this “Jesus is so near” and so she went to be with him and her loved ones.

Hariet M Harrison was born April 15, 1862.

Hassie as we all called her was of a very sweet disposition, and the most beautiful of the four daughters of the family. So pretty was she that Father on his death bed as he gave his parting admonition to each of us, he warned her that her beauty might get her into trouble: In her sixteenth year, as she was blooming into beautiful womanhood, she was stricken and died. Her last words have ever been an inspiration to me. As her faithful pastor knelt by her bed he said “Little Sister I am going to pray, do you want me to pray for you?” She replied “No Brother Corley don’t pray for me, I don’t need your prayers, pray for my Brothers and Sisters I am leaving in this world. I am entering Heaven and don’t need your prayers.” The Pearly Gate had already swung open and she could see the glories of the Celestial City, as her sweet spirit went out to God.

Francis Pauline Harrison was born October 12, 1863.

She grew to beautiful womanhood and in her eighteenth year she was married to Peter W. Cawthon, a man of one of the first families of Grimes Co. A man of education, and pleasing personality and prominent in the political affair of the county far before their removal to Houston, Texas. Sister Fannie, as we called her, bore and reared a large family of boys and girls. All of them became fine men and women. One of the boys was outstanding as a football coach, and is now conducting a boys camp in Virginia, which is far reaching in its exhibits to untold nunber in that area.

Sister Fannie after raising htis large family to noble manhood and womanhood passed to her reward in the triumph of a living faith at Kennedy, Texas in 1949 at the home of her daughter.

The next and youngest Sister Sarah has already been mentioned in this write up.

It now becomes my pleasure to speak of my half-sisters, of Webster, Texas.

Faith Harrison Ledford and Hope Harrison Turner, twins. They were born April 1, 1872, six miles above Marlin, Texas. After Fathers death we all became scattered, some went in one direction and some in another. I have never lived near them since their early childhood. So can only speak of them in a general way. They married early in life, and are now both widows. Hope’s only child, a girl, died before she reached the teen age. Faiths only son still lives and is about fifty years old. Faith is of retiring disposition. Hope is more aggressive. Has been prominent in the Daughters of the Confederacy for years. Was clerk of the house of representatives for several terms. The house passed a resolution making her Mother of the house, whatever that means. The two sisters live together at Webster, Texas. Loved and respected by their neighbors and all who know them.

We children were all brought up in the Methodist faith, under the mighty gospel preaching of Rev. M. T. Martin. I was convinced and joined a Missionary Baptist Church, for which some of the family never forgave me. Some years later, Brother Linton and wife influenced by their eleven year old daughter who led the way joined a Missionary Baptist Church “And a little child shall lead them.”

Amen.”

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(Note: The location below is where Harris Kollock Harrison lived for about a year and a half with his family after fleeing the Savannah, Georgia area as the Civil War was coming to a close, before leaving for Texas)

Joseph Henry Hines moved from Burke County to Washington County in 1857 and located at Whitehall (built around 1830). The four-thousand acre plantation included the mill, known later in years as “Jordan Mill”, but which was designated then as “Hines Mill”.
During the War Between the States, Joseph Henry Hines operated the mill day and night that there might be no suffering among the soldiers and women and children of Washington and adjoining counties. Touched by the appeals of the women and children that the mill might be spared, a gallant Union officer stationed a guard around the building that it might escape the destruction and conflagration which followed Sherman to the sea. The original mill (It was beautiful) burned in the 1920’s. It is believed to have been set by an arsonist who was poaching the land.
Joseph Henry Hines was an early member of the Georgia legislature, a shipper and a planter. He was grandson of Howell Hines of Effington County, a colonel in the war of the Revolution. His first wife was Susan Elizabeth Harrison, whose father William S. Harrison owned the famous Monteith Plantation on the Savannah River in Chatham County. Her great- great grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, signed the Declaration of Independence for Virginia.

(Note:  I’ve seen this claim before – regarding descending from Benjamin Harrison, but I have never actually seen who William S. Harrison’s parents are – it may be true, but I am placing this disclaimer here because I have not been able to confirm it).

Susan Fowler Hines Jordan inherited Whitehall and the mill which became Jordan’s Mill some years after their wedding in 1873. She was an excellent business woman who ran the plantation and Mill. She entailed in her will that only her grandchildren would be able to sell any part of the inheritance. Susan’s husband who ran the mill and farmed until her death in 1955. After that it was rented to Paul Lord’s father.
(Youtube aerial video of Jordan Mill – which was Joseph Henry Hines’ plantation during the Civil War – the mill was then known as “Hines Mill”): https://youtu.be/IRqmFhuy5_s