1919 Reverend Charles Simmons Harrison

C.S. Harrison died at York, Nebraska February 23rd, 1919. He was born in the State of New York November 24, 1832. In 1844 he went with his parents to the State of Illinois. In 1857 he entered the Missionary field in Minnesota and while in this work on the frontier he endured all kinds of hardship, riding horseback, covering a territory of almost one hundred miles, to preach the gospel and assist in building up the then wilderness. Like the true pioneer, he was always faithful to duty, no task being too hard when he could be of service to his fellow man.

Again in 1871 he became a pioneer to help upbuild Nebraska, working in connection with Burlington Railroad to colonize a portion of York County and through his efforts, more than six hundred people were induced to locate in Nebraska. That he laid a good foundation for the future success of the Colony stands forth today as a visit to the beautiful city of York will testify to his good judgment in selecting so fertile and lovely a location and all who remained in York or York County have no reason to regret that they followed the call of their leader. He was a leader of men in every sense of the word, always standing for the good and clean life. Like the true Horticulturist, he urged the planting of the beautiful and useful and his influence and example caused the plating of the stately evergreens, the orchard, the beautiful shrubs, and blooming plants which caused the landscape to change from a prairie to groves, orchards, vineyards and flower gardens. I believe the City of York, the home of C.S. Harrison, has a larger collection of trees, flowers and shrubs than any City in Nebraska, all through the untiring efforts of this man to produce the best that the soil and climate could produce. Looking to the development of the western part of the State, in 1879, the instinct of the pioneer was again aroused, and he located for a number of years at Franklin, Nebraska. This pride of his life was the founding of the Franklin Academy. While working hard to erect the house of learning, he took on added burdens by conducting an Experiment Station, where he learned which kind of trees and shrubs would stand the heat and drought. The knowledge acquired by his experiments has to this day assisted every part of Nebraska and has taught the planters of to-day what will succeed and what will fail.

He was a great lover of nature, a relentless worker used to hardships and ever ready to fight the battle of life fairly and manly. He would camp in the mountains and personally dig evergreens and gather seed for future planting. Never lonely but happy to commune with Nature. I believe the happiest moments of his life were spent in the Rocky Mountains searching for the rare varieties of evergreens and shrubs to be brought to Nebraska to be tested here.

Not satisfied with experimenting, he desired that all should know the results. He contributed to many agricultural and horticultural papers, being editor of eight of the latter, supplying the necessary copy for them. He served as President of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, also President of the Nebraska Forestry and Park Association for years. He was often delegate to the neighboring State Society and always brought back valuable reports of the meeting he attended. He published the following list of books; Iris Manual, Phlox Manual, A Gold Mind in the Front Yard, and in his eight sixth year he re-edited his Peony Manual which work is recognized as the best of its kind in existence and which is used as a textbook in schools.

The results of the great number of articles written and published by Mr. Harrison, have caused a sentiment to plant throughout the United States and a vast amount of good has been accomplished by this means. The writer has listened to many lectures by our friend on the subject of Horticulture and he never failed to hold his audience as his forceful manner and wonderful word painting appealed to young and old alike. When the name of C.S. Harrison appeared on any program, he was certain to have a good and eager audience to greet him and to applaud his efforts. I believe he conducted more experiments in Horticulture than any man in the State of Nebraska, always optimistic if failure occurred, ready to try again, never discouraged. From early life he labored not by the six- or eight-hour system but more often sixteen or eighteen hours a day during busy seasons.

He preached labor and practiced what he preached. I have seen him clad in overalls, armed with his faithful hoe, working under a hot sun for hours. I remarked to him at one time that it was too hot for him to work that afternoon, but he insisted that it was good for us to labor so and he advised me to do likewise in order to reduce in weight.

The last time I saw him alive was but a short time before his death. The nurse aroused him, and he recognized my voice. As we clasped hands he said, “You have a strong grip. I used to have the same kind, but no more now.” He will be missed at our meetings but the immense amount of good he accomplished will live on. The stately evergreens, the beautiful flowers and shrubs which he planted will be a better monument to his life than any granite or marble that the hand of man might erect.

May Peace and Heavenly rest be the reward of his many labors.

