Reuben Harrison
American politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reuben Harrison was an American politician who was elected to the Illinois Senate.
Reuben Harrison | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Illinois Senate | |
| In office 1842–1842 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 12, 1779 |
| Died | May 3, 1852 (aged 72) |
| Party | Whig[1] |
Biography
Harrison was born on June 12, 1779 in Rockingham County, Virginia.[1] In 1818, he moved to Kentucky and then in 1822 to Sangamon County, Illinois. In 1842, he was elected to the Illinois Senate in the 13th Illinois General Assembly[2] representing Sangamon county[3] with (1,411 votes out of 2,365 votes cast) defeating Samuel Grubb (781 votes) and fellow whig William G. Cantrell (173 votes).[4]
He was immediately embroiled in controversy.[3] The state had just completed a reapportionment of seats in 1841 which created a new Senate district consisting of Sangamon county alone which had been carved out from the prior district which comprised Sangamon, Menard, Logan, and Christian counties.[3] A dispute arose as the prior district was represented by Edward D. Baker who still had two years remaining on his term as Senator.[3] The issue was referred to the Select Committee for resolution and it was decided that it would be unfair to have two senators representing Sangamon county and Harrison was excluded.[3] No one contested the decision;[3] and Harrision returned to his life as a farmer.[1]
Personal life
He married Parthenia Harrison on May 16, 1804, in Virginia; they had one child before she died.[1] On November 29, 1810, he married Barbara A. Harnsberger; they had 4 children[1] He died on May 3, 1852 in Summerfield, Alabama.[1]