HISTORY
OF LEWIS, CLARK, KNOX AND SCOTLAND COUNTIES, MISSOURI
THE GOODSPEED PUBLISHING CO.
ST. LOUIS AND CHICAGO
1887
BIOGRAPHICALO APPENDIX
CLARK COUNITY
PAGES 899 & 900 William R Harrison
William
R Harrison (commonly know as Gen. Harrison, in Clark County), was born in
Wheeling, W. Va., June 22, 1800. He
first came west as an Indian trader in 1819, and in 1822 he settled on the Des
Moines River, building the first house in the county at old Maryville, and
establishing a trading post there with Indians.
He followed this all through the north and west, up the Mississippi and
Des Moines Rivers, until the disappearance of the Indians. He was a pilot and interpreter in the Black
Hawk war. He was for two years in the
employ of the American Fur Company, also followed hunting and trapping all of his life. He
knew Black Hawk and Keokuk well, and he is now the only survivor of thirty-two
first settlers of Clark County. They
were as follows: William and Samuel Bartlett, J. Wayland, George Haywood, Col.
Rutherford, Floyd, William and John Clark, Clayton, John Taylor, Charles
Sanford, the McDanielses (about three of them),
William Beadle, Esq. (up near Athens), Peevler,
Johnson (who helped lay off Waterloo) and others. Gen. Harrison’s first wife was Eleanor Webb(1), of Kentucky, whom he married in 1831. To them were born five children—three sons
and two daughters—two sons and daughters now living. His second and present wife’s maiden name was
Mary Shoemaker. This union resulted in
the birth of seven children living—two sons and five daughters. The General was an old line
Whig before the war, and since that event he has been independent in his
political views. He practiced medicine a
great deal during the late war, using Indian remedies. He was quite a successful Indian fighter in
his day. The General has owned ten acres
of land, one mile up the St. Francis River since 18387; it was originally owned
by Col. Church, and leased of him. The General built a house on it in 1832.
NOTE:
1. Lewis County Marriage record number 7 has her name as Cathasine
E. Webb as recorded 15 day of October 1833.