Person:James Harrison (46)

Notes from Patrick Morgan Harrison (hamlet@@flash.net): Notes for JAMES WALTER HARRISON: After he married, Walter Harrison became a farmer by renting land in the area of Doaks Creek, Madison County, close to Ellis' Barn and The Young Place (just west of Sharon.) My aunt remembered attending a country school in that locality. Miss Leila says that as soon as they left for school, Aunt Harriett Sutherland (who was a former slave of another family) would arrive at the kitchen door and she and Miss Neely (Walter's wife) would sit at the kitchen table, gossip and finish off the breakfast biscuits. Aunt Harriett had married Uncle Damon Watts, another former slave, but her children went by the name of Sutherland. It was a hard life for all concerned as the family lived in a large log home with a dirt floor. The Smiths had never been able to recover from their losses and Walter was sent out into the world with little but his natural intelligence and ability to work hard. In the late 1800's and the beginning of the 1900's, Walter farmed cotton and supported his family by taking whatever produce they could grow by buggy to Canton. My aunt remembers rising before sunrise, helping to get the horses together and riding down the dirt road, seven to ten miles before they reached the outskirts of Canton. The day was spent in the town, purchasing supplies and selling the produce. Miss Leila Harrison remembers when the first lights were placed in the streets of canton. She said it was like the stars had come down to earth. This experience, for a small child, was a wonder, a memory she carried into her 90's. Seeking a better life, Walter moved the family into Canton in 1905. The lived in rental houses while Walter began to seek a permanent position. With little education he was forced to take a job at the ice house, delivering ice to the customers' homes. Canton was a major railroad turning station at this time and it was not long before Walter's industry paid off and he secured a job with the railroad; He apprenticed as an engineer, very hard work with long hours. Eventually, he was hired on a permanent basis and the financial outlook for the family began to show promise of taking them out of the poverty inherited from the late war Shortly after they moved into town, their daughter Mabel, contracted scarlet fever and died. When Aunt Harriett Sutherland heard of Mabel's illness, she packed her clothes, hitchhiked into Canton and stayed with the family until Mabel died. In 1922, Walter and his daughter Leila Walter Harrison purchased a large home at 420(416) North Liberty Street in Canton for $4500.00, with $500 cash and six notes, the final payment due on October 4, 1928. The original entry in the Court House of Madison County for the property was on July 29, 1831 in a deed of conveyance from the United States Government to Richard Allen.

More About JAMES WALTER HARRISON: Baptism: October 13, 1912, Methodist Ch., Canton, Ms. Occupation: RailroadEngineer