the
HARRISON's
HARRISON's
Fred Harrison & Mattie
Lockhart Harrison Married
12/24/1908
The Harrison family, those of us decended from James Henderson Harrison, (b.03/06/1845 d. 04/21/1896), can trace our origins back to Merry Olde England to
Thomas Harrison (b. 1632 in Whitgift, Yorkshire, England d. 02/05/1692.) Our family, ie. Robert Harrison, came to America via Maryland in 1684. They
arrived in Tennessee in 1795 and settled in Franklin County now Grundy County. They stayed in Grundy County until around 1900 when a lot of the family
moved around the South looking for work. Then in 1941, my Grandmother & Grandfather moved to California.
email me or call me @ 925.383.8389
Harrison Coat of Arms from
Talbot, Maryland 1727
See Trivia.
See Trivia.
Fred Sr., or Daddo, started working in the coal mines in Tenn. around 1902 and married Mattie Lockhart 6 yrs later at the
ripe old age of 16. Nana was 14. Glenn was born 10 months later in Manchester Tennessee on Oct. 29, 1909. Daddo was still
working the mines in Tenn when their 2nd son, John was born in Coalmont Tenn. on July 4th 1911. Working wherever he
could, they had their 3rd son, Fred Douglas Harrison jr., in Edgewater Ala. Looking for a better income the family moved to
Illinois and Daddo became a foreman in the mines. There, Nana gave birth to a baby girl, Edith Irene in El Dorado. That's
when the Flu epidemic of 1918 hit, taking Daddo's older sister Betty Jane & her husband, Thomas Blanton, along with 3 of
their children.
From there they moved back to Ala. When this didn't work out the whole family almost 20 of them moved, with Dado, Nana, Glenn, John, Fritz, Edith & Preston in 1 car, to Florida during the 1925 land boom. It was a bust! They all lived in one house. Cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers & sisters. Then the Banks closed! They had no choice but to move back to Ill. with Nana's parents. Dado went back to work in the mines with Glenn & John. Dado & family moved from Ill. to Haybro\Cottonwood Colorado to work in the copper mines there. After a couple years there, Fritz decided to ride the rails and find work wherever he could. Panning for gold, deep sea diving for sponge, tending bar & driving a truck, eventually enlisting in the Army in 1937.
From there they moved back to Ala. When this didn't work out the whole family almost 20 of them moved, with Dado, Nana, Glenn, John, Fritz, Edith & Preston in 1 car, to Florida during the 1925 land boom. It was a bust! They all lived in one house. Cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers & sisters. Then the Banks closed! They had no choice but to move back to Ill. with Nana's parents. Dado went back to work in the mines with Glenn & John. Dado & family moved from Ill. to Haybro\Cottonwood Colorado to work in the copper mines there. After a couple years there, Fritz decided to ride the rails and find work wherever he could. Panning for gold, deep sea diving for sponge, tending bar & driving a truck, eventually enlisting in the Army in 1937.
A Story Dad told me, and Nana never denied or confirmed, she just smiled:
"Dado was a foreman in the Copper mine there in Cottonwood CO and would go to the Bar every payday and play poker with the other miners. He usually won. When he did he bought the table drinks. When he lost, he just drank.
Dad was at their house on this payday when Nana went up to him and said,
"Go git your Father and tell him I need to talk to him…..now"
Dad went in the bar and there Dado was playing cards. He went up to him and said, "Mom said to come home, she needs to talk to you"
Dado said, "when I'm done"
Dad said, "she said now"
Dado said, "Did she really say now?" "yep" Dad replied.
Dado threw in his hand, grabed his money and went home with Dad. When they came to the porch, Dado said, "You stay here" and went in the screen door.
Dad looked in the screen door and there was Nana standing straight as a rod, looking at Dado and she said."
"Fred, next time you gamble away our money or spend it on drinking I'm leaving".
She then turned away and walked into the kitchen. Dado just stood there. Dad just slipped off the porch and found someplace to hide.
Dad told me that Dado never drank or played cards after that. He was addicted to ice tea though"
"Dado was a foreman in the Copper mine there in Cottonwood CO and would go to the Bar every payday and play poker with the other miners. He usually won. When he did he bought the table drinks. When he lost, he just drank.
