William Harrison Biography


	This biography appears on pages 665-666 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM HARRISON.  

	William Harrison, a well known farmer of Bon Homme county, has 
passed his entire life there, as his birth occurred near the village of 
Bon Homme, April 6, 1871. His parents, Francis W. and Martha (Abbott) 
Harrison, were both natives of England and were part of an English 
colony that settled in Bon Homme county and its vicinity and did much 
to develop that section of the state. More extended mention of the 
family is to be found elsewhere in this work.  

	William Harrison remained under the parental roof during his 
boyhood and youth and in addition to attending school learned much of 
practical agriculture under the instruction of his father. After 
reaching maturity he operated the home farm in partnership with his 
younger brother for a time and after the father's death he became the 
owner of eighty acres of the homestead. In 1897 he purchased eighty 
acres adjoining that place; in 1901 bought the quarter section 
adjoining his land on the north; and in 1914 bought eighty acres 
adjoining on the south, so that he is now the owner of four hundred 
acres of fine land in one body and is deriving a gratifying income from 
his agricultural labors. The farm is splendidly improved and the most 
modern machinery is used in its cultivation.  

	Mr. Harrison was married January 18, 1905, to Mrs. Jennie 
Joddrel, who was born at Decatur, Nebraska, a daughter of Thomas and 
Mary E. (Page) Carr, natives of Ohio and New York, respectively. They 
were married in Minnesota and subsequently removed to Nebraska but a 
few years after the birth of their daughter, Mrs. Harrison, they went 
to Iowa. Later, however, they returned to Nebraska, where she was 
united in marriage to Daniel Joddrel and to that union a daughter, 
Edith, was born. By her marriage to Mr. Harrison she has two sons, 
Edward and Lewis.  

	Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are members of the Congregational church 
and take an active part in the various branches of church work. He is a 
republican in politics and staunchly supports the principles of that 
party. At the time of the great blizzard of January 12, 1888, he was at 
school and upon dismissal made his way along a wire fence to a 
neighbor's half a mile from his home. As the country from that point to 
his home was unfenced he feared to go forth and remained for the night 
at the neighbor's. Most of the big game was gone before his time but he 
has seen deer run across the prairies near their home. A good idea of 
the development of the state can be gained from the fact that at first 
land was worth five dollars an acre but is now worth from one hundred 
and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. His has been 
a life of public-spirited consideration for the general good and of 
strict adherence to the highest standard of morality, and the 
confidence and esteem in which he is generally held are richly 
deserved.