William Wilcox put up one of his farms, of 254 acres, for sale in 1893. At the age of 65 and widowed he was cutting back on the strenuous effort required to keep all his properties maintained and productive. He would still farm (and a well known respected local farmer he was) on his main homestead on the shores of Horseshoe Lake. His home was nicely nestled by the creek that fed all the lakes from First, Second and Third Lakes through Blackstone, Crane and Little Blackstone until arriving at Georgian Bay. The thought of being one's own boss and the freedoms associated with it seemed to attract Philip. By the summer of 1894 the Harrisons were on the established Wilcox farm on the road in Foley that led to Blackstone Lake. It would not have been …show more content…
In part this required him to grade the crude road and the steep incline called 'signal hill' from Wilfred Moore's at Blackstone Lake. As the decade of the 1890s continued Philip and Mary added to their expanding family with: Christina Grace (b March 9, 1895), Mary Olivia (February 9, 1897) and Annie Catherine Hyacinthe (February 10, 1899) all born on the new Harrison homestead. As the century ended the Harrisons had six children, four with birthdays between February 6th and 10th! These children would attend Foley School Section #3, often being some of the best students in their class, despite the rather long trip from home to school, especially in the harsh winter months. The end of the 1898-1899 school year, in June, saw all three of Philip's children of school age on the Honour Roll” Pearl, Philip and Beatrice. This was to be repeated many times with them and the younger Harrison's as they became scholars. The Harrison children probably found quite a good deal of excitement in the spring of 1899 as their dad was able to capture an eagle that Mr. Wilcox could not. The story is told by the North Star (April 6, 1899): Eagle