San
Joaquin County
Biographies
TIMOTHY JOHN HARRISON
A well-known pioneer family of San
Joaquin County is that of the Harrison’s, now represented by Timothy John
Harrison, who has been a resident here all of his life. He was born on the Calaveras River in the
Moore School District, San Joaquin County, November 12, 1862, and is the fourth
in a family of ten children born to David and Mary E. (Winner) Harrison,
natives of Virginia and Iowa, respectively.
Two of the family was born in Iowa before they started across the plains
to California and while enroute their third child was born, and was named
Nevada. At that time the entire
belongings of the Harrison family were carried in one covered wagon. The family arrived in California in the fall
of 1860, after an eight month trip and settled on the Calaveras River. In 1863 the father bought 160 acres of land
in the Waterloo district; later he acquired 280 acres, part of the old Sam
Foreman ranch in the Linden district, on which he settled and farmed. He was a man of fine character and a friend
of education, serving as school trustee in his district. Both parents lived to a good old age, the
father passing away in 1908, his wife having preceded
him three years. Five of their ten
children now survive.
Timothy J. Harrison, the fourth
oldest, obtained his education in the public schools of San Joaquin County and
from the time he was old enough he helped his father with the ranch work until
his nineteenth year, when he decided to learn a trade, that of miller. For the next ten years he was employed at
Ione with the Bloomington Mills; then with the Farmers Union Milling Company in
Stockton for eight years. Resigning, he
went to Colfax, where he had charge of a great-uncle’s estate of 100 acres and
then came to Linden to make his home.
The marriage of Mr. Harrison at
Linden united him with Miss Gipsy Cox, daughter of William H. Cox, a pioneer
farmer at Linden. Mrs. Harrison passed
away ten years after their marriage. In
1914 Mr. Harrison was married the second time to Mrs. Amber (Whitcomb) Sawyer,
a native of Vermont, a daughter of the late Charles Whitcomb. Her mother is a resident of Linden and the
owner of an orchard. Mr. Harrison owns
forty acres of the old homestead near Linden, where he has made fine
improvements and where he raises alfalfa and conducts a dairy; he also owns
desirable real estate in Stockton. He is
an active member of the local Farm Bureau and in politics is a Democrat.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1581. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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