JOSEPH HARRISON. Washington county is unusually favored with citizens who have ever been as deeply interested in her progress as in their own, and who have taken an active part in the promotion of all public enterprises. Among this class of early settlers Harrison is a familiar and honored name, the early representatives of the family, at present under consideration, having emigrated from England to Maryland many years ago. James Harrison remained there, and in early manhood he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Hudgel, a native of Berkeley county, W. Va., who bore him the following children: William, James, George W., Joseph (all born in Virginia), and Eliza, Mrs. Harriet Van Gilder (living in Centreville, Washington county) and Maria (deceased), all three born in East Bethlehem township, Washington Co., Penn. Of this family Joseph and Harriet are the only ones yet living. In 1817 the family came to Washington county, Penn., where the father settled on a farm near West Brownsville. He died in 1825, followed by his widow in 1861. In politics he was an active member of the Whig party. Of their family, William purchased a farm in Iowa, near Oskaloosa, in 1868, and died in July, 1868, leaving his family in good circumstances. James settled on a farm in Harrison county, W. Va., and died in 1892. George W. settled on a farm in East Bethlehem township, Washington county, and died in 1890.
Joseph Harrison passed his youth in Washington county, and at the age of eighteen years began to work for himself. After ten years' hard labor he and a brother invested in a farm near Logansport, Cass Co., Ind., but his health failing, Joseph induced his brother to sell the property. After disposing of the place they returned to Washington county and bought a farm located on the National pike, near Brownsville. In 1867 he was united in marriage with Orella Tower, daughter of G. H. Tower, a native of Massachusetts, who graduated from Brown University in 1776, studied law, went to Warren, Ohio, and won a wide reputation in his chosen work. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are the parents of two children: Joseph Tower, and Mary Orella, who is now attending the Pittsburgh Female College. In a few years after their return to Washington county, Mr. Harrison bought his brother's interest in the farm, which contains 155 acres of valuable land, on which stands an imposing brick mansion erected in 1878, the most elegant structure to be seen for many miles. Mr. Harrison has been a very successful man, and his present prosperity has been due to his own individual effort, for he never received financial aid from any source. In politics he has always been a Whig and Republican, and of late years has been also a Prohibitionist. It has been seventy years since he has tasted whisky, and in looking over his past life he attributes his success in a great measure to his temperate habits.
Text taken from page 966 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]