1800 TO 1862 – THE HARRISON MOVE TO GEORGIA & LIFE IN ANTEBELLUM GEORGIA
Our branch of the family line of Harrisons must have begun to feel crowded in Virginia. Hundreds of people werre moving west and many were migrating south as the ne government was claiming land and granting it to people flooding into America from Europe. New generations of citizens born in America were putting pressure on the population and crowding land for tobacco farming.
The route our forebears took from BrunswickCounty, Virginia to the Creek Indian lands in Middle Georgia would most likely follow a major trail that had developed toward Augusta, Georgia and Alabama known as The Fall Line Road. It was called the Fall Line because it ran below the natural coastal fall line, or geological feature where the land drops from hilly higher elevations to a flat coastal plain, sometimes many miles, to the Atlantic Ocean. The map below shows the Fall Line Road in red, highlighted in yellow. It is a distance of around 500 miles. That’s six or eight hours now, maybe two to three months back in 1800.
Nathaniel and Martha were married in Brunswick County 29 March 1799. Seven children were listed in Nathaniel’s will.
The seven children listed in Nathaniel Harrison’s s will are:
- Mary Ann Wright, 1799–1884 BIRTH 1799 Virginia DEATH 10 JULY 1884 Faceville, Decatur, Georgia, USA
- Martha Evelina White, BIRTH ABT 1800 Eatonton, Putnam County, GA DEATH ABT. 1880 Georgia, USA.
- Alexander B. Harrison. BIRTH 19 OCTOBER 1801 Born enroute from Brunswick Co VA to Putnam Co GA DEATH 6 JULY 1887 Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia, USA [My Great-Great-Grandfather]
- John B. Harrison. 1805–1893 BIRTH 1805 Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia, USA DEATH 1893 Upson County, Georgia, USA
- Caroline K. Butts, BIRTH 1807 Eatonton, Putnam, Georgia, USA DEATH Milledgeville Baldwin Co, GA
- Sally Jones Wallace or Sarah Jane Wallace, BIRTH ABT. 1810 Putnam County, Georgia, USA DEATH Georgia USA
- Gabriel Harrison, BIRTH 01 JUL 1813 Eatonton, Putnam, Georgia, United States DEATH JUN 1863 Bibb County, Macon, Georgia, United States
NATHANIEL HARRISON’S RECORDED WILL IN PUTNAM ORDINARY COURT
Nathaniel’s will is recorded in Putnam County Ordinary Court. It is located on his Profile in Ancestry.com. It is also shown below.
TRANSCRIBED VERSION OF NATHANIEL HARRISON’S WILL
PUTNAM ORDINARY COURT RECORDS
INVENTORY AND APPRAISMENT OF ASSEETS 2ND JULY 1845 (INCLUDING SLAVES BY NAME, LIVE STOCK, FARM EQUIPMENT, HOUSEHOLD ITEMS, ETC.)
DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVES TO THE ESTATE OF NATHANIEL HARRISON
One claim I found in the Putnam Ordinary Court records is the invoice for the obelisk monument that stands today in the Historic Harrison Family Cemetery.
CEMETERY MONUMENT
I found over 300 pages of wills, inventories of slaves, live stock, farm equipment, household goods, etc. recorded in the Putnam County Georgia court records. Some items I found especially interesting are posted below.
SALE OF PROPERTY AT PUBLIC OUTCRY 18 DECEMBER 1845
RECEIPTS FOR BALES OF COTTON
MIDWIFERY AND OTHER EXPENSES
COFFIN FOR NEGRO CHILD GEORGE
DOCTOR BILLS
RECEIPT FOR MoNUMENT – OBELISK IN CEMETERY
MISC RECEIPTS AND CLAIMS AGAINST ESTATE OF NATHANIEL HARRISON
PUTNAM ORDINARY COURT DATA – GROUP 1
PUTNAM ORDINARY COURT DATA – GROUP 2
PUTNAM ORDINARY COURT DATAA – GROUP 3
LIFE IN ANTE BELLUM GEORGIA – ALEXANDER BROWN HARRISON AND LUCY WRIGHT CLAIBORNE
Alexander Brown Harrison (my Great-great grandfather), according to Harrison family legend, was born in a wagon on the journey from Brunswick, Virginia to Putnam County, Georgia. This story would place the relocation in summer and fall of 1801, since his birth date is shown on the monument in the Harrison Family Cemetery as 19 October 1801.
PRE- WAR DAYS – CIVIL WAR SOLDIER NATHANIEL CLAIBORN HARRISON AND SARA EDNA WALLER HARRISON