Henrietta Simms

Henrietta Simms :

Nick name ( Nettie ).

Facts:

We often feel that documents from the US Census will give us the facts but they can be very confusing. We know "Henrietta Harrison" on the census below is our Nettie because they also include Benjamin R. Harrison and their children that were living at home during these years.

Census - 1870, Minnesota, Nobles County, lists Henrietta Harrison as 21 years old and born in Ill. This would make her birth year 1850.

Census - 1880, Minnesota, Wabasha County, lists Henrietta Harrison as 36 years old and born in Ill. This would make her birth year 1844.

Census - 1885, Minnesota, Osakis Douglas County, lists Henrietta as H.E. and 38 years old, born in Penn. This would make her birth year 1847.

Census - 1900, Minnesota, Becker County, lists Henrietta Harrison's year of birth as 1850.

From the census entries listed above, and from family stories, we assume Henrietta Harrison ( Simms ) was born in 1850 in the state of Illinois. We would feel more assured if we were to find a birth, marriage, or death certificate on Henrietta.

Although we do not know who her parents were, some of the census entries above list her mother as being born in NY.

We do not know when Henrietta married Benjamin R. Harrison, but together they had 6 children. The first was born in 1865 when Henrietta was 15 years old and Benjamin R. Harrison was 36 years old.

She was only 5 years older then her step daughter Caroline Harrison, from Benjamin R. Harrison’s first wife.

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Legends:

The following stories were remembered by my grandmpther, Henrietta's great granddaughter.

It is said that Henrietta's father was half American Native and her mother was full American Native.

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The Hanging of a Horse Thief:

Henrietta's father was hung for being a horse thief.

The way the story is remembered is that the ponies were smarter than the people who bought them. A man would come to the Simms' cabin and buy the ponies. He would pay Henrietta's father and then herd the ponies down the trail. About a week later the ponies would show up back at the cabin on their own. When another man would come and ask to buy the ponies, Henrietta's father would again sell the same ponies. Then that man would pay, and herd the ponies down the trail. After several times of doing this it all caught up to Henrietta's father and they hung him for being a horse thief.

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Another story talks about the New Ulm Massacre in Minnesota during the year of 1862. Henrietta would have been 12 years old. We do not have names for the men, women, or children in this story. There is only a time and place as it has been retold over many years as part of our family stories. Could this be Henrietta's mother and Henrietta at the age of 12? The story refers to more than one child. Did Henrietta have a brother or sister? Where was Benjamin R. Harrison in this story? Could it be he was the soldier, or was he somewhere else off trapping? Where was the 7 year old Caroline Harrison, Benjamin R. Harriosn's daughter from his first marriage? According to the stories it is most likely Benjamin R. Harrison had Caroline with him unless he was at war. This was also the time of the Civil War. We assume that Benjamin R. Harrison's first wife died when Caroline was very young because of the story "The Wild Girl" in the book "An Illustrated History of Nobles County Minnesota" by Author P. Rose, published in 1908.

Henrietta and Benjamin R. Harrison had their first child in 1865, three years after this story takes place.

The New Ulm Massacre:

A woman and children were living alone within the settlement in New Ulm, Minnesota in 1862. The settlers came in a panic to her cabin and told her she must leave for safety because the Indians were attacking. She refused to leave and told them they would not harm her because she could speak their language and knew their ways. We are not sure how or why she knew these things. The settlers left and she went on about her daily work. The next morning she went out to the well to draw some water. As she walked around the well, laying on the ground was a wounded soldier who was in such pain he could not speak or stand. She dragged him into the cabin. The cabin was one room except for a curtain which could be drawn to separate the bedroom from the rest of the cabin. She pushed the soldier up onto the bed and dressed his wounds. Just as she had gotten everything cleaned up and had pulled the curtain so the wounded soldier could rest, her door slammed open and four Dakota Warriors entered her home. She did not panic, she appeared totally calm. She spoke to the warriors in their language and soon she was fixing them food. They sat at the table within feet of the drawn curtain that was concealing the wounded, sleeping The children went about quietly without uttering a word. The warriors ate and smoked some tobacco. They spoke again, stood up, and left the cabin.

The woman believed that all people had the right to health and well being and she did not agree with any war. This is not how the warriors or soldiers saw it during that time of great bloodshed.

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It is told Henrietta remarried when she was a much older lady to a man named Charles Barrows. They then moved to Canada. We have a photograph below of her as an older lady and on the back is written “Henrietta (with the straw hat) and second husband Charles Barrows”. There is no date or location mentioned. The other lady and the children are dressed casually, while Henrietta is more dressed up with her scarves and handbag that match her dress. She is holding a bouquet of flowers.