Freeman, Bessie Lee
1884-1932 | Pioneer
Bessie Lee Freeman was born in Keokuk, Iowa on October 22, 1883, the daughter of Charles G. and Mary Delilah Hendershot Freeman. She grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, where her father was a farmer.[1]
In 1906, Freeman married William Hugh Harrison, a miner, who lived in Cripple Creek, Teller County, Colorado.[2] Sometime in the early 1900s, she became a widow running a boarding house in Cripple Creek, Colorado. She had two children, Jack, born in 1907, and Wilma, born in 1911.
In Cripple Creek, Harrison met her second husband, Richard “Daily” Sullivan, and they were married in 1916. Sullivan was born in Smithville, Missouri, on June 5, 1887, the son of William and Harriet Sullivan. During World War I, their family moved to Nederland, Colorado, where he worked as a miner at the Forest Home Mine.[3] They had two children, Doris Sullivan, born in 1916 and Charles Sullivan, born in 1918.
In 1921, the Sullivan family headed for Alaska, first moving to Chickaloon, where Daily worked in the coal mines, then to Seward, and to Anchorage in 1922. After living in Anchorage for several years, the Sullivans returned to Seward, with the exception of Jack Harrison, who stayed in Anchorage to finish high school.[4] In 1930-1931, the elder Sullivan served as clerk on the Seward school board while working as a trainman for the Alaska Railroad.[5]
On March 18, 1932, Bessie Sullivan died following a short illness in Seward. She was survived by her husband, Richard “Daily” Sullivan, and four children: Wilma, Doris, Jack, and Charles. Richard “Daily” Sullivan died on September 28, 1935, in Anchorage. Their remains are buried in the City Cemetery in Seward.[6]
Bessie Sullivan’s son, Jack Harrison, became a licensed big-game guide and, later, was a locomotive engineer for the Alaska Railroad. In 1945, he established a cinder block plant in Anchorage, which was the forerunner of Anchorage Sand and Gravel Company. The following year, he joined Anchorage Sand and Gravel Company as vice-president and served in this capacity for the next twenty years until his health forced him to retire. He married Lorene Cuthbertson, in Estes Park, Colorado in 1930. After Jack Harrison's death in 1968, Lorene opened the Hat Box, a ladies' ready-to-wear shop specializing in hats. Her activities and interest in music made her a popular figure in Anchorage. She organized the United Choir of all Faiths, which was the forerunner of the Anchorage Community Chorus, and received many awards and honors for her work in the arts. The main lobby in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, which opened in 1988, was named in honor of Lorene Harrison.
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Endnotes
[1] Draft registration card, Richard Daily Sullivan, Boulder County, CO, June 5, 1917, National Archives Microfilm Publication M1509, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Roll CO4, U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed August 2, 2016).
[2] John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 231.
[3] Mary J. Barry, Seward, Alaska: A History of the Gateway City, Volume III: 1924-1993, Growth, Tragedy, Recovery, Adaptation (Anchorage: Mary J. Barry, 1995), 48; and Daily Sullivan, 1930 U.S. Census, Seward, Third Judicial District, Alaska, ED 3-1, page 14B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T626, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Roll 2627, U.S., 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2016).
[4] “Death Beckons Seward Matron," Anchorage Daily Times, March 21, 1932, 4; and “Funeral Tonight,” Anchorage Daily Times, September 30, 1935, 4.
[5] Mary J. Barry, Seward, Alaska: A History of the Gateway City, Volume III: 1924-1993, Growth, Tragedy, Recovery, Adaptation (Anchorage: Mary J. Barry, 1995), 48; and Richard Daily Sullivan, 1930 U.S. Census, Seward, Third Judicial District, Alaska, ED 3-1, page 14B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T626, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Roll 2627, U.S., 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2016).
[6] "Death Beckons Seward Matron," Anchorage Daily Times, March 21, 1932, 4; and “Funeral Tonight,” Anchorage Daily Times, September 30, 1935, 4.
Sources
This biographical sketch of Bessie Lee Freeman is based on an essay which originally appeared in John Bagoy's Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage, AK: Publications Consultants, 2001) 231-232. See also the Jack Harrison file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 3, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK. Photographs courtesy of the Harrison family. Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012. Note: edited, revised, and expanded by Bruce Parham, August 3, 2016.
Preferred citation: Bruce Parham, “Freeman, Bessie Lee,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://www.alaskahistory.org.
Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.