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
