George Washington
Harrison was born in Camden County, Georgia on 20 September 1807.1 He
grew up on a farm in Wilkinson County, Georgia, the third son of Moses and
Abigail Harrison. In 1825 George appears on a “list of accounts” with the
Beall and Patterson Trading Post.2 #
He would have been around 18 years of age.
Around 1830 George married
Miss Joicy Cannon, daughter of Nathaniel and Frances Sumner Cannon of Wilkinson
County, Georgia. On the 19th of May 1831 they had a daughter, Elizabeth
Jane and when Elizabeth is less than a year and a half her mother Joicy dies on
the 24th of September 1832. 3
Her death is noted in the October 1832 Minutes of The Big Sandy Baptist Church,
Wilkinson County, Ga. 4
In 1833 George appears on a
list for the Grand Jury, Wilkinson Co. Superior Court, April term.5
This is important because it shows us that he is still living in Wilkinson
County at this time.
In Milledgeville on the 17
August 1834, George Harrison married Frances Simpson West of Baldwin County,
Georgia. 6 She is the
daughter of Joseph and Sarah Stanley West of Baldwin County. 7
Frances was born in Lenoir County, North Carolina on 7 February 1807. We
find Frances listed as a new member of the Big Sandy Baptist Church on June 13th
1835, “Came forward sister Frances Harrison and joined this church by letter.”
In August of 1835, Frances and George became parents to Georgia Ann Harrison on
the 15th. She grew up and married Alexander Wallace Starke, lawyer,
publisher, and legislator in Alabama.
Within the next year, George
moves his family to Randolph County, Georgia. This area of the state “was
part of the growing trend of areas that were being settled and cultivated after
the Land Lotteries. The 1830’s were turbulent years as the Indians fought
to maintain their independence. Stewart, Randolph, and Baker Counties all
saw fierce fighting as the Creeks made a last stand to regain control of
their lands.” By 1837 the Indians had been contained but an economic
depression swept through the state of Georgia at this time. Poverty was
widespread and malaria was of epidemic portions. “Governors during these
turbulent years that saw the migration of the Creek and Cherokee Indians to the
West were George R. Gilmer, Wilson Lumpkin, and William Schley. State
Representatives from Randolph County were Richard J. Snelling, Brockman W.
Henderson, Lewis Rivers, Littleberry Camp, George T. Wood, Allen Moye, George W.
Harrison, and Seaborn A. Smith.” 8
George and Frances
became parents of Georgia Ann Harrison, born 15 August 1835 in Randolph County,
Georgia. She grew up to marry Alexander Wallace Starke on 23 December 1857
in Milledgeville, Baldwin Co., Ga. They moved to Alabama.
The earliest mention of
George W. Harrison in Randolph County is found in land records. On
November 24, 1836 he purchased 115 acres of land, described as Lot 202 in 8th
District, near Georgetown, and before this purchase he had purchased in October
of 1836 7/8th of a parcel of land described as parcel No. 138 in the 8th
District, near Georgetown.0
In the year 1837 George is
found listed as a Justice of the Court of the Ordinary in Randolph County 11
and he was listed as a Justice of the Peace in Randolph County for the years
beginning in 1837 through 1841.10 In the
years of 1838 and 1839 he is listed as a State Representative from Randolph
County, Georgia,12 and a Justice of the
Inferior Court of Randolph County, Ga.
On April 21, 1840, John
Thomas Harrison is born to George and Frances Harrison. It is believed
that he is named for his uncle, John T. Harrison, brother of George W. Harrison.
John is their only son to be enlisted in the regular army of the Confederate
States during the War Between the States.
In 1842, Zadok Daniel Harrison is
born on November 26th to George and Frances Harrison. It is believed that
he is named after Frances’ sister Nancy’s husband Zadock Daniel of Alabama.
Their son, Zadok grows up to be the Clerk of the Superior Court of Georgia for
66 years in Atlanta, Georgia and his residence is “Fernbank”.
The following year, 1843,
George W. Harrison becomes a state Senator from Randolph County.13
On 26 September 1844, James
Polk Harrison is born to Frances and George Harrison. He becomes the son
to bring the family into the printing and publishing business.
In 1846, George is listed
from the 8th District for Road Commissioner with others.14
In the year 1847, George and
Frances become parents of Elnora Virginia Harrison, known as “Nora”, on the 1st
of June. Nora grew up and married E. Y. Clarke who at one time was the
Editor of the Atlanta Constitution and highly respected citizen of the city of
Atlanta and the State of Georgia.