 
Paper read by Carson Hildreth before the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement at its annual meeting May 21, 1919
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The first time I ever saw Rev C S Harrison he was riding into Franklin on a load of rock that he had just quarried from the hills south of town for the foundation of a girls’ dormitory on the Franklin Academy Campus. I was a young man, county treasurer at the time and lived in a rival town but had felt an interest in the new Academy and had just made a $50 subscription to it. My interest hence in Mr. Harrison was immediate. Later I moved to Franklin, putting in a bank there, and served nine years as president of the Board of Trustees of the same Academy looking especially after its finances. My relations with Mr. Harrison continued to the time of his death.

While Rev. Harrison was not strictly the founder of Franklin Academy, he had in 1879 visited Franklin and urged the establishing of such a Christian school. The Academy came into being in 1881 through some splendid local pioneers – Rice, James, Austin, Phipps, with Rev. Hampton now of Omaha as first principal. Later Rev. Harrison held special religious meetings at Franklin and in 1884 came as permanent pastor and began his great and distinctive work for the Academy.

For many years Mr. Harrison devoted his untiring energies and exercised his wide influence sustaining and strengthening the Academy. He preached far and wide, visited the frontier regions persuading young men and young women to come to this Christian school, often went to Boston and the east securing funds, maintained a nursery at Franklin to furnish employment to the students, made tri after trip to the Rocky Mountains bringing evergreens for Franklin and his nursery. The fine little city of Franklin is a forest city because of the work of this good man.

Gen. O.O. Howard once visited Franklin on the invitation of Mr. Harrison. The two rode out on to the hills south of the river and talked over the needs of the young people of this then remote region with the result that Gen. Howard Helped later in getting funds for the Academy.

Mr. Harrison remained trustee of the Franklin Academy from 1884 to 1918 the year of his death. The Academy filled a great want to the young men and young men of southwest Nebraska, northwest Kansas, and eastern Colorado. It provided a place where advanced lines of education could be taken by these young people who could not in those meagre years go to more distant schools. It was a school under Christian influences. More than 2,500 different young people have taken their work there. Its graduates are in all parts of the world. A number are missionaries in Arabia, India and South America. Others are physicians, nurses, bankers, journalists, engineers, farmers. Wherever you find them you note as a rule the result of their intellectual and moral training at the Academy and that their influence in their respective communities is for good.

At this very instant as I write this paper a special delivery letter is handed me from the present principal of Franklin Academy, Rev. G W Mitchell, in which he says, “we are planning a campaign for a C S Harrison Memorial Endowment Fund of $25,000 in Honor of Mr. Harrison, to perpetuate the school he so greatly loved and served. We have now $1,000 in cash in this fund and will put on a campaign for the completion of the fund to the full amount of $25,000 as a memorial to him.”

Thus, the work of this truly good and great man is, through the lives of the hundreds and thousands of men and women who have received their training and inspiration here, and through the perpetuation of this school, to go on through the future.

In the year 1860 Mr. Harrison was a home missionary on the frontiers of Minnesota. In 1871 he was just leaving his work in Illinois and coming to York, Nebraska. In 1884 he left his work at Pueblo, Colorado and came to Franklin, Nebraska. Of these several fields others will write. Of his work at Franklin only am I asked to speak.

After Mr. Harrison moved from Franklin back to York, he continued his attendance at our annual meetings of the trustees of the Academy and his coming was like a refreshing shower, it always gave us new heart and new hope. I made a number of pilgrimages to his home at York to get his advice and views on our Academy matters.

A personal word – building a new home at Franklin I mailed him a diagram of my grounds and asked him to ship me everything from his York nurseries that he thought should be planted thereon. With the trees, shrubbery, tamarisks, evergreens, came also a lot of his beloved peonies. For years myself and family were pleasurable reminded day by day of our old friend. Frequently since my moving to Lincoln we have met and talked over old times. He still had that big heart, strong energy, and great soul. It is an inspiration to have known such a man.

Rev. C S Harrison was a man with a vision. He had a great work to do and did it. He was clear in his judgment, sound in his counsel, always confident, and had the mentality and vigor to put his undertakings through. And it should be said that nearly all his efforts were given for the benefit of communities. He truly lived for others.

How natural it seems to hear him say as he did when he was about to pass on “Good-bye grand old mother earth; good-bye majestic mountains, fertile plains, forests, singing brooks and sparkling lakes.”

