Harrison Genealogy Repository

Notes

James Harrison was a "planter, surveyor. Educated at Donald Robertson's Academy, King and Queen Co., VA 1761-62. soldier, SC militia, Rev. War Estab. Fairforest plantation and Harrison's store, Union co., SC, ca 1777; commr roads, 1778; rep Upper Dist, SC House 1782-86; ustice, Union Co, 1786. Estab Cripple Creek plantation, Greenville Co., SC 1784; moved there 1786. Surveyor to lay off lots in new capitol, Columbia, 1786. First state senator from Greenville Co., 1789-90. Comr. Washington Dist. (Greenville Co.), 1791; rep. Greenville Co., in SC House, 1794-96. Owned over 15,000 acres land in several plantations. His account book for 1783-90 is with the Harrison Family Papers, USC. Buried with wife in family cemetery at Cripple Creek. Listed in DAR Patriot Index and Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate."

Samuel Henderson and Anthony Hampton signed the marriage bond of James Harrison and Elizabeth Hampton which was witnessed by Wade Hampton. James and Elizabeth joined the wagon train and accompanied the Hamptons to the Up-Country of SC

DAR No. 79 68; No. 83 227.

Gary Cooper writes:

One of the most interesting relatives that I have researched was James Harrison, a son of John Harrison and Sarah Daniel. His sister was Mary Polly Harrison, who married William Cooper I. I am including the children and grand-children of James Harrison and Elizabeth Hampton, his wife, because of their great success. Elizabeth Hampton's brother was the famous General Wade Hampton of the Revolutionary War James Harrison and Elizabeth Hampton were married 20 July 1773 in Surry County, North Carolina. They and the Hampton's came by wagon train to Upstate South Carolina and became Indian traders. James Harrison had a store in the South Tyger River area. Elijah Harrison Cooper, son of William Cooper and Mary Polly Harrison, apparently, was a favorite of James Harrison. He worked in the Harrison store as a young man and stayed with the Harrison's. It is likely Elijah H. Cooper influenced William and Mary Polly to move to Union County, South Carolina William Cooper was a carpenter and it is likely that Elijah H. Cooper was skilled in this trade as well. James Harrison later migrated to Greenville County, South Carolina. He was an aggressive business man and eventually acquired 16,000 acres that became the Cripple Creek Plantation. This was a dangerous time in that area. There was an Indian massacre of the Hampton family where many of their family were killed as well as one of James Harrison's babies. The child's head was smashed against the log house and the brains of the child could be seen on the logs. When James Harrison built his mansion on Cripple Creek, he had port holes built in the brick walls of the house so they could fire at hostile Indians if need be.

Elijah H. Cooper helped build and supervise the house, perhaps William Cooper assisted. This house was the finest in Upstate South Carolina. The brick were made on the plantation. Some of the marble and other supplies were brought by wagon as faraway as Charleston, South Carolina.

A cemetery was built a few hundred yards from the house. This was a rectangular plot that had 6 foot walls made of large stone and no mortar was used. This area, 20 feet X 30 feet still stands today. Some of the stones would weigh 4 - 5 hundred pounds and unless it is destroyed by man, this cemetery will stand like the pyramids of Egypt.

I met with Bob Harrison, the only remaining descendant that still lives in this area. He said, "the bodies were put inside the wall through an opening in the south end of the wall, after the last body was interred the opening was closed." Some other family members, as well as some slaves, are buried outside the wall. The cemetery is the only remaining land that still belongs to the Harrison's and consist of just a few acres. The balance of the 16,000 acres has been sold.

Notes James Harrison was a "planter, surveyor. Educated at Donald Robertson's Academy, King and Queen Co., VA 1761-62. soldier, SC militia, Rev. War Estab. Fairforest plantation and Harrison's store, Union Co., SC, ca 1777: commr roads. 1778: rep Upper Dist. SC House 1782-86: Union Co. 1786. Estab Cripple Creek plantation. Greenville Co.. SC 1784; moved there 1786. Surveyor to lay off lots in new capitol, Columbia, 1786. First state senator from Greenville Co., 1789-90. Washington Dist. (Greenville Co.), 1791; rep. Greenville Co.. in SC House, 1794-96. Owned over 15,000 acres land in several plantations. His account book for 1783-90 is with the Harrison Family Papers, USC. Buried with wife in family cemetery at Cripple Creek. Listed in DAR Patriot Index and Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate."

Samuel Henderson and Anthony Hampton signed the marriage bond of James Harrison and Elizabeth Hampton which was witnessed by Wade Hampton. James and Elizabeth joined the wagon train and accompanied the Hampton's to the Up-Country of SC

DAR No.79 68; No.83 227. Reference: " Tennessee Cousins", by Worth S. Ray "The Venturers", by Virginia Meynard.

Soon after the war ended, James' brother, Maj. Richard Harrison (who had married Nancy Patillo), and his brother-in-law and sister, Reuben and Betsy (Harrison) Daniel, moved to South Carolina from Nut Bush and settled in Spartanburg County. James' eldest sister, Polly, and her husband, William Cooper, also arrived with their family and lived on the Harrison plantation at Fairforest. One of the Coopers' sons, Elijah, clerked in Harrison's store. With slaves to work his plantation, relatives to look after his property, and good help in his store, James was free to travel about the state looking for good land to invest in and attend meetings of the legislature at Charleston.

The Harrison's returned to Fairforest and prepared to move to Cripple Creek. Apparently James closed his store at the crossroads, for accounts of Union residents are marked "paid in full" at that time. However, he did not sell his Fairforest plantation until 1790, and the Coopers continued to reside there. James, Elizabeth, their six children, and their slaves arrived in Greenville County before September and probably resided there temporarily in an overseer's house at Cripple Creek. One of James' first acts was to furnish provisions for Col. Robert Anderson's militia.

The elegant Harrison house finally was completed in 1791. The last 30,000 bricks were brought and wagoned to Cripple Creek. James kept a record in his account book of the cost of materials and labor (other than slaves) which totaled over 335 pound sterling. The downstairs rooms, both walls and ceiling were paneled with natural walnut, and the ironwork was hand wrought. A large, triangular brick chimney stood at one end of the house, and adjoining the other end was a brick kitchen and dining room with an immense chimney and a fireplace for cooking. The stairway to the upper floor was enclosed in a hall near the outside wall to prevent spread of fire, and there were portholes near the eaves to shoot at Indians in case of an attack. (Elizabeth had never forgotten the Hampton massacre in which she lost her parents and her firstborn child.)

A tenth child,£Eliabeth Harrison. was born in the new house in October 1792, and then tragedy struck that winter when eight year-old Clarissa was burned to death after her clothes caught on fire. Three more children were born at Cripple Creek: Mary Vivian (called Polly) in 1794, Benjamin in 1796 and Henry Hampton Harrison in 1798 when Elizabeth was 40 years old. (Both boys died young.) ^{[S14] [S419] [S89]}