In 1848, George W. Harrison
was appointed by the Inferior Court to furnish “list of children between ages of
8-16 that need assistance in obtaining their education and to see they get their
share of the education fund for the poor”, he was from the 8th District.15
On the 31st of March 1849,
George Washington Harrison, Jr. was born to George and Frances. He was
their youngest son and became quite prominent in the publishing circles of
Atlanta and the Southeast. That same year George’s oldest daughter,
Elizabeth Jane Harrison married James S. West, nephew of Frances.16
In 1849 in a Joint Session
of the House of Representatives and Senate of the State of Georgia: “on motion,
the Clerk was directed to inform the Senate that the House of Representatives
are now ready to receive them in the Representative Hall to proceed to the
unfinished business of the Joint session, which duty being performed, the
President and members of the Senate attended and proceeded to the election of
Secretary of State, for the term of 2 years after the expiration of the term of
the present incumbent, and the ballots being received and examined, it appeared
that George W. Harrison of the county of Randolph was duly elected.”
George was elected for the term 1849 to 1851.17
In the year 1850 George
moves his family from Randolph County to the then capital of Georgia,
Milledgeville in Baldwin County. They purchased a house across the street
from the capital building.18
In 1852 we find George W.
Harrison as a delegate from Baldwin County to the Democratic Convention in the
state of Georgia.19
On the 15th of May 1854 George W.
Harrison died. The newspaper “The Southern Recorder”, dated Tuesday, May
16, 1854, lists under Obituary: Died, in this city yesterday morning,
after a lingering illness, George W. Harrison, Esq., former Secretary of State.
“The Union Recorder” for Tuesday, May 23, 1854 lists: “Died. In this city
on Monday, the 15th instant, George W. Harrison, formerly Secretary of State, in
his 47th year leaving behind him a fond wife, seven children and numerous
friends to mourn his loss.”
After the death of her husband, Frances
Simpson West Harrison, turned her home in Milledgeville, across the street from
the Capital building into a boarding house.20
# She went on to raise and educate her children to become fine citizens of the
State of Georgia. Frances died in 1901 in Atlanta, Georgia and is buried
in Milledgeville with her husband and son, John T. Harrison.21
_________________________
1. All birth dates for this family
are verified in the Bible records of the George W. Harrison Family Bible in the
possession of Carol W. Harrison, copy provided to LHC in 1999.
2. “Wilkinson County Georgia,
Historical Collections”, Revised & Reprinted 1978 by Maddox, p. 22, (Georgia
Department of Archives & History).
3. George Washington Harrison Family
Bible.
4. Big Sandy Baptist Church Minutes
provided by Gerald Lee & Judy Ann Pierce of Dublin, Ga. to James C. Smith, copy
provided to LHC.
5. Genealogical Abstracts from The
Georgia Journal (Milledgeville) Newspaper 1809-1840, Vol. 4, 1829-1835 by Fred
R. and Emilie K. Hartz. (Washington Memorial Library, Macon, Ga.)
6. Copy of Marriage License from
Probate Court in Milledgeville, Georgia (1999 trip); GWH Family Bible
7. Copy of the Will of Joseph West
from Probate Court in Milledgeville, Georgia (1999 trip)
8. “A Source Book of the Early
History of Cuthbert and Randolph County, Georgia”, by Annette McDonald Suarez,
p. 41 (Thomasville Cultural Library, Thomasville, Ga.)
9. Copy of Land Deeds – Randolph
County, 1836 – provided by James C. Smith, Tenn.
10. “Minutes of the Ordinary Court of
Randolph County, Georgia – November 1836-November 1845”, by George W. Shepard,
Jr. and Jacquelyn Shepard (Washington Memorial Library, Macon, Ga.)
11. “A Source Book on the Early
History of Cuthbert & Randolph County, Ga.” by Annette McDonald Suarez, p 780,
History of Randolph County Georgia Volume II (Thomasville Cultural Library,
Thomasville, Ga.)
12. Copy of “House of Representatives
Journal” (Georgia Dept. of Archives & History)
13. Copy of “Georgia Senate Journal”
(Georgia Dept. of Archives & History)
14. The History of Randolph County
Georgia, Vol. II (Thomasville Cultural Library)
15. The History of Cuthbert &
Randolph County, p. 305, by Annette McDonald Suarez (Thomasville Cultural
Library)
16. Copy of Marriage License from
Randolph County – provided by James C. Smith, Tenn.
17. Copy of “Journal of the House of
Representatives of the State of Georgia at a Biennial Session of the General
Assembly Begun and Held in Milledgeville, the seat of Government in 1840 & 1850”
(Georgia Dept. of Archives & History)
18. Copy of “Deed of Sale”, provided
by James C. Smith, Tenn. The house is still being used in Milledgeville
today as a funeral home (1999).
19. Albany, Georgia, Newspaper
Clippings, Vol. 1, 1845-1852 by Tad Evans (Thomasville Cultural Library,
Thomasville, Ga.)
20. Copy of 1860 Georgia Census,
Baldwin County, Milledgeville District. (Thomasville Cultural Library,
Thomasville, Ga.)
21. Historic Memory Hill Cemetery,
Milledgeville, Ga.
Copyright 2012 Lois
Harrison Colwell