I make my words the words of Mr. S C Bassett who wrote in a state paper March 6th. Mr. Bassett said, “In all the history of our state I cannot call to mind any one of our citizens who ranks his superior, I am almost tempted to say equal, in so large a number of those qualities of citizenship so useful and necessary in the founding and building of a state. A grass-root pioneer, an educator, a founder of colonies in the settlement of the state, a founder of an academy, an editor and author or literary merit, the soul of an artist in love and appreciation of the beautiful in nature, a scientist in his application of science as applied to horticulture, his life devoted literally, unselfishly and entirely in service to humanity. A master builder in our state.”
 
Charles Simmons Harrison

By B.R.B. Weber

If I should preface my remarks in this manner, it would seem cold and distant to all of us, but if I say Father Harrison, the very blook in our veins thrills with emotion. When I was asked to say something on behalf of the State Horticultural Society, at this meeting, I answered something like this as I now remember, - I feel entirely incompetent to try to even approach in work picture what Father Harrison has accomplished for Horticulture and Floriculture in this great commonwealth, for the good has only begun, and will last while times goes on. But in a few humble sentences may tell what I wish I, as secretary, could tell in a fitting manner, when we first received the news of our good old blind Father, passing on to his reward, and while our mind was in fervent meditation, I wrote for the head of our Editorial column, -

FATHER HARRISON OF YORK, NEBRASKA,
Passes on to his eternal reward. I would not dare permit my pen to even think of doing justice to so good and noble Christian character. Known as Father of the Florist and Horticulturists of our great commonwealth. The press for this issue has been closed, but we must say a word, and am sure later some authorized committee from our Society will very soon draft resolutions that in some manner will tell of his worth to the states as a Christian, Florist and Horticulturists.

His birth was a blossom.

His life a perpetual fruitage.

And in our next issue we placed his picture on the front page underscribed as follows:
THE LATE “FATHER HARRISON”
York, Nebraska.

Later a Board Meeting was held at which time a committee was appointed by our Society to draft resolutions on his wonderful career as a Horticulturist, Florist and Christian, that will be made part of the records of the Society.

And wrote at the head of the Editorial column thus:
“Out Tribute to Father Harrison.”
Memoirs of men are the monuments they have made in life that live after them. Father Harrison’s achievements in fruit will live and grow as long as time lasts. His life was an open book of the good and beautiful, emblazoned with the one supreme thought, “to do something for others,” and we would be ungrateful indeed, if we did not recognize this fact in a fitting manner to be handed down to future generations, and in these few frail sentences we want to contribute our bit.

Later our Board met and appointed a committee consisting of Hon. E.M. Pollard, Peter Youngers and D.C. Bliss to draft suitable resolutions in memory of Father Harrison. They were also instructed to see that arrangements were made for the unveiling of his picture in the “Hall of Achievements” at the State Farm, provided the officers of that organization had not already done so. Mr. Pollard was to present the picture at its unveiling. That a copy of said resolution be recorded in the Nebraska Horticulture, and in the Annual Report, and a copy be sent to the family.

Much has been said and written about this wonderful character, some of which we may never see unless some provision is made to make a memorial volume. As in the east, especially New York, where he was so very active for years, he wrote some splendid books and articles for papers that are nationwide.

Judge Sedgwick who had known him so long, and so well, said among many other splendid things, “His most prominent character was his unfailing loyalty to his Religion and his God.” He led the fight that forever kept the saloon out of his own city, York.

We have his eight-six fruitful years as a legacy for all time, and “We reap what he has sown,” never was said ore truthfully of Paul.

He fought a good fight; he has finished his course and kept the faith.
 
The Home Life of Rev. C.S. Harrison
By T.E. Sedgwick

It has been truthfully said: “To every man in this world is assigned his duty. To every man is given just the mental and physical equipment he needs for that duty. Some men obtusely face away from their appointed work; some are carried afield by exigency; Some are drawn by avarice or ambition into alien paths; but a minor proportion of happy ones follow out their destiny. There do not occur many exceptions to the rule that men who find their work and do it, all other conditions being equal, not only live to old age, but to an extreme, a desirable, a comfortable and a natural old age.”

There is very little foundation for the popular belief that some lines of endeavor are less conducive to longevity than others, excepting those occupations that involve special danger of accident, and even there the one who resolutely and bravely does his duty is least liable to injury. The man who finds his work and does it, the man who fills his place in the world and performs faithfully the task for which he was destined, has neither time nor need, to fear premature dissolution.

