Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Harrison, Amos 1833 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 9, 2007, 12:40 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

AMOS HARRISON. Amid all the fine estates of Green Garden Township, that which 
comprises one hundred and eighty acres on sections 29, 30 and 31, is 
noticeable for its careful cultivation, orderly appearance and excellent 
improvements. The land is watered by Forked Creek and is all tillable, well 
adapted for the raising of grain and also as a grazing ground for stock. It is 
seven miles from Manhattan, and its inmates can therefore enjoy much of what 
is most attractive in town life. The dwelling is an attractive and comfortable 
structure, and all the outbuildings are in keeping with the appearance of the 
residence. Pleasure and profit are found in the care of a fine orchard, and it 
and one and a half miles of well-kept hedge add to the beauty of the estate. 
The gentleman of whom we write is a son of John Harrison, a Lincolnshire 
farmer, and Elizabeth (Smith) Harrison, who was born in the same shire. The 
former lived to the extreme age of ninety-two years, but the mother died when 
fifty years old. They were members of the Episcopal Church, upright in 
character and industrious in habits. Of the ten children who were born to them 
but two are now living. Henry, the elder of these, is in the wood business in 
England. The maternal grandfather of our subject was John Smith, a shepherd 
who, while tending his sheep one morning dropped dead. Amos Harrison was born 
in Appleby, Lincolnshire, England, April 25, 1833, and was reared in the 
village, enjoying the advantages of good common schools during his early 
years. When but ten years old he began to earn his own living by hoeing and 
other employments suited to his boyish skill, drifting into heavier labors and 
finally hiring out upon a farm. He intended to learn the mason's trade, but 
upon going to the place where he expected to begin his work, he found the 
building already quite high and determined not to try his hand there. Among 
other work which he did was that of cutting timber in the woods. Having 
concluded that the United States afforded a broader field for his energies and 
that here the prospect of advancing his material prosperity would be much 
better than in his native land, George Harrison turned his face westward in 
1858. On the 28th of May he left Liverpool on the sailer "Empire State," which 
encountered severe storms in her passage. For six days and nights the billows 
heaved wildly and the ship seemed doomed to destruction, but it finally 
outrode the waves and anchored in New York Harbor eight weeks after leaving 
the English port. This was at the time of the first attempt to lay the 
Atlantic cable, and the same gale which threatened the "Empire State" was 
disastrous to the "Merrimac." Making his way up the Hudson River, and by rail 
to Buffalo, he crossed to Chatham, Canada, where he worked on a farm for some 
of his friends from July until fall, without wages. Crops were very poor and 
prospects somewhat discouraging. In the fall, however, he began working for 
wages, remaining in the Dominion until November, 1860, when he took up his 
abode in Will County, Ill. He spent the winter in Lockport, and in the spring, 
in partnership with George Andrews, bought forty acres of railroad land in 
Green Garden Township. Mr. Andrews operated the farm and our subject began 
working out for others, boarding with his partner seven years. The two bought 
an additional forty acres three years after, and another eighty in 1866. After 
their second purchase Mr. Harrison worked a part of the land and in 1868 he 
built a substantial dwelling upon it. The winter after Mr. Harrison came into 
the township he and Mr. Murdie bought a corn-sheller, which they ran for four 
years. During 1869 the partnership between Messrs. Harrison & Andrews was 
dissolved and the one hundred and sixty acres of land which they owned were 
divided between them. The same year our subject sold forty acres of his share 
for 840 per acre and purchased one hundred acres of his present estate. Upon 
it there were no improvements, and all that it now bears are the result of his 
industry and earnest efforts. He moved his residence onto his original 
purchase here, which he has since made his home. He has been very successful 
in the cultivation of grain, to which he devotes one hundred acres of his 
land, and from which he reaped a large crop last season. Eighty acres are used 
as pasture and haying ground, whereon Holstein cattle, Poland-China swine, and 
a good grade of draft horses find food and intelligent care. Mr. Harrison is 
now serving his second term as Justice of the Peace, having been elected to 
the office in 1885, and re-elected in 1889. For fourteen years he has been 
School Director and he is still serving acceptably in that position. He is a 
stanch Republican and has advanced the interest of his party as a delegate to 
county conventions. He possesses more than ordinary intelligence and displays 
as deep an interest in the welfare of those about him and the further 
development of the country as he does in his personal affairs. Since 1868 he 
has been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and no more active 
member of the congregation can be found than he. He is Class-Leader and 
Steward of the church and Superintendent of the Sunday-school, as he has been 
for years. The wife of Mr. Harrison was a lady of intelligence, and the nature 
which made her sympathize in all his aspirations and assist in her own sphere 
in all his labors. She was known in her maidenhood as Miss Catherine Marshall, 
and was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1832. She came to America in 1868, 
and in Green Garden Township was united in marriage with our subject, June 30. 
She was torn from her happy home by an untimely death, January 14, 1886, 
leaving two children—Henry M. and Annie Lina, both of whom are still with 
their father on the home farm. Mrs. Harrison was a daughter of Thomas 
Marshall, a gardener in the mother country.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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