James Fletcher Haralson

Male, #32472, (23 Jul 1848 - 16 Jan 1891)

Parent*Fynetta Elizabeth Rowden Rison (1826 - 1891)
James Fletcher Haralson|b. 23 Jul 1848\nd. 16 Jan 1891|p32472.htm||||Fynetta Elizabeth Rowden Rison|b. 1826\nd. 1891|p32480.htm|||||||||||||

Birth*23 Jul 1848 James was born at Georgia on 23 Jul 1848. 
 He was the son of Fynetta Elizabeth Rowden Rison. 
Marriage*20 Sep 1866 He married Sarah Jane Culpepper at Randolph Co., Alabama, on 20 Sep 1866. 
1870 Census*25 Aug 1870 James was listed as the head of a family on the 1870 Census at Miller Valley PO, Clay Co., Alabama. 26 m-p. 268 hh 164. 
1880 Census*1880 James was listed as the head of a family on the 1880 Census at DeKalb Co., Alabama. 31 m-ED59 sht 14 ln 35 twp 7 range 6. 
Death*16 Jan 1891 He died at Vance, Lewis Co., Washington, on 16 Jan 1891. 
Biography* James Fletcher Haralson married Sarah Jane Culpepper after the Civil War. They settled down to raise their family in Alabama. The couple was noted in the 1870 census of Clay Co., AL 1 and in the 1880 census of DeKalb Co., AL.

In 1886, James decided to head west to Oregon. James and Sallie and their six surviving children, aged five to eighteen, started out on March 21, 1886, when the apple and peach orchards were blossoming and the corn was six inches high.2 When they arrived in San Francisco, they learned that the next ship leaving port was going to Tacoma, WA, and they decided to go to Washington instead of to Oregon. The family had encountered no Indians on their journey until they reached the Puget Sound where they saw Indians in dugouts and canoes paddling out to the ships to sell fish.2 The family camped in Tacoma for a week until their freight caught up with them and then they went on to Chehalis, WA, arriving on April 24, 1886 in the middle of a snow storm.2

James Fletcher Haralson apparently decided to settle his family in the Big Bottom area of Washington. Big Bottom covers a 30 mile stretch of the upper Cowlitz River from the Clear Fork branch of the river to Tumwater Falls.3 James Longmire and William Packwood were trying to find a low pass to connect the Puget Sound with the Oregon Trail when three Nisqually guides led them to the area in 1854.3 A pass was not found and it was 30 more years before white men started to settle in the area. William Joerk/York, a German merchant, followed a trail from the upper Sacramento River area of California into Big Bottom in 1882 and he found that the Cowlitz tribe that had lived there when Longmire and Packwood had explored the area had been wiped out by smallpox.3 York returned the following year to settle in Big Bottom and he was soon followed by others, including, in 1885, Louisa Siler who came with her brother, Rufus T. Siler and was the first white woman to settle in Big Bottom.3 James F. Haralson decided that he wanted to settle on the "Island" in the Big Bottom and he arranged to have ten acres of land cleared and a split cedar house built on the land.2 However, James did not move his family onto the land immediately. He went into the shingle bolt business using six yoke of oxen to haul sleds of cedar shingle bolts along a skid road made of logs to the river.2 There, the shingle bolts were dumped into the river and held behind a boom until as many as 1,000 cords of wood had been accumulated. A crew working on the banks and in canoes then floated the wood down river to a mill which had purchased them for processing.2

Washington became a state on 11 Nov 1889. James F. Harralson's business was doing well until the winter of 1889, when he suffered from "La Grippe" which had been brought to the United States from Europe.2 This was influenza which was often followed by pneumonia or tuberculous. James F. Haralson never recovered. He sold all but one team of oxen, a couple of young Holsteins named Buck and Coley and, in the fall of 1890, the family traveled by road to the Cowlitz River. For three weeks, James F. Haralson's oldest son, William, used the team of oxen to pack the household goods to the Island.2 Finally, the family started out on foot to the Island, except for James who was too weak and had to ride the pony, Beaver.2 The family finally arrived at the house on October 11, 1890 after walking for four days and then using a canoe to cross a slough to the Island.2 It was pouring rain. James F. Haralson died three months later. He was 42 years old. 

Family

Sarah Jane Culpepper (17 Jan 1844 - 24 Jul 1925)

Last Edited 6 Dec 2003

Citations

  1. No Miller Valley has been identified, could this be Mellow Valley?
  2. Mrs. J. (Clara Haralson) Moorcroft, "The Pioneering Experiences of James Fletcher Haralson and his wife - Sarah Jane Culpepper," three typed sheets, 27 Feb 1960
  3. Walker Allison Tompkins, "The Big Bottom (Lewis County) 1833-1933," 1933