Few men lead more strenuous lives than did Reverend C.S. Harrison; few indeed endure as many privations, meet and overcome as many obstacles and perform as many Herculean tasks.

I understood him as well, perhaps, as such a unique and many-sided character can be fathomed. I knew him in his ambitious young manhood, in the far-flung activities of his middle life, and in the unflagging usefulness of his ripened years; and I am sure that the inspiring motive of that long and strenuous life was the performance of duty.

His most prominent characteristic was unfailing loyalty to his religion and his God. It can be safely said he never for a moment doubted the reality of his religion, nor that it was his duty to stand firm for the right, as God gave him to see the right. When an issue arose the only question with him was as to which was the right side, and having decided he was not an idle spectator, nor a mere soldier in the ranks; he was a masterful leader, a bold champion, a furious fighter for the right. He early chose the ministry as his life work, correctly judging that to be the field for which nature had endowed him. He displayed unusual talent for organization and a number of churches were safely launched by his personal efforts. As a pulpit orator he had a few superiors. He was highly educated and possessed a most admirable command of language. His addresses were eloquent, often thrilling, and sometimes approached the sublime. His eloquence was entirely free from bombast. It was a spontaneous outburst of sentiment and emotion that gripped the very hearts of his hearers. He declined invitations from large and popular churches, to luxurious pastorates, choosing to follow the star of the empire in its westward course, and to work where his effort was most needed, if less richly requited. In selecting a field of labor, he never for a moment considered the question of salary, but where he thought he could do the most good, regardless of money, or danger, or hardship. Like the Apostle Paul, he turned his back on the rich and powerful, and poured out his burning and inspiring eloquence to a handful of poor but devoted people in the scattered settlements of the frontier.

Mr. Harrison was loyal to his friends. He believed in them and having once reposed confidence in a person it was hard to shake his faith in him. He would as far as right and truth would let him to assist one in whom he was interested, but the surest way to destroy his confidence in one was to request him to do something that had the least flavor of trickery or deceit. He wanted his friends to be true and honorable, and as long as he believed they were that they could rely upon his influence and assistance.

Mr. Harrison gained his education under great difficulties and with extraordinary effort and had a high appreciation of its value. He taught school before he entered the ministry and was accounted a most earnest and efficient instructor, and his interest in education and educational institutions remained with him through life. It was a cherished ambition of his to have a Congregational academy at York. In the early seventies he secured a tract of land and erected quite a pretentious building, but when the Methodist people were considering the location of a college and were attracted to York as a very suitable location for such an institution, he generously relinquished his ambition and assisted in securing that school.

Soon afterward he turned his attention to Franklin academy and gave liberally of his time and money to place that school on a firm basis.

Somewhere in Proverbs is a verse like this: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” Mr. Harrison feared the Lord with all his might. In the early struggle for temperance in this state he was a prominent and commanding figure. Between 1871 and 1876 he brought more than six hundred people into York county, and they were the right sort. He looked out for that. But others came who were not his selection. There were a number of the rougher and more reckless king that always gathered at frontier settlements. In those days there were saloons in every county seat and in almost all of the smaller towns, and one was started in York. Mr. Harrison determined that it should not be allowed to exist there, and he was seconded in this resolve by a number of resolute men, who came to his support. Few if any remain of the master builders who laid the foundations of that city broad and deep in the eternal principles of right. A more gallant hand of men and women never met a foe on any field and the recognized leader, the strongest and most resolute of them all was the man whose life and deeds we have met here to commemorate. A history of the early struggle to drive out the saloon, the joints, blind tigers, and groggeries of all descriptions, would be a most interesting volume. Strong, vigorous, and unafraid Mr. Harrison stood in the forefront of the temperance column. He received letters threatening to burn his home if he did not desist; his life was menaced and murderous attacks were narrowly averted, but none of these things moved him. When others became discouraged, he inspired them with new hope, when they faltered, he prodded them forward, and when they laid down their burden in dismay, he added it to his own heavy load. They won at last and York became a beacon light to all the state, the one place in all that section where men and women could live and raise their families away from the contaminating influence of the saloon. Seeing their success and witnessing the rapid growth and uninterrupted prosperity of York, others took heart and attacked the evil with renewed energy. When Mr. Harrison thought it has duty to accept the nomination for congress by the prohibition party, though he only expected a handful of votes, he made a vigorous campaign for prohibition, which culminated recently in a result far more gratifying to him than a seat in congress would have been. The confidence and respect of the people were expressed in a gratifying measure at the polls. He received a very flattering vote in York county, even a majority in Arborville township, and Franklin county, where he was pastor for eight years, and where he assisted in founding an academy, also remembered him generously at the polls. Now the wave of prohibition has swept the state and his days were lengthened to see the result. He could say with him of old: “Now let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen they salvation.” He was always a leader, alert, strong and courageous. He hesitated at no opposition, nor feared any foe. His part in the triumphant victory of temperance in this state was a large one and it can safely be said that no one contributed more to this desirable end.

