When I was a youngster in the 1950’s, Aunt Maggie and Uncle Harry Richardson were the oldest members of our Harrison clan. She was my grandfather’s aunt, and to me that seemed about as old as one could be.
Maggie Rosannah Harrison was born August 23, 1881, in Chanute, Kansas.1 Herman Harry Richardson was about two years older than Maggie. Maggie and Harry had one son, Louis, who never married. Maggie was by all accounts the matriarch of the Harrison clan at that time. Family tradition holds that she was also the family banker if one of her nephews needed a short-term loan. NOTE: The woman in the dark dress walking down the street on the banner at the top of this site is Maggie.2
My memories of Maggie are of a somewhat overweight, elderly woman who used a cane or walker to get around. I also remember that she was always in charge wherever she was. She used to bark commands at my grandmother and my great aunts, pointing to this or that with a shake of her cane. My grandmother and her sisters-in-law were tough and strong-willed, but there must have been more to their relationship with Maggie because they were all genuinely fond of her.
Herman Harry Richardson was born in Iowa in August of 1879.3 Compared to Aunt Maggie, Uncle Harry was a slender man. His skin was brown and weathered from a lifetime of outdoor work on the farm. He loved to play cards; five-hundred, euchre, and cribbage were among his favorite games. Family gatherings nearly always included card games with lots of loud conversation and laughter.
Uncle Harry had a reputation for raising fine horses. There were no horses on the farm by the time I came along, but the last time I visited Uncle Harry he talked about his horses. His eyes and face would light up when he talked about those animals, even though he was bedridden and nearing death. NOTE: The man in front of the barn holding the dark horse on the banner at the top of this site is Harry. The setting is one of Harry’s farms in Banner Township, Woodbury County, Iowa.2
Aunt Maggie and Uncle Harry passed away over 40 years ago. My grandfather’s generation is gone, too. But our Harrison clan still gathers with lots of loud conversations, laughter, and usually a game of cards.
© Norman Washburn
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References
1. United States Federal Census 1910, Banner, Woodbury, Iowa.
2. Photographs from the collection of Loraine Harrison Washburn.
3. United States Federal Census 1900, Banner, Woodbury, Iowa.
