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Generation III - 2 Fisher-Adams

H. H. Fisher was born at Wheaton in 1866, attended public schools until 1878, he then became associated in business with his father who was a commission agent in Chicago. In 1891, Mary Rebecca Adams and Harry Hutchins Fisher were married in the Adam's home at 2716 Calumet Avenue in Chicago; they resided there for 10 years.George Washington Adams, father of the bride, died less than four months before the wedding.

In 1901 he joined Mary Rebecca's brother-in-law, Rolland Morrill, in a very large agricultural undertaking near Jacksonville in East Texas. They were a part of a corporation of well-known capitalists who were developing a 9000 acre peach orchard, the largest in the world. The farm was so large that a small town was established on it to serve the managers and workers. Four miles of the Cotton Belt RR ran through the property. The railway established a station of its own with an express, freight and telegraph service. Morrill and others were experienced producers and distributors; seedlings were being raised on the Morrill home farm in Michigan then shipped to the Texas farm by the Cotton Belt RR. The land was purchased from the State of Texas. It had previously been cleared and was being used as cattle range. It was considered excellent soil for vegetable crops and peaches. In between the rows of peach tree rows a variety of vegetable were harvested during the first three years.

* * * * * * * .Stories my Mother told me about those days in Texas made it seem an exciting time. She was nine years old when the family went there to live. One of the things she told about was taking the train to boarding school. She often spoke of Tyler, so perhaps that was where the school was. Harry Jr. was seven and Dorothy was five; I don't recall if they all went to this school. She recalled that the farm used convict labor. She remembered hearing the baying of the hounds at night during a chase to find escaping prisoners For years after returning from Texas we frequently heard tales of the good old days on the farm in Texas. The land had been a part of the Texas penitentiary system where convicts were used to clear the land.. Misfortune thwarted the company's plans, however. Three successive years of heavy frost put an end to the project and their dreams. This created a financial disaster and bankrupted some of the partners.

November 30, l906 Earl Webster Fisher died, shortly there after the Harry Fisher family returned north and made their home in Wheaton. across the street from his parent's home and where H.H. Fisher was born and had grown up. A few years later my grandparents moved to Los Angeles and settled not far from where we lived. He died in 1940, he was 74.

Fisher Family Records

Photos	Wedding
Grandpa	Obituaries
Letters	Spoons