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James Whitfield Harrison


 

James Whitfield Harrison, son of Johnathan Tyler and Jemima Delina Osborn Harrison, was born January 8, 1854 in Union, Anderson County, South Carolina.  At the age of ten, he came with his family, by wagon train, to the Cottonwood Community near Coppell, Texas.  One of his most vivid memories of the trip was the long and tiresome horseback ride.

On November 13, 1875, he was married to Sallie Cathryn Foster, born January 13, 1859, Cass County, Texas, the daughter of Joel Lewis and Cathryn McCloskey Foster.  The first nine years of their married life were spent on a farm east of Grapevine, the present site of the WFAA-WBAP television installation.

In 1884, James W. Harrison bought a farm northwest of Keller on Henrietta Creek, owned now by the Howard Reynolds family.  In 1891, the log cabin was replaced with a frame house which is still in use.  In 1894, Tine Allen was employed to drill an artesian well and pipe water into the house, which was an unusual convenience in a rural area.

The Harrison’s were charter members of the Henrietta Creek Baptist Church.  On weekdays, the church became the Star School where the five daughters attended. 

As children, the girls were intrigued by stories of their ancestors’ migration to Texas by wagon train.  They begged their father to buy a team of mules and a cover for their farm wagon, but were persuaded to settle for a rubber tired carriage.

Farm products were marketed in Fort Worth and the best means of transportation was by horse and buggy.  Butter sold for ten cents per pound, eggs, five cents per dozen, and a dozen frying sized chickens often for as little as $1.25.

In October 1904, the Harrison’s moved to Keller, buying the fifteen room frame hotel built in 1881 and owned by Mrs. Martha McCarty and her daughter Mrs. Martha Robinson.  The hotel faced the Texas and Pacific Railroad and depot.  The operation of this business included a seven day work week and the preparation of three meals every day.  A bed could be had for twenty-five cents and a meal for the same price.  Board and room by the month was $12.50.  The number of steady boarders often ran as high as sixteen.  A large part of the trade was from transient drummers who came and went by train. 

In 1907, Mr. Harrison bought the livery stable from Tom Hudgins.  This was a flourishing business in an age when salesmen traveled by train and rented horses and buggies to visit nearby settlements that could not be reached by rail.  The stable also supplied delivery service, hauling groceries, dry goods, hardware, coffins, etc. from the depot to local stores.  Sunday afternoons brought an increase in business as young couples rented horses and buggies for a drive in the country.

By 1913, automobiles were a more popular means of transportation.  Mr. Harrison sold the livery stable to Jasper Knox for use as a garage, bought a Ford car, hired

W.Y. (Red) Flemister to drive it and called it a jitney.  The fare to Fort Worth and return was one dollar.

Mr. Harrison was interested in community affairs.  He was a stockholder in the Keller State Bank, part owner of the mercantile store and was active in building the first telephone system.  His next venture in community service was to provide a more modern water system.  Until this time, people who did not have wells of their own, carried water from a public well, covered now by a paved street north of the present day Gulf service station or hired it hauled from the gin well for five cents per barrel.

In or about 1906, Mr. Harrison and three other business men combined their resources to provide the village with its first water system.  Tine Allen was employed to drill an artesian well north of the original site of the First Baptist Church.  The well, over five hundred feet deep, continued production until 1960.  The first underground pipes were laid along three blocks of Main Street from the well, south to Bates Street.  This was the beginning of a system that was to expand with community growth.

The Harrison’s became less active with the passing of time, but continued to live in the family home.  Uncle Jimmy, as he was affectionately known, died in 1922 and Aunt Sallie in 1925.  Both are buried at Grapevine.  The Harrison daughters are:

1)      Nettie Lee (Mrs. H.V. Jackson), born November 23, 1876 and died

April 15, 1948.

2)      Nellie Cathryn (Mrs. C.E. Smith), born March 1, 1878, died January 25, 1959.

3)      Tillie D. (Mrs. W.H. Terrill), born January 15, 1886.

4)      Willie M. (Mrs. W.Y. Flemister), born July 15, 1891.

5)      Ethel (Mrs. N.C. Simmons), born August 13, 1893, died November 14, 1940.

 

Information sources:

Mrs. W.Y. Flemister, daughter

Bible records from Mrs. Jessa Willingham, great niece