 Henry
Harmon Harrison was born Sunday, June 21, 1818 in Plymouth, Washington
County, North Carolina in the eastern portion of the state and
continued to live in North Carolina until 1854 when he moved to
Kentucky Town, Grayson County, Texas where he built a mill run by an
inclined wheel and operated by oxen.
 About
the same time as H.H. Harrison moved to Grayson County, Texas, William
H. Bean, native of Georgia, moved to Bastrop County, Texas and at the
age of 19 moved to northeastern Texas, stopping first at old Kentucky
Town in Grayson County, where he remained for four years and built and
operated one of the first.ox-mills in the county. In 1857 he
moved a few miles west to Farmington, where H.H. Harrison had also
moved. Together they built a grist mill which they operated
together for a few years until Mr. Bean sold out his interest in
the mill.
On September 2, 1858 at the age of 40 years, Henry Harmon married Jane Amanda Rebecca Davis, age 26 years, in Sherman, Grayson County, Texas by F.D. Piner, minister of the gospel; she was the youngest child born to Micajah C. Davis and Mary A. Johnson in Tennessee. The Davis family were pioneer settlers in the Pilot Knob area, east of Denison. Three children were born to the union while they were living in Grayson County: Mary Belle, 21 September 1859 at Kentucky Town and Henry Dudley Harrison, 11 November 1861 at Kentucky Town; their third child, Bernice Lenora Harrison was born May 18, 1865 in Pilot Point, Denton County, Texas. The 1860 manufacturing census for Sherman, Grayson County, Texas indicates Harrison & Proctor were operating a flour mill. On June 24, 1860 the Grayson County, Texas census lists H.H. Harrison, age 40 years, as a mill wright with Sherman as his post office. On May 3, 1861 Henry Harrison enlisted in the Confederate Army in the 19th Brigade, Capt. C.M. Winkler's Co. for Navarro City. The company was organized in response to the Governor's proclamation as "mounted rifles" or a Calvary company..."ready to served as infantry and march at 24 hours' notice to any point in the Confeceracy." (Texas Muster Roll Card, 1838 - 1900). After partnering with Thaddeus Parris in a mill for a few years and selling out his interest, William H. Bean formed a partnership again H.H. Harrison in 1866, along with his brother Orlando Bean and Samuel Beaty and built a grist mill in Pilot Point, Denton County, Texas. William H. Bean retained his interest in this mill for approximately two years before returning to Farmington, Grayson Co. where he engaged in further business adventures. ("William H. Bean." The Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas. c1889. p. 60) The 1870 manufacturing census for Pilot Point, Denton Co. shows Harrison & Co. owning and operating a steam grist mill; in addition the 1870 manufacturing census for McComb, Grayson Co., Texas shows Harrison & Bean Co. operating a flour mill, a woolen factory, and a saw mill Samuel Beaty and H.H. Harrison continued to work in partnership and were successful businessmen in Pilot Point.  In August 1884, Henry H. Harrison came down with typhoid fever. (Ft. Worth Daily Gazette,
August 28, 1884, pg. 5) and died Monday afternoon, September 1, 1885,
at the age of 66. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church and a member of the I.O.O.F.  Jane
continued to live in the home at Pilot Point where she died on March 2,
1902. Both Henry and Jane are buried in the Pilot Point Community
Cemetery (aka City Cemetery, IOOF Cemetery, Masonic Cemetery).  Henry
H. Harrison's only son, D.H. Harrison, continued to own an interest in
the Harrison & Beaty & Co. mills after his father's death.
(Ft. Worth Daily Gazette, Saturday, May 30, 1885, pg.6) until the
business was sold to a group of businessmen for $2,600 cash.    Kentuckytown History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |