DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a life worth tellin'. Daniel Harrison came into this world in Tennessee in 1816, and by 1835 he had already set his sights on Texas. He wasn't the kind of man who sat still while history was being made around him.
He served with Texan forces during the Texas Revolution, and when the fighting wasn't done, he stayed on as a volunteer for the Republic's militia. Then came 1839 and the Battle of the Neches — Daniel Harrison was there for that too. The following year, 1840, he married a woman named Nancy Robbins.
And before long, that young family was movin' again — this time to what would become Williamson County, and specifically to a place called Corn Hill. Now, Corn Hill wasn't just any little settlement sitting quietly on the prairie. It was a stage stop — a real one, on the route running from Austin all the way to Fort Gates.
That military road carried traffic that mattered, and someone had to keep it moving. Daniel Harrison was a blacksmith, and in a world that ran on horses and iron, that made him essential. The marker is plain about it: his work was crucial to traffic on that military road.
Stages don't roll when the horses are unshod and the hardware is broken. He was the man who kept things moving. When the Civil War came, Harrison served again — this time in Central Texas' 27th Brigade.
The man had a long and faithful habit of showing up when it counted. And when the soldiering was done for good, he farmed. He raised horses and cattle.
He lived the kind of life in Corn Hill that a man builds one season at a time. Daniel Harrison died in 1870. He and Nancy were first laid to rest in Anderson Cemetery — but that wasn't the end of the story.
In time, the two of them were reinterred together in Corn Hill Cemetery, the very community they had helped put on the map. From Tennessee to the Texas Revolution, from the Battle of the Neches to the forge in Corn Hill — Daniel Harrison's life covered a lot of ground. And the road from Austin to Fort Gates still owes him something.
What the marker says
Tennessee native Daniel Harrison (1816-1870) migrated to Texas in 1835. He served with Texan forces during the Texas Revolution, and as a volunteer for the Republic's militia. He was in the 1839 Battle of the Neches. In 1840, Harrison married Nancy Robbins and soon moved his family to present-day Williamson County and what would be the Corn Hill community. He served in Central Texas' 27th Brigade during the Civil War. As a blacksmith in Corn Hill, a stage stop on the route from Austin to Fort Gates, his work was crucial to traffic on the military road. Later, Harrison also farmed and raised horses and cattle. Originally buried in Anderson Cemetery, Daniel and Nancy were later reinterred in Corn Hill Cemetery. (2007)