Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/127

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HARRISON
HARSHA
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1791, and he was continued as first auditor through the successive administrations till 1 Nov., 1836.


HARRISON, Robert Alexander, Canadian jurist, b. in Montreal, 4 Aug., 1833 ; d. in Toronto in 1878. He was educated at Upper Canada and Trinity colleges, and was admitted to the bar in 1855. He was appointed chief clerk of the Crown lands department in the same year, an office that he held for four years, represented West Toronto in parliament from 1867 till 1872, and be- came chief justice of Ontario in 1875. During his career in the legislature he promoted important legal measures, and as a lawyer was retained as counsel in many cases. He was editor of the " Upper Canada Law Journal," being at one time a contributor of poetry to the " Daily Colonist," of Toronto, and is the author of " Digest of Cases in the Queen's Bench, Upper Canada, from 1823 to 1851" (1853); "Common Law Procedure Act" (1856) ; " Statutes of Upper Canada " to 1856 ; " Sketch of the Legal Profession in Upper Cana- da " (1857) ; " Manual of Costs in County Courts " (1857) ; " Rules of Practice and Pleading in the Courts of Upper Canada " (1858) ; and " Municipal Manual of Upper Canada " (1859).


HARRISON, Robert Hanson, jurist, b. in Maryland in 1745 ; d. in Charles county, Md., 2 April, 1790. He was educated for the law, suc- ceeded Joseph Reed as secretary to Gen. Washing- ton on 6 Nov., 1775, with the rank of lieutenant- colonel, and remained in the military family of the commanding general till the spring of 1781. He was appointed by congress in November, 1777, a member of the board of war. but declined the office. He became chief justice of the general court of Maryland on 10 March, 1781, but declined the appointment of judge of the United States supreme court in 1789.


HARRISON, Samuel Bealy, Canadian states- man, b. in Manchester, England, 4 March, 1802 ; d. 23 July, 1867. He was distinguished as a lawyer, represented Kingston in the 1st parliament of United Canada from 1 July, 1841, till 23 Sept., 1844, and in the 2d parliament was member for Kent from 12 Nov., 1843, till 3 Jan., 1845. He was a member of the executive council of Canada from 10 March, 1841, till 30 Sept., 1843 ; during this period was provincial secretary, and from 21 Dec, 1841, till 3 Oct., 1844, was a member of the board of works. While in parliament he greatly aided Lord Sydenham in carrying out the union act. He was for many years a county and surrogate judge.


HARRISON, Sarah, Quaker preacher, b. in Delaware county, Pa., about 1748; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 29 Dec., 1812. She was the daughter of Rowland Richards, and after her marriage to Thomas Harrison settled in Philadelphia. She first preached in the Quaker meetings during the Revolution, and was acknowledged a minister in 1781. Accompanied by Mary England she attended the yearly meeting of Friends in Virginia in 1786, and was afterward liberated by her monthly meeting to attend the meetings of Friends in the southern states. In 1787 she attended the North Carolina yearly meeting, in which the question of slavery was discussed, and a committee appointed to visit slave-holders. She returned to Philadelphia in 1788, and in 1792 visited London and Dublin and travelled on the continent of Europe, where she was held prisoner for several days by the French on suspicion of being an English spy. — Her son, John, manufacturer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 17 Dec., 1773; d. there, 19 May, 1833. His early education was obtained in Philadelphia, after which he spent two years in Europe, devoting his attention to acquiring a knowledge of the processes used by chemists in manufacturing, and also in studying chemistry under Dr. Joseph Priestley. In 1793 he began in Philadelphia the manufacture of chemicals, and was the first successful maker of sulphuric acid in the United States. He had a lead chamber capable of producing 300 carboys, and in 1807 so increased his plant that an annual output of 3,500 carboys was possible. The use of glass retorts for the concentration of the acid was then prevalent, and Dr. Eric Bollman, who was familiar with the metallurgy of platinum, constructed for Mr. Harrison the first platinum stills that were used in the United States in connection with the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Subsequently the plant was again increased by the building of white-lead works, resulting in the production of various lead compounds and other chemicals. Mr. Harrison is credited with doing more to influence the establishment of chemical industries in Philadelphia than any man of his time. The business is now carried on by his grandsons. From 1821 till 1824 he held the office of recorder of deeds in Philadelphia.


HARRISON, Thomas, Canadian educator, b. in Sheffield, Sunbury co., New Brunswick, 24 Oct., 1839. He was graduated at Trinity college, Dub- lin, in 1864, and received the degree of LL. D. from that institution in 1870. He became professor of the English language and literature and of mental and moral philosophy in the University of New Brunswick in 1870, and president of the university and professor of mathematics in 1885. Prof. Har- rison has been superintendent of the meteorological chief station at Fredericton, N. B„ since 1874, and is the author of the reports of tri-hourly observa- tions published in " Meteorological Observations of the Dominion of Canada."


HARROD, James, pioneer, b. in Virginia in 1746 ; d. near Harrodsburg, Kv., about 1825. He emigrated to Kentucky in 1774. and built the first log cabin on the present site of Harrodsburg. He was one of the most efficient of the early military leaders, a successful farmer, and an expert with the rifle. He was distinguished at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, and afterward represented Harrodsburg (which was named in his honor) in the Transylvania assembly. He was in the habit of making solitary excursions into the forest, and from one of these trips, which was undertaken at an ad- vanced age, he never returned, nor was any trace of him ever discovered.


HARROW, William, soldier, b. in Indiana about 1820. He was engaged, as colonel of the 14th Indiana infantry, at the battle of Antietam, where more than half of his regiment were killed or wounded. He was commissioned as brigadier- general of volunteers on 29 Nov., 1862, and re- signed on 20 April, 1865.


HARSHA, David Addison, author, b. in Argyle, N. Y., 15 Sept., 1827. He received a classical education and studied theology, but was prevented from entering the ministry by a chronic bronchial affection. "Mr. Harsha is a frequent contributor to the press, and has spent most of his life in his native town, engaged in literary pursuits. Among his works are "The Heavenlv Token" (New York, 1856); "The Star of Bethlehem" (Chicago, 1864); "Manual of Sacred Literature " (New York, 1866); "Lives of Charles Sumner, Doddridge, Baxter, Addison, and Bunyan" (1868); "Lives and Selected Works of Isaac Watts, George Whitefield, James Harvey, and Abraham Booth" (1869); "Devotional Thoughts of Eminent Divines" (1869); "The Golden Age of English Lit-