About forty-five years ago Mr. Harrison went up to the northwest corner of York county and platted a town. He named it “Arborville,” and proceeded to make it true to name by planting the entire quarter section to trees. The streets were named for the different varieties of trees, and altogether the village was a visible demonstration of his ardent love for the beautiful in nature. The village has passed away; Elm street is a cow path and Maple street is overgrown with grass, but the trees, many of them remain, graceful and sturdy witnesses to this beautiful and aesthetic passion of the one who planted them.

From the moment his eyes first rested on the vast and bald stretches of Nebraska upland he became an ardent advocate of tree planting. And because trees were scarce and difficult to obtain, he started a nursery and furnished trees to everyone whom he could persuade to plant them. Many of the magnificent and stately trees that spread their wide branches over the streets and lawns of York were planted by his strong hands, or by his persuasion, and so York became a living forest long before other Nebraska towns had commenced tree planting.

Later in life he turned his attention almost exclusively to the cultivation of flowers, and to the propagation of new and more beautiful species. In his fervid and eloquent discourses, he never forgot to impress upon his audiences the delightful and refining influence of trees and flowers, and he wrote several books and innumerable articles upon the subject.

No man who loved flowers as he did and who adored nature in all her gorgeous panoply could be anything but tender and kind. Beneath his armor beat a tender heart, easily and deeply touched by suffering and sorrow. His enthusiasm was no greater in his contests with evil than in his sympathy with the poor, the suffering and the sad.

Strong physically as he was mentally no obstacle could prevent the accomplishment of his purpose. Once when he wanted to take the train at Fairmont, he found the intervening Blue river a rushing torrent whose resistless current had swept away the bridge. Undaunted he took off his wagon box and ferried across in it, leading his horses behind. Then he replaced the wagon box and pursued his way. Many instances of this kind could be told to illustrate his method of dealing with every obstacle that men or nature placed in his way. His life was kaleidoscopic. He would preach two powerful and exhausting sermons on Sunday; prosecute a whiskey seller on Monday; plant trees on Tuesday; write for the magazines on Wednesday and lead prayer meeting in the evening; go fifty or a hundred miles on Thursday to deliver a lecture, and be back home Friday afternoon, diligently hoeing in his garden or pruning his trees. Saturday he might visit a sick parishioner or discipline a drunk neighbor for abusing his wife. And the remarkable thing about it all is that he did everything thoroughly, intelligently, and exceptionally well. And he glorified God in everything he did. Few men could do as many things as he did and do them as well. He labored all his long life, earnestly, vigorously, and courageously to make men and women better, to make the world safe for righteousness and to bring the kingdom of God nearer to men.

As I sat beside the coffin, where he lay calm and inert, I wondered if any man had ever spent eighty-side years of such ceaseless activity; if any man I all the world had done so much of usefulness, in so many ways, had ever wrestled so often with men and nature without ever giving up or once crying “enough.”

His works is accomplished; he found his duty and did it; his epitaph is written on the beaming face of nature and in the hearts of men. The stately trees that spread above our heads; the birds that carol in their leafy branches; the flowers that lend a glow of beauty to our gardens; the church spires, pointing us ever upward; the educational institutions, making for better men and women, as the passing generations fill their allotted time, and bow beneath the veil; and more than all, the quickened conscience and higher purpose of the people constitute a memorial to him, more inspiring than anything we may say here today; more beautiful the parian marble; more durable than the hardest granite.

He wrought not for himself, but for us, and our children’s children; not for a day, but for all time.