Grandma and grandpa Harrison, that would be my mom's mother and father. Green Franklin Harrison and Lillie Ann Hardin. My grandpa was born soon after the end of the Civil War, in 1886, in a little cabin in Jackson County, Kentucky. My grandpa came from a "small" family, he had one brother, John Lewis Harrison and two sisters, Rachael Jane Harrison and Deliah Harrison. Deliah, we did not know about until I started doing research. She was a 'wild' girl, and died of Consumption or TB in 1917. But he had a whole passel of step-brothers and sisters, about 12 all told. I guess this is why he left home as a young man and moved to the neighboring county of Gerrard to work for his future father-in-law, Joseph Oder Hardin.
I don't ever remember life without grandma and grandpa living with us. Before I was born, my dad had a truck farm, growing fruits and vegetables to sell in the big town of Lexington. Grandpa worked for my dad and his brothers on the farm. One day on the way to town there was an accident. Grandpa was setting in the passengers seat of the truck. The truck was being driven by one of my uncles. The truck took a curve to sharply and the door swung open. This was in the days before seat belts was in vehicles. Grandpa fell out and hit his head on the side of the road. He was in a coma for about two weeks and the doctors thought he would not live. When he pulled out of the coma, they found out that his ear drums had been broken and he was hard of hearing. This being the case, he could not find work anywhere. So when my mom and dad bought a farm in Jennings County, Indiana, grandma and grandpa moved with us. My dad said as long as he had a roof over out heads and food on the table they could stay with us. And that they did.
What do I remember most about my grandpa? Well, there was family stories that he had American Indian blood flowing through his veins. Grandpa was a small man, maybe 4'8" or 4'10" at the most. He had high cheekbones and was dark complected. He truly loved the outdoors. He had a green thumb, and was so proud of his blackberries and his garden. He could get anything to grow. Grandpa had a home remedy for any aliment. He taught he how to hunt and fish. Even in the winter he had to be out and about. Each winter he would run a trap line to catch mink, fox, muskrats, raccoons, anything with fur he would trap and stretch the hide over a board to cure so he could sell the fur.
Grandma Harrison was a big help to my mom there on the farm. If mom and to run into town for dad, grandma was there to take care of us while she was gone. If mom was not there, grandma was. You could take that as a given. Grandma would read us stories out of the Bible she kept at her bedside. We used to love that and could hardly wait to see the color illustrations of the stories and the way that she brought life to them.
Tomorrow or the next day I will try to get to the story of Pocahontas.
Until then, live large my friends.
P.S. This is a picture of my Grandpa and Grandma Harrison taken in Lancaster Kentucky at their wedding in 1913.
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