Harrison, Burton Norvell, 1838-1904

Family members represented include Burton Norvell Harrison, lawyer and private secretary to Jefferson Davis; Samuel Jordan Harrison, merchant; J. B. Harrison, lawyer and newspaper editor; Mrs. Burton Harrison, author; Fairfax Harrison, lawyer and president of the Southern Railway; and Francis B. Harrison, lawyer, U.S. representative from New York, and governor general of the Philippines.

From the description of Burton Norvell Harrison family papers, 1812-1926 (bulk 1913-1921). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70980112

Biographical Notes

Samuel Jordan Harrison

• 1771, Mar. 26: Born, Queens Creek plantation, Skimino, York County, Va.
• 1789, Aug. 27: Apprenticed to Joseph Anthony, a merchant in Lynchburg, Va.
• 1793: Business trip to Philadelphia, Pa.; contracted yellow fewer and was treated by Benjamin Rush
• 1794: Became a Mason; reprimanded by the Quakers of the South River Meeting
• 1801, Feb. 8: Married Sarah Hudson Burton
• 1805, Jan. 10: Charter member, Lynchburg, Va., government as one of the city's four aldermen
• 1807: Recorder of Lynchburg, Va.
• 1809: Purchased part of Thomas Jefferson's "Popular Forest" estate, Bedford County, Va.
• 1819: Financial crisis in Harrison's business
• 1846, Feb. 8: Died, Lynchburg, Va.

Jesse Burton Harrison

• 1805, Apr. 7: Born, Lynchburg, Va., the son of Samuel Jordan and Sarah Hudson Burton Harrison
• 1821: Graduated, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Va.
• 1824: Visited Thomas Jefferson at Monticello and met the Marquis de Lafayette
• 1825: L.L.B., Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.; admitted to bar in Va.
• 1825 - 1829 : Practiced law in Lynchburg, Va.
• 1827, Sept. 22: Delivered address at Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Va., "A Discourse on the Prospects of Letters and Taste in Virginia"; became a member of the American Colonization Society
• 1828, Sept. 21: Met Henry Clay whom he supported politically; opposed Andrew Jackson and his financial policies
• 1829: Grand tour of Europe; studied at the University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, at the suggestion of George Ticknor and Edward Everett
• 1831: Delivered oration on death of James Monroe at the Presbyterian church in Lynchburg, Va. Delegate to national Republican Party convention, Baltimore, Md. Met Salmon P. Chase in Cincinnati, Ohio, on way down the Ohio River to New Orleans, La.
• 1832: Moved to New Orleans, La., and admitted to Louisiana bar; met Daniel Webster and Edward Everett during trips to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and New England for health reasons
• 1835, July 11: Married Frances Braud
• 1836: Editor of Louisiana Advertiser, a Whig newspaper in New Orleans, La.
• 1841: Died, New Orleans, La.

Burton Norvell Harrison

• 1838, July 14: Born, New Orleans, La., the son of Jesse Burton and Frances Braud Harrison
• 1854 - 1855 : Attended University of Mississippi, University, Miss.
• 1859: Graduated, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., where he edited the Yale Literary Magazine Became associate professor of mathematics at the University of Mississippi, University, Miss., and began the study of law
• 1862, Feb.: Private secretary to Jefferson Davis
• 1865, May 10: Taken prisoner by Union Army; transferred from Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., to Fort Delaware; continued the study of law in prison aided by Yale University classmates Eugene Schuyler and S. Davis Page
• 1866: European trip following release from Fort Delaware Moved to New York, N.Y.; admitted to New York Supreme Court bar and joined the law office of Judge Fullerton
• 1867, Nov. 26: Married Constance Cary
• 1875: Secretary and counsel, Rapid Transit Commission, New York, N.Y.
• 1876: Active in Samuel J. Tilden's presidential campaign
• 1880: Attended Democratic convention in Cincinnati, Ohio; strongly opposed William Jennings Bryan and his programs and gradually lost interest in politics after 1880
• 1883, Nov.: Published "Capture of Jefferson Davis" in Century Magazine
• 1893: Declined appointments by Grover Cleveland as assistant secretary of state and ambassador to Italy
• 1904, Mar. 29: Died, Washington, D.C.

