Individual Details
Thomas Edward "Edwin Thomas" Harrison
(31 Aug 1894 - 27 May 1960)
In the spring of 1915, the Harrison family moved from Newton, Illinois, to Mitchell and settled in Plano Township, Fulton, two miles west and 1/2 mile north of Plano Consolidated School. The children, Baby Bert, three half-sisters, Ethel, Elsie and Nora, foster brother, Roll Green, and Nellie, also including my father, Thomas. (He had come earlier to check out the land.) Mabel married Jim Spelbring and they came to Plano Township soon after. Another married sister, Annie, also came later with her husband, Elbert Norris. They had previously lived in Indiana for seven years.
Nellie taught school and married Elmer Torbet just before he entered World War I with Father. Father beat him up because he didn't want to get married.
Grandfather became sick from blood poisoning and his health was not good afterwards. In 1927, they moved to Oregon. Grandfather had a brother, Lewis, twenty years his junior, who had moved to Oregon from Newton, Illinois, by-passing South Dakota. Roll, Bert, Nora, Elsie and Ethel went along. Ethel left her first husband, Chester Sledge, to chase women in Mitchell.
My father and mother lived with Spelbrings in a small house 1/2 mile south of Father's parents. This did not last very long as Jim Spelbring beat a milk cow and Father beat up Jim. "Don't hurt my Jim, Thomas," Aunt Mabel cried as she ran out to the barn.
My father, mother, Norman and I were living south of Mitchell. We bought a new Model T Ford and followed the Harrison family to Oregon in 1928, where Jo was born. We lived in berry shacks and all were sick from a serious fever. We came back to South Dakota in the late fall of 1928, I think. Father was a hired hand on the Rowley dairy farm a few miles south of Mitchell on Old Highway 37. Maybe he had worked there before we went to Oregon. Soon, he started farming for himself on a farm one mile west of Plano. Then, we moved to the Stein farm, three miles east of Plano, stayed there for two years and moved, in 1933, to a farm one mile north of Plano. We farmed there until 1944, when we moved to the original E. B. Sougstad farm and was there for two years. Then, we moved to a farm south and west of Plano in Hanson Township. Father sold out in 1951 and the family moved into Mitchell.
Aunt Mabel stayed here in South Dakota. Aunt Nellie moved to Oregon in 1935. Father had the itch to go back there again. We came so close to going. The Harrison family moved back and forth between Illinois and Indiana before coming to South Dakota, so moving must have been in Father's blood. Source: Betty Harrison Barber.
Nellie taught school and married Elmer Torbet just before he entered World War I with Father. Father beat him up because he didn't want to get married.
Grandfather became sick from blood poisoning and his health was not good afterwards. In 1927, they moved to Oregon. Grandfather had a brother, Lewis, twenty years his junior, who had moved to Oregon from Newton, Illinois, by-passing South Dakota. Roll, Bert, Nora, Elsie and Ethel went along. Ethel left her first husband, Chester Sledge, to chase women in Mitchell.
My father and mother lived with Spelbrings in a small house 1/2 mile south of Father's parents. This did not last very long as Jim Spelbring beat a milk cow and Father beat up Jim. "Don't hurt my Jim, Thomas," Aunt Mabel cried as she ran out to the barn.
My father, mother, Norman and I were living south of Mitchell. We bought a new Model T Ford and followed the Harrison family to Oregon in 1928, where Jo was born. We lived in berry shacks and all were sick from a serious fever. We came back to South Dakota in the late fall of 1928, I think. Father was a hired hand on the Rowley dairy farm a few miles south of Mitchell on Old Highway 37. Maybe he had worked there before we went to Oregon. Soon, he started farming for himself on a farm one mile west of Plano. Then, we moved to the Stein farm, three miles east of Plano, stayed there for two years and moved, in 1933, to a farm one mile north of Plano. We farmed there until 1944, when we moved to the original E. B. Sougstad farm and was there for two years. Then, we moved to a farm south and west of Plano in Hanson Township. Father sold out in 1951 and the family moved into Mitchell.
Aunt Mabel stayed here in South Dakota. Aunt Nellie moved to Oregon in 1935. Father had the itch to go back there again. We came so close to going. The Harrison family moved back and forth between Illinois and Indiana before coming to South Dakota, so moving must have been in Father's blood. Source: Betty Harrison Barber.
Events
| Birth | 31 Aug 1894 | Clinton, Indiana |  | ||
| Marriage | 29 Sep 1919 | Mitchell, Davison County, South Dakota - Anna Gurina Sougstad | | ||
| Death | 27 May 1960 | Mitchell, Davison County, South Dakota | |
Families
| Spouse | Anna Gurina Sougstad (1886 - 1976) |
| Child | Norman Thomas Harrison (1922 - 1969) |
| Child | Robert Edward Harrison (1923 - 1923) |
| Child | Betty Lou Harrison |
| Child | Josephine Ann Harrison |
| Child | Shirley Ann Harrison |
| Father | Edwin Dudley Harrison (1864 - 1937) |
| Mother | Olive Adkins (1862 - 1897) |
| Sibling | Anna "Annie" Olive Harrison (1889 - 1964) |
| Sibling | Nellie Alice Harrison (1892 - 1980) |
| Sibling | Mabel Florence Harrison (1896 - 1993) |
Endnotes
1. Donna Meyer (PO Box 13, Pollock, SD 57648; donnal@valleytel.net; 1998).
2. Donna Meyer (PO Box 13, Pollock, SD 57648; donnal@valleytel.net; 1998).
3. Donna Meyer (PO Box 13, Pollock, SD 57648; donnal@valleytel.net; 1998).