Charles M. Harrison Biography


	This biography appears on pages 398-399 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				CHARLES M. HARRISON.  

	In business circles of Sioux Falls Charles M. Harrison has won a 
creditable and enviable position. He successfully practices law and is 
also conducting a real-estate, loan and insurance business which is 
bringing him substantial success.  

	The birth of Mr. Harrison occurred in Springfield, Ohio, June 22, 
1851, his parents being Thomas and Michael (Morris) Harrison, who were 
natives of England and of Ohio respectively. The father came to the 
United States in 1836. He was a journeyman printer and upon his arrival 
in the new world began preaching as a local minister, exerting a strong 
and wide-felt influence through his efforts to advance moral progress. 
He became very well known in educational as well as religious circles 
and was called to the editorship of the Western Christian Advocate at 
Cincinnati. He was likewise president of a Methodist college and of 
various other schools. Gifted by nature with strong mentality, he used 
his talents wisely and well and made for himself an enviable name in 
those circles where mental force wisely directed by a sense of moral 
obligation is doing effective work for the uplift of mankind. He 
achieved much more than local prominence as a man of letters and 
contributed several valuable volumes to the literature of the country. 
He was always a champion of the cause of education, which became his 
life work. He taught through the press, in the schoolroom and from the 
pulpit, ever bearing a message that carried with it a recognition of 
the true meaning of life and its obligations. His death occurred after 
he had retired from active labor in Shelbyville, Indiana, when he had 
attained the venerable age of ninety years but his memory still remains 
as an inspiration and a blessed benediction to all who knew him. His 
widow survived him for but thirty days. In their family were three 
sons: Charles M.; Robert, a resident of Shelbyville, Indiana; and 
Thomas, who resides in Cincinnati.  

	In the public schools of Springfield, Ohio, Charles M. Harrison 
pursued his education to the age of thirteen years and then entered the 
preparatory department of Moore's Hill College at Moore's Hill, 
Indiana, when his father became president of that institution. He 
continued his studies there for six years, or until he reached the age 
of nineteen, and was graduated in 1870 with the Bachelor of Arts 
degree. In the course of time his alma mater conferred upon him the 
Master of Arts degree. After leaving college he became an instructor in 
high schools, devoting four years to that profession. He regarded this, 
however, as an initial step to further professional activity and began 
reading law in Shelbyville, Indiana, devoting three years to law 
reading in that city and in Indianapolis. He was admitted to practice 
in 1878 and entered upon the active work of his profession in Lebanon, 
Indiana, where he remained until 1883, winning a creditable name and 
place for himself in legal circles of that section.  

	Attracted by the opportunities of the northwest, Mr. Harrison 
came to South Dakota in 1883, settling in Huron, where he concentrated 
his efforts upon commercial law practice, remaining in that city for a 
decade. He has never carried on a general law practice but has always 
adhered to commercial law and has attained marked skill and distinction 
in the field of his specialty. In 1891 he was elected a member of the 
second state legislature as representative from Beadle county. In 1893 
he removed to Sioux Falls, where he has since maintained his home, 
continuing in the practice of commercial law and also extending the 
scope of his activities to include a real-estate, loan and insurance 
business. Substantial success has crowned his efforts. His wise 
judgment has enabled him to carefully direct his own interests and 
those of others entrusted to his care. He is now secretary and manager 
of the Realty Company, which has played an important part in the 
development of Sioux Falls in laying out and improving subdivisions and 
additions to the city. It is still an active corporation and Mr. 
Harrison devotes much time to the business of that company also to the 
conduct of the loan agency and to individual operations in the field of 
real estate.  

	In 1880 Charles M. Harrison was married to Miss Anna R. Shirk, a 
native of Newcastle, Indiana, and they have become the parents of three 
children: Ruth, now the wife of Fred I. Powers, of Bozeman, Montana; 
Ben Tom, a resident of Dallas, Texas, and Florence, the wife of Sam L. 
Stutes, of Sioux Falls.  

Mr. Harrison is a member of Minnehaha Lodge, No. 2, A. F. & A. 
M.; Sioux Falls Chapter, R. A. M.; Lafayette Commandery, K. T.; and El 
Riad Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His political faith throughout his 
entire life has been that of the republican party and he has long been 
active in its councils. In 1912 he was an alternate national delegate 
from South Dakota to the republican convention in Chicago and his 
opinions have done much in shaping the policy of the party in his 
state. For thirty-two years he has been a member of the Congregational 
church and in its teachings have been found the motive springs of his 
conduct, making him in every relation of life a man worthy of the 
esteem and confidence of his fellowmen. Life has ever meant to him 
opportunity — opportunity for advancement along the lines of legitimate 
business, for cooperation in all those movements which promote the 
political, educational, social and moral interests of the race.