Notes on the Family History of the Harrisons
by Leona Evelyn Rice Crawford

Our first knowledge (really not verified) is that of Isaac and Mary (?) Harrison who lived and died at Wharton, Lancashire, England.  (dates of birth and death not known.)  To that union was born John Harrison who married a Jane Jackson.  They lived and died in Cumberland Co. England.  They had 6 or 7 children.  In the next generation was born several more children to another John Harrison.  It was from this marriage of John Harrison to a Jane Jackson that we can piece some authentic history.  They, too, both lived and died in Cumberland Co. England.  To this union was born 6 or 7 more children, including my great grandfather, John Harrison.  John and his brother Thomas sailed for America in 1852 on the Black Ball lines on the ship Esmeralda.  They were millers by trade and came from a family of millers.  I gather they had awaited jobs as millers in Joliet, Illinois, or Locksport, Illinois.  It is said that they traveled to the United States from Liverpool.  Some say that John and Thomas came at separate times (Thomas 4 years later).  But John writes to his parents: "I left Scotsforthmile with 14 lbs. when I arrived in Locksport, I had 30 shillings left.  It cost me 5 lbs 10 shillings from Liverpool to New York.  The trip to Chicago by rail and steamboat was an added 30 shillings (1700 miles)".  John worked first at mills in Locksport.  He married a Leggott.  She too came from England.  He received about 10 lbs. a month salary.  And joined the St. John's Episcopal Church while there.  He came from a family of Episcopalians.  His wife was Sarah Leggott who was the daughter of Glue Leggott and Mrs. George Moody.  Her first name is unknown.  (Maybe Sarah)

My grandfather was born to this union.  John Glue Harrison.  He was born at Mendata, Illinois, where his father had gone after leaving Locksport.  John Glue Harrison's mother died when he was about 9 years old and an older sister was 14.  I think there were 7 children, the youngest under 3 years.  It is said that "Aunt Ellie" (Elnore Jane) did most of the raising of that family so they lived on my great-grandfather's farm at Mendata.  While he worked in the mills at Locksport, only coming home at intervals although a step grandmother (John Glue's) lived with them too until she died about 10 years later.  In about 1884 or 1885 he, John Glue (grandfather), homesteaded in Frontier Co. Nebraska -- 80 acres plus another 80 acres of tree claim.  He built a sod house.  I gather it was about 3 rooms and a lean to.  And it was a hard struggle.  In 1887 he married Arilla Ruth Weaver, daughter of Jacob and Catherine Carroll Weaver from Williamsport, Pennsylvania area (Blockhouse).  Arilla Ruth was said to be a descendent of the signer of either the Declaration of Independence or another document of that era, but I can find no authenticity for it.  There were Carrolls signing all documents, and she could have been a descendent of one.

Grandma Harrison was just a young girl when she married and in ten months she had her first child and in succeeding years 12 children in all.  Only 9 grew to adulthood and then the oldest, Herbert, died when he was 21 or 22 years of Brights Disease (Kidney disease.)  The others lived several years (8 of them) long enough that I remember them all.

I can remember my mother telling of the hard years in the Nebraska sandhills.  Every year Grandpa would take a team and go the either North Platte or McCook, Nebraska, for winter supplies -- flour, sugar, and maybe a barrel of apples.  Centerpoint and Quick were little trading posts nearby and had a post office (Centerpoint) and school.  Stockville was the county seat. (It is still, the county seat of Frontier Co. and still has about 100 population)  We (Woodrow and I) visited there in former years and secured Grandpa & Grandma's wedding certificate and marriage license.

My mother and Aunt Sadie were born April 11, 1890.  Twins.  And as Grandma "Rillie" was always sick & pregnant they assumed a lot of work at an early age.  They can tell tales of herding cattle and taking hand sewing with them all day.  They can tell how when their Grandpa Weaver died and their mother was expecting another baby, Grandpa went alone to the funeral during a snowstorm.  I think the twins were 8 years old.  It was the month of January, 1899.  Herbert at 10 was in charge of outdoor chores.  She tells how glad she was to see her father come home.

By that time poor crop years had caused the family to "go broke".  So in 1905, I think, the family moved to near Ottawa, Kansas, to a rented farm across from "Uncle Alf", one of Grandpa's brothers.  One child was born after that and it was still born.  That year Grandma Rillie had her first of a series of strokes that were to come the rest of her life and she was to have a breast removed that was thought to be cancerous.  So much has been done to keep women healthy since Grandma's life on that harsh Nebraska Prairie.  She died at my Aunt Almira's home near Warden, Kansas.  An old old woman though she was in ill health so much of her life (age 72, I think.)

Grandpa had worked hard all his life.  He died at age 74 with what would probably now be called emphysyema.  They had moved to Ottawa, Kansas, several years prior to his death and bought a house at 806 N. Locust.  Grandpa worked at Willis nursery on West Wilson St.  It was thought the cold damp air of the nursery caused his lung problems.

In the meantime, my mother married my father and the story of their lives is a story of my younger life too.  My parents first lived South of Pomona, Kansas, and then went to Ness County, Kansas.  When I was 1 1/2 years old they moved to Pawnee County and in later years lived again in Franklin County.  Mama died of a heart attack in 1959 and Daddy 2 years later of Alzhemers disease.

They are both buried in Highland Cemetery on the same lot that Woodrow and I will be buried.  This cemetery on the east side of Ottawa also has many others of our ancestors buried of the family, including my maternal grandparents and Woodrow's maternal grandparents, several sets of aunts and uncles from both sides, several of Woodrow's brothers, sisters, brother-in-laws and hosts of our friends.

No famous people exist in our family history, but lots of good, hard working people who underwent lots of troubles and overcame them.  It is because they lived and endured that I live and as my days on earth grow shorter, I know that I too will be an antecedent of my children and their off-spring.  And they in turn will be the ones to carry on the family traditions and customs.  Each generation in turn.  They will each have their own struggles and problems and each will have their own joys and rewards of living.

1. John Harrison (1829 - 1913) , father of John Glue Harrison, taken on September 12, 1910, at the age of 80.
2. Jacob Weaver, father of Arilla Ruth Weaver who married John Glue Harrison
3. Catherine Carroll Weaver, wife of Jacob Weaver and mother of Arilla Ruth Weaver
4. Arilla Ruth Weaver Harrison (Rillie), wife of John Glue Harrison and mother of Catherine Harrison Rice.
5. John Glue Harrison, mother of Catherine Harrison Rice, taken on September 12, 1910, at the age of 49.
6. Sadie Harrison Jordan and Catherine Harrison Rice, twin sisters.