Freestone County, Texas
Biographies 


           George Washington and Elizabeth (Willingham) Harrison

  George Washington Harrison (b. ca. 1794, Greenville District, S.C., d. 1858, 
Dew, Tex.) was 18-years-old when the War of 1812 began, and he joined the Regular 
Army for a five-year term. He was with Gen. Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New 
Orleans. When the war was over in 1815, George had to serve out his five-year 
enlistment, and was discharged at New Orleans in March, 1818.
  George probably never went back to South Carolina; instead, he headed north to Mississippi, where he met and m. Elizabeth Willingham, (d. ca. 1860, Dew), daughter 
of Jeremiah and Susan Willingham. George and Elizabeth lived in Perry Co., Miss., 
until ca. 1829, when they moved to Rankin County near Florence.
  In 1833 George was ordained a minister of The Methodist Episcopal Church and 
performed marriages in Mississippi and later in Texas.
  In 1846 George and Elizabeth and most of their 14 children headed west. One 
daughter and son-in-law, Thomas and Margaret Ann "Peggy" Singletary, stayed in 
Mississippi, but came on later. A son, George Wasington, was-probably with Jefferson Davis's Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War at the time of the move. He and
his wife never moved to Texas.
  George's children had a typical "preacher's kid" reputation.
  Relatives have referred to them as "a wild bunch of boys who could shoot the 
nuts off the hickory trees at a full gallop."
  After about five years in Cherokee County, George sold his land to his son-in-
law, Owen Dear, and pushed west again. He went to Freestone County, where he 
established a church and community known as Harrison's Chapel near Dew. 
  George and Elizabeth Harrison's children, all born in Mississippi: (1) Vincent, 
b. Jan. 9, 1820, d. Feb. 3, 1885, m. Agnes Lucretia Steen Sept. 23, 1841, buried Harrison's Chapel; (2) John, b. Mar. 19, 1821, m. Sarah E. C. Box Mar. 19, 1849; 
(3) Margaret Ann "Peggy," b. Dec. 12, 1821, d. Aug. 29, 1899, m. Thomas Singletary
Aug. 10, 1837, buried Shiloh Cemetery; (4) George, Washington, b. April 16, 1823, 
d. May 14, 1895, m. Annie Elizabeth Dear, May 28, 1846, buried Mountain Creek 
Cemetery, Rankin Co., Miss.; (5) Sam F., b. 1824; (6) James, b. Aug., 1828; 
(7) Mary Elizabeth, b. ca. 1830, m. Owen Dear Sept. 24, 1846, buried Dear Cemetery; 
(8) Charles Watley, b. Dec. 3, 1832, m. Caroline  ; (9) Horace Hubbard, b. 1836; 
(10) Robert Norton, b. 1838, d. 1892, m. Mary E. Wallace Sept. 17, 1861, m. P. C. 
Conway April 26, 1874, buried Harrison's Chapel; (11) William H., b. 1840, d. 
Dec. 17, 1861, in the Civil War, never m.; (12) Nancy Jane, b. Nov. 7, 1842, m. 
Jesse Columbus Anderson Jan. 2, 1861; (13) Sarah Susan, b. 1844, m. Woodard L. 
Noland Nov. 23, 1865; (14) Joseph H., b. May 7, 1845, d. Apr. 26, 1909, m. Sarah 
Noland July 20, 1871, buried in the Shiloh Cemetery.
  George and Elizabeth Harrison probably are buried in the Harrison's Chapel 
Cemetery, which was established on land donated by their oldest son, Vincent. 
- Mrs. Grady C. (Virgnia) Singletary