The Harrison Homestead

The Harrison Homestead was an iconic landmark in Grant County, Kentucky for many years. It was located in the community of Heekin, and built by Perry Jackson Harrison in the mid 19th Century. Harrison is reported to be of relation to several prominent U.S. Politicians, but more research needs to be conducted. He was the son of early Grant County Justice of the Peace, Henry Harrison and was featured in Civil War History that you can find in his biography below.

Another piece of History on the Harrison Family can be found in a post card written on October 28th, 1909, from Harry Simpson to Fred Simpson, where Harry wrote to his cousin, Fred, who was working for relatives in Illinois. Harry attended a “Singing” at the Harrison House that lasted well into the evening and thought highly enough of it that he had to write his cousin.

A brief history of the Harrison Homestead:
“With his broad axe, Perry Jackson Harrison cut and finished the giant timbers, thick clapboards, and shingles for this early mansion of eleven rooms and two porches. He built the house on the site he had chosen when he homesteaded from Virginia to Grant County, west of Williamstown, On his land there were thirteen springs and two creeks. One he named "Rattlesnake" because he killed so many rattlesnakes in the area; the other he called "Wicked Run' because it ran a wicked course, Mr. Harrison helped in naming the Heekin store and Heekin Post Office, taking the name from the Heekin Can Company (Wikipedia) in Cincinnati, Perry Benjamin Harrison (1815-1884), the son of Esquire William Harrison, was the grandson of Benjamin Harrison who was Clerk of council in 1633 and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, He was the nephew of William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States.

Should this homestead speak, it could relate the story of how Perry Jackson Harrison, suspected of participating in the Underground Railroad activities during the Civil War was taken to Camp Chase federal prison. After a troop of soldiers came to the Harrison homestead and investigated, but found no slaves hidden there, Mr. Harrison was sent home to his family.

The house could also relate the story of a steel-banded, fire-banded trunk that sat in the corner of one room. A pirate once stayed at the Harrison home for three weeks. When he left he told the family not to open the trunk unless he failed to return. He did not return, and when they opened the trunk, they found it filled with Confederate currency, clothes, and papers of identification. This old homestead, a landmark in Grant county, is soon to be razed and replaced by a modern dwelling.

Image and text from a Facebook post by the Grant County KY Historical Society.