Constance Cary Harrison

• 1843, Apr. 25: Born, Fairfax County, Va.
• 1867, Nov. 26: Married Burton Norvell Harrison
• 1876, July: Published "A Little Centennial Lady" in Scribner's Monthly
• 1890: Published Flower de Hundred (New York: Cassell. 301 pp.)
• 1892: Published Belhaven Tales (New York: Century Company. 212 pp.) Published A Daughter of the South, and Shorter Stories (New York: Cassell. 281 pp.)
• 1893: Published Sweet Bells Out of Tune (New York: Century. 231 pp.)
• 1894: Published A Bachelor Maid (New York: Century Company. 224 pp.)
• 1895: Published An Errant Wooing (New York: Century Company. 258 pp.) Published A Virginia Cousin and Bar Harbor Tales (Boston and New York: Lamson Wolffe and Company. 202 pp.)
• 1899: Published The Anglomaniacs (New York: Century.Company. 216 pp.)
• 1901: Published A Princess of the Hills: An Italian Romance (Boston: Lothrop Publishing. 306 pp.)
• 1904: Published Sylvia's Husband (New York: D. Appleton. 221 pp.)
• 1905: Published The Carlyles: A Study of the Fall of the Confederacy" (New York: D. Appleton. 283 pp.)
• 1906: Published Latter-Day Sweethearts (New York and London: The Authors and Newspapers Association. 323 pp.)
• 1911: Published Recollections Grave and Gay (New York: C. Scribners. 386 pp.)
• 1920, Nov. 21: Died, Washington, D.C.

Fairfax Harrison

• 1869, Mar. 13: Born, New York, N.Y., the son of Burton Norvell and Constance Cary Harrison
• 1890: B.A., Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
• 1891: M.A. and legal studies, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
• 1892: Admitted to New York bar; practiced law with firm of Bangs, Stetson, Tracy, and MacVeagh
• 1894: Married Hetty Cary
• 1896: Solicitor, Southern Railway Co.; moved to Washington, D.C.
• 1901: Published A History of the Legal Development of the Railroad System of the Southern Railway Company (Washington, D.C.: 1519 pp.)
• 1903: Assistant to Samuel Spencer, president of the Southern Railway Co.
• 1906: Vice president, Southern Railway Co.
• 1910 - 1913 : President of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway Co.
• 1913: Elected president of the Southern Railway Co.
• 1913: Translated and published Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro (New York: Macmillan. 365 pp.)
• 1917 - 1920 : Chairman, Railroads War Board
• 1924: As president of Southern Railway Co., permitted payment of first common stock dividend in company's history
• 1938, Feb.2: Died, Baltimore, Md.

Francis Burton Harrison

• 1873, Dec.18: Born, New York, N.Y., the son of Burton Norvell and Constance Cary Harrison
• 1895: B.A., Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
• 1897: L.L.B., New York City School of Law, New York, N.Y.
• 1898: Admitted to bar in New York state
• 1900, June 7: Married Mary Crocker (died 1905)
• 1903 - 1905 : Member, Fifty-eighth Congress, 13th District of New York
• 1904: Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of New York
• 1907: Married Mabel Judson Cox (divorced 1919)
• 1907 - 1913 : Member, Sixty-third Congress, 20th District of New York
• 1913 - 1921 : Governor-general of the Philippines
• 1919: Married Elizabeth Wrentmore (divorced 1927)
• 1927, Apr. 8: Married Margaret Wrentmore (sister of third wife, later divorced)
• 1933: Retired to estate, Teanich, in Alness, Scotland
• 1949: Married Maria Teresa
• 1957, Nov. 22: Died, Flemington, N.J.

From the guide to the Burton Norvell Harrison family papers, 1812-1926, (bulk 1913-1921), (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)