Garrison Family Information

Jonathan was born in 1780 in Mecklenburg Co., NC, the son of John Garrison and Hannah Smith, and moved with his parents and siblings to Warren Co., KY, where he was married to Anna, 2 Dec 1800, and the first four of their children were born. They then moved to Logan, Hawkins Co., TN, about 1809-1810, where the next four children were born. About 1819-1820, they moved to Parke Co., IN where their last two children were born. Caroline Jane Garrison was born 29 Oct 1820, and Clarissa Ann Garrison was born 30 Aug 1822, both in Parke County.

I don't know know where they lived when they first arrived in Parke County. The earliest I can place them on the land with certainty is in 1824, when Jonathan received the land patent on 10 Mar 1824 for land on Racoon Creek, Township 16N, Range 7W, 2nd prime meridian, NE quarter of West half of Section 35, about 80 acres [BLM records + original document in Newberry Library, Chicago].

The next member of the family to take up land was Jonathan's brother, John Flavel Garrison, on Apr 2, 1829, when he received the patent for Township 15N, Range 7W, 2nd prime meridian, NW quarter of E half of Section 10, about 80 acres. This was on Sand Creek near its confluence with Little Raccoon Creek. John Flavel Garrison was born 1764 in Wilson County, TN. and was married to Elizabeth Calhoun.

On 11 Jan 1830, Mark A. Garrison received the patent for West half of the Southeast quarter of Section 3, Township 15N, Range 7W, 2nd prime meridian. This land adjoined his uncle, John Flavel Garrison's land across the section line. Mark Alexander Garrison, the eldest child of Jonathan Edward Garrison and Anna Garrison, was born 22 Oct 1801, in Bowling Green, Warren Co., KY. On 5 Dec. 1826, in Parke Co., IN, he was married to Mary White. Most of their ten children were born in Parke County. The exception being their 4th child William Edward Garrison, who was born during a sojourn of less than two years in Sangamon Co., IL., and their 10 child, Jonathan Pentzer Garrison who was born after Marks family moved to Missouri in 1843/44.

John Milton Garrison went by his middle name as an adult, because there were too many Johns and Jonathans in the family. He was the third child of Jonathan Edward and Anna, born 3 May 1806 in Bowling Green, Warren Co., KY. He was the next of the family to receive a land patent for the W half of the SW quarter of Section 10, Township 15N, Range 7W, 2nd prime meridian. This patent was granted on Feb. 1, 1831. It adjoined the south side of his uncle, John Flavel Garrison's land.

On Sept 26, 1831, there was another patent for land to Jonathan E. Garrison. The papers do not stipulate, but I suspect that this was not for the Jonathan Edward Garrison aforementioned, but for his son, Jonathan Edward Garrison, who had just turned 21 years of age, and had been married to Mary Ann (surname unknown) on 4 Dec. 1830 and had a newborn son. This land was the East half of the Northeast quarter of section 10, Township 15N, Range 7W, 2nd prime meridian, and adjoined the East side of John Flavel Garrison's land. This Johnathan Edward was the fourth son and fifth child of Jonathan Edward and Anna. He was born 18 Apr. 1810, at Logan, Hawkins Co., TN. His son, William Tennant Garrison was born in 1831 and I don't have the place confirmed but believe it was Parke County. His daughter, Dorcas Wilson Garrison (for whom I am named) was born at Rockville, Park Co., IN, 3 Jan 1833, according to entries in her Bible.

On May 1, 1833, Milton received another parcel of land. The land was the Southwest quarter of the West half of Section 34, Township 16N, Range 8W, and was about 6 miles west of his other parcel.

In 1837, two patents were given. On Mar. 20, Milton Garrison claimed the East half of the Northwest quarter of Section 10, Township 15N, Range 7W. The southeast corner of this land touched the northwest corner of his first land. Ten days later on Mar. 30, Mark Alexander Garrison received the patent for the Southeast quarter of the West half of Section 4, Township 15N, Range 7W. This land was about 1 mile west of his original land.

I don't know when Jonathan Edward and Anna left Parke County, but by 1840 they are in Fulton County, IL, and in 1850, Anna is not listed but the elder Jonathan Edward is living with his son Jonathan Edward's family in Hancock Co., Illinois. In 1852, he wrote a letter to his son John Rankin Garrison in Rossville,Ohio, from Newton County, Missouri. It was posted at Neosho. This is the last record I have of him. I have checked records of local cemeteries in Missouri, but find no record of him there.

I will attach some family group record sheets which I hope will be of assistance in documenting another early family in Parke County. I'm sorry that some of my research in the early years was not as well documented as I know to do today.