Grady-Pulaski-Thomas County GaArchives Biographies.....Harrison, Benjamin R. 1849 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 30, 2004, 10:55 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 1011-1012

   BENJAMIN R. HARRISON. A career of unusual accomplishment and success has been
that of Benjamin R. Harrison of Grady county. When he was ready to take up the
independent responsibilities of life, he had no capital and found his
opportunities by working land on the crop-sharing plan. By thrift and industry
he passed several successful seasons, and with the accumulations of his
diligence he was able to make his first purchase of land. He bought a tract
situated within the limits of his present splendid farm, and after that
beginning his prosperity has been steady and undiminished until he ranks as one
of the foremost farmers of Grady county.

   Born in a log cabin about twelve miles south of Thomasville, Georgia on the
twenty-eighth of October, 1849, Mr. Harrison belongs to a family which has been
identified with Georgia for three generations. His father was Henry Jackson
Harrison, born in Pulaski county, and the grandfather was Benjamin Harrison, who
came from Pulaski county to Decatur county, becoming one of the early settlers
in the latter vicinity. His settlement was at a time when all of south Georgia
was a wilderness, and deer, wolves and wild turkeys were plentiful in the woods
which covered nearly all the country. Another source of meat supply was fish,
and in those clays the Georgia streams were not "fished out" as they are now. As
there was hardly a fence over the entire region, this portion of the state made
an excellent range for cattle. The grandfather bought a tract of timbered land,
and erected a log cabin about twelve miles southwest of the present site of
Cairo. On that place he remained until his death.

   Henry Jackson Harrison was a child when brought to Decatur county, and was
reared on a farm, and after reaching manhood bought a piece of woods land, south
from the present site of Cairo. He lived there a few years and then moved into
Thomas county, where he resided until his death in 1889 in his seventy-first
year. He married Patsy Jones, who was born in Decatur county, a daughter of
Robert Jones. Robert Jones came from Pulaski county at the same time with the
Harrison family, and bought land five miles west of the present site of Cairo.
The farm which he cleared out of the wilderness in that location is now owned by
one of his grandsons, and it was his home until his death. Robert Jones married,
as his second wife, Patsy Hawthorne, who was the grandmother of Benjamin R.
Harrison. She survived her husband, and both are now buried in the family burial
plot on the old farm. The ten children in the elder Harrison's family were
Elizabeth, Martha Jane, William S., Benjamin R., Nancy, Temperance, Seely, John,
Mary and James.

   Many of the pioneer conditions still prevailed in this section of Georgia,
during the youth of Benjamin R. Harrison. There were no railroads in this part
of the state and Bainridge and Tallahassee were the principal markets and depots
for supplies. As" a boy he has hunted nearly all kinds of wild game, and knew
the hardships and privations of early life in south Georgia. As already
mentioned, he began life without capital.

   His purchase of land was fifty acres, covered with woods and without anything
that might be called a permanent improvement upon it. When he had cleared out a
space in the midst of the timber and had built a log cabin, he brought his young
bride to the humble home and there they started housekeeping and home making.
During the succeeding years he cleared off the timber from the rest of the land,
and with the aid of his thrifty wife he enjoyed a progressive prosperity from
the start. As means increased he bought other land until Mr. Harrison is now
known as the owner of more than eight hundred acres of fine farming land in
Grady county, and one of the most subtantial land owners and citizens in this
vicinity. In recent years he has erected a comfortable frame residence, and on
the outskirts of the family home has situated barns and sheds for the shelter of
stock and machinery, and all the equipment and improvements are in keeping with
modern standards of Georgia agriculture.

   Mr. Harrison married Miss Elizabeth Clay. She was born in Terrell county,
Georgia, daughter of Augustus and Isabelle (Sligall) Clay. Her father, a native
of north Georgia, and her mother, a native of Terrell county, were married in
Terrell county, and from there moved into Thomas county, where both spent their
remaining years. Mrs. Harrison died November, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison reared
the following children: Melinda, Leona, William Robert, Benjamin F., Evvie, and
Eula. Another child, Jack, died at the age of fifteen. Melinda married Seab
Sutten and has four children named Mattie, Belle, John Benjamin, Seba A. and
Edna J Leona married Charles Con-nollv and their three children are named Ruth,
Mary and Roberta. Evvie is the wife of Levi Harper.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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