Charles F. Harrison

CHARLES F. HARRISON, M. D., is the pioneer physician of Syracuse, Hamilton County. He came to that locality in March, 1899. Dr. Harrison, who had already been in practice several years, brought with him experience in addition to his other qualifications, and was welcomed and made to feel at home in the community, and has carried a heavy share of professional responsibilities in that region ever since.

He was born in Pike County, Illinois, March 2, 1874, and grew up in the home of a farmer and merchant. His great-grandparents on the maternal side were natives of Scotland. His grandfather was William Henry Harrison, who was a cabinet maker at LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and spent his last years there. Five of his sons were Union soldiers in the Civil war, and he also had five daughters. These ten children all reared families.

James H. Harrison, father of Doctor Harrison, was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, November 8, 1840, a date which indicates that the Harrison family were among the first pioneers of Wisconsin. He grew up with farm experience, had a common school education, and when a young man toward the close of the Civil war enlisted with a regiment of Wisconsin Infantry. He was not in any of the famous battles of the war, and his principal service was along Red River and in Georgia. He received an honorable discharge at the close of hostilities, and afterwards was actively affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. He was a democrat in politics, and always took much interest in local affairs at Perry, Illinois, where he filled several local offices. He married Eunice Augusta Cleveland, who was born in Pike County, Illinois. His father, Jacob K. Cleveland, went to Illinois from Massachusetts, was a merchant at Perry and a man of prominence said influence in that locality. James H. Harrison died April 2, 1911. His widow died at Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 15, 1918. They had only two children, Doctor Harrison and Ellen, the latter the wife of Walter Bell of Minneapolis.

Doctor Harrison grew up in Illinois, and acquired his literary education in the grammar and high schools of Perry. Immediately after leaving high school he entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, one of the oldest and best known medical institutions in the Middle West. He graduated there with his degree in 1896 and for three years practiced in his native Town of Perry. Seeking a new field further west, in the course of his prospecting he came to Syracuse, and in point of continuous service is now the oldest practitioner there. Doctor Harrison besides giving the people of this region his individual competent services as a physician and surgeon has established at Syracuse a small hospital for the treatment of emergency cases, surgical and obstetrical work. It has every convenience and facility and is an institution greatly appreciated in this rural community. Besides the hospital Doctor Harrison has also contributed his own home to the upbuilding of Syracuse. He is a member of the Southwest Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Several times he served his county as coroner and also as county health officer, but outside his profession has taken little active part in local politics. He was brought up as a democrat, and is a Protestant in religion, but without active church membership. Doctor Harrison is affiliated with Perry Lodge No. 78 Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in his native town. About eight years after coming to Kansas Doctor Harrison went to Colorado and married on Christmas day, 1907, Miss Bess Manker. Her father, William Manker, now of Caddoa, Colorado, was born in Ohio, and has spent his life chiefly as a farmer. He married Hittie Parker of Massachusetts. Mrs. Harrison was born in Kansas, and she has an older sister living in Montana and a brother, George, at Dallas, Texas, in the United States Aviation Signal Corps, also a younger brother and sister at Caddoa, Colorado. Doctor and Mrs. Harrison have a son, Charles Frederick, Jr.