Dad was at their house on this payday when Nana went up to him and said,
"Go git your Father and tell him I need to talk to him…..now"
Dad went in the bar and there Dado was playing cards. He went up to him and said, "Mom said to come home, she needs to talk to you"
Dado said, "when I'm done"
Dad said, "she said now"
Dado said, "Did she really say now?" "yep" Dad replied.
Dado threw in his hand, grabed his money and went home with Dad. When they came to the porch, Dado said, "You stay here" and went in the screen door.
Dad looked in the screen door and there was Nana standing straight as a rod, looking at Dado and she said."
"Fred, next time you gamble away our money or spend it on drinking I'm leaving".
She then turned away and walked into the kitchen. Dado just stood there. Dad just slipped off the porch and found someplace to hide.
Dad told me that Dado never drank or played cards after that. He was addicted to ice tea though"
Around 1940-41 the whole family, Dad was in the Army, moved to
Mojave and worked in the mines, Golden Queen, Silver Queen and
the Tropico. The Golden Queen was the largest single producer of
Gold in the U.S. prior to WWII. After the war, with John & Dado in
I remember when Jack Phillip, Glenn's son, broke his back in Illinois and was in a body cast. Ed, & Jackie Dean (I think)went
back there and hauled him back to Mojave in a 1951 Chevy with the passenger seat all the way down so he could lay down.
Drove all that way in 3 days! He stayed at Nana & Dado's. When my mom & Dad went somewhere, Nana would babysit the 3
of us and we would sleep in the basement. One night, when I was 7, my parents went to Bakersfield, the 3 of us were sleeping
when "Skeeter", Nana's Chihuahua started jumping on my face barking, waking me up. Above me, the furnace was on fire and
the basement was full of smoke. I yelled "HELP, HELP, FIRE" I tried to find the stairway but Jack Phillip, in a body cast,
grabbed me and carried me up the stairs and outside, where he laid down on the grass beside me. He said, "You know, you
save us all". I said, "Skeeter did, he woke me up" I remember him smiling and he said, "Well I guess that little rat/dog is good
for something".
Stories I remember:
Snakes
Dance
Corn
Jumping off a tressel
Shooting birds
Baptising
brother Ron was born in Mojave.( Nana was the nurseat the clinic and delivered him). It was called Refer City because all the houses were made out of RR
Refrigerator Cars put together. They stayed cool in the 100+ degree weather of Mojave. Dado went to work for the Mojave Unified School District and
eventually retired there. We eventually moved into Mojave proper, via Edwards AFB, and I was fortunate to spend a great amount of time with my Grand
Parents and was around when a family reunions happened 5 or 6 times a year! Jackie Dean & Susan with Jeff & Brad lived 2 doors down from Nana & Dado in
this HUGE house. Well I thought so at the time. Jackie Dean also worked at the school and around that time My Dad was on the school Board and my Mom was
president of the PTA. Let me tell you. For a 14yo kid who was basically was a magnet for mischief, that really sucked. Not only that, but 2 of Dad's best friends
were Tom Schuell, the Sheriff, and Dick Ledgewich, the town Judge (whom my Mom worked for). In a town of 2,200 that really narrows down your options for a
good time! None the less, it was a time that I will cherish to the day I die. It's a time that I don't think we'll ever see again.
Marysville & Dad in San Francisco with his new bride from Australia, then me, they thought they'd try
their luck at logging, John& Dado's lungs were giving out, due to the amount of mining they did. Dad
being a vet got them a deal on a logging truck from the Government and John did most of the driving.
After about 6 months they bought another one that Dad drove. Dad said, "the worst money we ever
invested". They'd haul pilings for the bridges in the Bay Area but never made any good money. Dad
said, "all the money we made we put into repairing the trucks so we could make some more money to
put into the trucks". Eventually the trucks gave out and Dado, Nana, Dad, Mom, me & Ted went back to
Mojave where Edith was. Dad went to work back in the mines and we lived in "Refer City" when my
About a year after I came home from Viet Nam there was a gathering at my Mom & Dads. Dado & I and a few others sat down at the dining room table. I asked
Dado what it was like living in Tennessee back then? He commenced to tell me stories upon stories for the next 3 hours. I just wish I had a recorder. I
remember most but some are lost. It's interesting, but he never talked about Tennessee again with me. I regret not putting them to paper soon after. There isn't
enough space to tell what I remember, but at the reunion………..