�����The earliest Harrison that I have any knowledge of in my family is James Harrison, who married Jennie (Jane) Bell. I have been able to find out quite a bit about the Bell family, and this information will appear on a separate page. Jennie was born in 1768, and I am figuring at the moment that James was born about 1765.
�����When I was in Pittsburgh in October, 2000, I found a book in the PA Room at the Carnegie Library entitled Old Home Week Book, McKeesport, July 3-9, 1910 in which there was a chapter on the family of William E(lrod) Harrison. William is one of James Harrison's grandsons, and it said that little was known about the family except that William's grandfather came with his family to Pennsylvania from Kentucky in the latter part of the 1700's. I'm not sure if this means that he came with his parents or whether it means that he came with a wife and small children, but I tend to think that it means he came as a child with his parents. So now I need to look for this family in tax records, etc., as this would have been before the first national census was taken. I do find a James Harrison in the 1790 PA census, but have not established yet that it is the same person.
�����I do have a list of the children of James and Jennie Bell Harrison, which I found on the "Historic Pittsburgh" Internet site:
- William Henry Harrison, who married Elizabeth (Betsey) Grove
- Ann Harrison, who married John Trich
- Walter B. Harrison, who married Margaret Long
- Sarah Harrison, who married a Mr. Richie
- John Harrison, Sr., who married Elizabeth Muse
- James Harrison, who married Ann Lynch
�����My direct line from James Harrison is through William Henry Harrison, who was born in Versailles Township, Allegheny Co., PA, in 1788. To quote from Vol. 3 of The Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania by John W. Jordon, written and published in 1914: "The family of Harrison has been represented in Western Pennsylvania for many years, its original seat being in McKeesport and Port Perry (Versailles Township). The members of the family have ever been noted for upright character, leading lives of usefulness and activity, contributing their share to the growth and upbuilding of the communities in which they are located. William Henry Harrison was a native of Allegheny County, PA. He was one of the pioneers of Port Perry, Allegheny County, PA, where he owned a saw mill on Crooked Run, run by water power, a motive that has almost altogether been supplanted by steam (this having been written in 1914). He married, and among his children was George."
�����
Thank goodness for that last sentence, as I have to date not been able to locate a list of William and Elizabeth Harrison's children. But this tells me that his son George, my gg grandfather, was not his only child! So from that knowledge, with some help from an experienced genealogist (thankfully!), we began scouring Allegheny Co., PA, 1850, 1860 and 1870 census reports that named family members.
We found Elizabeth (Betsey) Harrison living with a James and Evaline West Harrison in the 1850 census - age 58 and deaf; and by 1860 she was living with gr grandpa George and Rachel Bond Harrison - age 67 and deaf (same person). But by 1870 she is not listed.So these finds established three things: George had a brother, James; William Henry must have died some time before 1850; and Elizabeth died some time before the 1870 census was taken.
����But perusal of these census reports also provided interesting possibilities for other relatives of gr-grandpa George Harrison. This, coupled with the discovery of his brother James' obituary in the McKeesport Daily Times on May 13, 1887, which listed those in attendance, saying "A large attendance of friends and relatives were present, and the following gentlemen, all relatives, acted as pall bearers: W. E. Harrison, W. B. Harrison, John Harrison, Samuel Fields, James Wilson and W. H. Lynch," was a big step in our research. So now we had names for whom to search, not knowing if they were brothers, cousins, or in-laws!
�����Our next avenue of research was to begin to look through the records of nearby cemeteries, especially the McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, as many members of the family had lived in that area during the 1800's.
Happily there were printouts by surname available which also listed the burials by Section and plot number. (And more recently, before the October, 2000, trip to Pittsburgh, I purchased a set of microfiche listing all burials there up to 1972.) Thus, we were able to begin to organize our Harrisons into family groups. But the good news was that we were constantly adding names to our list of "Known Harrisons".
�����One of the biggest breakthroughs came with the University of Pittsburgh's opening of their "Historic Pittsburgh" site, which, at this writing, contains 293 books about Western Pennsylvania, in which every word is searchable. So, I began entering family names into the "simple search" mechanism, and began finding out a lot of history about the McKeesport area and about the Harrisons who lived there. So, the family was beginning to take shape! But there is still material to be discovered at this wonderful site, as the University's goal is to have 600 books on-line eventually. With all that I have learned about the family so far, I feel that I surely will find further information as time goes along.
Here is a brief outline of the family for the first three generations:
1 James Harrison, b. about 1765, d. ????
..+Jane (Jennie) Bell, b. 1768, d. ????
...2 William Henry Harrison, b. 1788, d. before 1850
....+Elizabeth (Betsey) Grove, b. abt. 1792, d. after 1860
.....3 James Harrison, b. abt. 1819, d. May 11, 1887
.....3 Ann Harrison (Trich), b. Dec. 15, 1823; d. Jan. 26, 1862
.....3 Maria Harrison (Houghton), b. 1826; d. ????
.....3 Julia Ann Harrison (Baker), b. 1828; d. ????
.....3 George Richey Harrison, b. June 25, 1829; d. September 29, 1905
.....3 Sarah Harrison, b. 1834; d. after 1860
...2 Elizabeth Harrison, b. 1789; d. after 1860
....+George L. Brisbin, Sr., b. ????; d. before 1850
.....3 George L. Brisbin, Jr., b. 1812
.....3 William Brisbin, b. 1814
.....3 Ann Brisbin, b. 1825
.....3 James Brisbin, b. 1829
.....3 Jackson Brisbin, b. 1830
...2 Sarah Harrison, b. 1790; d. ????
....+Unknown Richie
...2 Belle Harrison, b. 1793; d. ????
...2 John Harrison, Sr., b. May 29, 1796; d. 1859
....+Elizabeth Muse, b. June 29, 1798; d. April 1, 1870
.....3 James Harrison, b. June 14, 1822; d. 1824
.....3 Mary Jane Harrison (Wilson), b. June 27, 1824; d. May 26, 1892
.....3 Ann Montgomery Harrison (Fields), b. March 25, 1825;
���������� d. June 14, 1907
.....3 William Elrod Harrison, b. June 22, 1826; d. April 1, 1903
.....3 Walter B. Harrison, b. August 2, 1830; d. Nov. 17, 1896
.....3 John Harrison, Jr., b. December 30, 1832, d. January 18, 1905
.....3 Martha S. Harrison (Gray), b. December 30, 1834; d. July 23, 1886
.....3 Fauntley Muse Harrison, b. February 22, 1837, d. April 13, 1853
.....3 Sarah Harrison, b. July 9, 1839; d. ????
...2 James Harrison, b. about 1800; d. ????
....+Ann Lynch, b. ????
.....3 Mary Ann Harrison, b. October 31, 1828; d. ????
.....3 John Harrison, b. October 16, 1831; d. ????
.....3 Robert L. Harrison, b. March 12, 1832; d. 1903
.....3 Sarah Jane Harrison, b. October 29, 1833; d. ????
.....3 Rhoda L. Harrison (Gamble), b. September 7, 1835;
����������d. April 30, 1911
.....3 William Harrison, b. June 3, 1838; d. ????
.....3 Elizabeth Harrison, b. October 22, 1839; d. ????
�����And so ends my tale (for now) of how I found many of my Harrison ancestors. During the trip to Pittsburgh in October of 2000, I was able, with the assistance of my first cousin, Joan (also a Harrison), to visit the McKeesport Heritage Center and begin obtaining obituaries of various family members, and more census pages. Then we spent a day at the McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery photographing all of the family tombstones that we could find. It was quite a memorable trip!
