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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JUDGE BAZIL HARRISON BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
An anecdote is related of him which illustrates the peace loving qualities of Judge Harrison. Christopher Bair and a neighbor got into a quarrel about the breaking down of a wagon which Mr. Bair had
borrowed. One of the boxes to an axle was broken somehow, and it was not clear to whom belonged the duty of repairing the loss; a lawsuit and hard feelings were likely to grow out of this matter. When Judge Harrison heard of this, he took a box from an assortment which he brought with him from Ohio, placed it upon the axle, and that settled the difficulty. He has been known to ride all day for the purpose of bringing about an amicable settlement of a difference between neighbors.
It has been a matter of general belief for many years that Judge Harrison was the ''Bee Hunter" of Cooper's novel, the "Oak Openings, " the scene of which, it will be remembered, is laid in Kalamazoo. Since the publication of the work, this has been the accepted theory among the pioneers of the county and Judge Harrison's neighbors. We never heard the fact questioned until last year, when Judge H. G. Wells informed us that Mr. Cooper told him after the appearance of the book, that his character of "Ben Boden, the Bee Hunter, " was not founded on Judge Harrison, but on Towner Savage, one of the pioneers of The county, and a bee hunter by avocation. This being so, Mr. Cooper must have made contradictory statements, for Mrs. J. B. Daniels, of this village, is very positive and clear in her recollection that Mr. Cooper repeatedly named Judge Harrison as the original of the character mentioned. Fenmore Cooper, as is well known, had considerable property interests in Kalamazoo county at one time, the township just north of it deriving its name from him. He made several long continued visits to Kalamazoo,. along in the "forties, " and one, if we mistake not, as late as 1850, the year before his death.
Michigan
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