Early and Personal Life
Harrison's maternal grandparents, William and Catherine Meek, lived in England, where his mother, Catherine, was born in 1816. The Meek family came to Wellsboro in 1833, where William was a merchant and tailor. Harrison's father William was born in New Jersey, and also came to Wellsboro in 1833, where he helped build the Tioga County courthouse. Harrison's parents met in Wellsboro, married, and had seven children, although only three survived to adulthood. Leonard Harrison was born on January 10, 1850.
Harrison attended the Wellsboro public schools and the Wellsboro Academy. He worked as a carpenter in his father's business initially, then began working as a clerk in the Wellsboro post office and for a bookstore when he was 15. From 1878 to 1884 he worked as a clerk in the Tioga County Commissioners' office, where he became familiar with land throughout the county. He began to work in the lumber business, and in 1883 began a coal business, which operated for ten years.
In 1882 Harrison married Mary Green. They lived at 10 West Avenue in Wellsboro and had three children: George, Emily, and Catherine. Emily died before 1900, and William was killed working in the family lumber business in West Virginia in 1941. Catherine never married and died in 1971. All are buried in the Wellsboro Cemetery.
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