A family from Jonesborough, Tennessee became a national curiosity in the 1950s after Emory Landon Harrison and his wife, Thelma, had a remarkable run of sons.
The family became famous because they had 13 surviving sons before finally having a daughter, Barbara Anne. An old photograph of the family has recently started circulating again online, and now many people are asking what happened to those boys after the famous photograph was taken.
Are any of the 13 sons still alive? Did they all stay in Tennessee? And what happened to the rest of the Harrison family?
I checked historical newspaper material, genealogy records, cemetery records and later obituaries to put together what can actually be established about the family.
Did Emory Harrison Have 13 Sons?
Yes, although there is an important detail.
Emory Landon Harrison and Thelma Rose Sells Harrison had 14 sons in total, but one son, Alvin Landon Harrison, died as an infant in 1935.
That left 13 sons who survived.
The family then welcomed a daughter, Barbara Anne, after all those boys.
A contemporary newspaper account from the 1950s described the Harrisons as having 14 boys, with one having died, before Barbara Anne was born. At that point, eight of the boys were still living at home while the other five were already married.
Who Were the 13 Sons?
The surviving sons identified in the family records were:
Guy Lester Harrison
George Newton Harrison
Carmel N. Harrison
Samuel F. Harrison
Bobby Joe Harrison
Haskel Artie Harrison
Kenneth Ray Harrison
John Wayne Harrison
Charles Richard Harrison
David Clifton Harrison
Gordon Alvin Harrison
Foy Edward Harrison
Ivan Houston Harrison
The family genealogy records also identify Alvin Landon Harrison separately because he died as an infant.
Where Was the Harrison Family Living?
The family was based in the Jonesborough and Washington County area of Tennessee.
Historical newspaper coverage placed Emory and Thelma Harrison on a rural route in the Jonesborough area. The family was involved in farming, and the boys who were still at home were described as helping with the family farm.
This is important because the famous photograph is not really a picture of a celebrity family. They were a large rural Tennessee family who suddenly became a national curiosity because of their unusual number of boys.
What Happened to the 13 Sons?
The brothers eventually went their separate ways.
Some remained in northeastern Tennessee, while others moved to different states.
Later obituary and genealogy records place members of the family in places including Gray, Elizabethton, Greeneville and Limestone in Tennessee, as well as Indiana and Texas.
So the brothers definitely did not all remain together in Jonesborough.
Are Any of the 13 Sons Still Alive?
Based on the genealogy records and later obituary information I found, the original 13 surviving sons appear to have all died.
The youngest surviving brother, Ivan Houston Harrison, died in 2002.
Other brothers lived considerably longer.
George Newton Harrison, for example, lived until 2021 and died at the age of 84.
The available records list the remaining brothers as deceased as well.
So there does not appear to be any surviving member of the original group of 13 sons today.
When Did the Harrison Brothers Die?
The records give the following information for many of the brothers:
Guy Lester Harrison — 1934–1998
Bobby Joe Harrison — 1941–2006
Haskel Artie Harrison — 1942–2004
Kenneth Ray Harrison — 1943–2018
John Wayne Harrison — 1946–2009
Gordon Alvin Harrison — 1950–2020
Foy Edward Harrison — 1951–2008
Ivan Houston Harrison — 1955–2002
George Newton Harrison — 1936–2021
The genealogy records identify Carmel N. Harrison, Samuel F. Harrison, Charles Richard Harrison and David Clifton Harrison as deceased as well, although detailed publicly available information about their deaths is more limited.
Who Was the Last of the Brothers to Die?
One of the latest confirmed deaths is that of George Newton Harrison.
George was born on December 7, 1936, and died on July 27, 2021, at the age of 84.
He was buried at Sulphur Springs Cemetery in Jonesborough, where his parents were also buried.
That makes his death an important date when looking at the final years of the famous Harrison brothers.
What Happened to Gordon Harrison?
Gordon Alvin Harrison was another brother whose later life is relatively well documented.
He was born in 1950 and died on May 31, 2020, at the age of 69.
His obituary described him as the 12th son of Emory and Thelma Harrison.
Gordon was a lifelong resident of Washington County and worked for the Washington County School System. He later retired after working as a custodian at Gray Elementary School and as a school bus driver.
He was also known for collecting antiques and working as an auctioneer and trader.
Gordon left behind a wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
What Happened to Kenneth Harrison?
Kenneth Ray Harrison was born on Christmas Day in 1943.
He died on November 17, 2018, at the age of 74.
Records show that he lived in Gray, Washington County, Tennessee, later in life and was buried at Sulphur Springs Cemetery in Jonesborough.
Kenneth also had a son, Wendell Dale Harrison.
Unfortunately, Wendell died at a young age in 1987.
What Happened to John Wayne Harrison?
John Wayne Harrison was one of the brothers who eventually lived outside Tennessee.
Records show that he died in Weatherford, Texas, in 2009 at the age of 62.
He was buried at East Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford.
His story is one example showing that the famous Harrison boys did not all remain in the Jonesborough area throughout their lives.
What Happened to Haskel Harrison?
Haskel Artie Harrison also moved away from Tennessee.
Records place him in Texas, and he died in 2004 at the age of 62.
His burial was in Ross Cemetery in Baird, Texas.
So at least some members of the famous Harrison family eventually made Texas their home.
What Happened to Bobby Joe Harrison?
Bobby Joe Harrison was another brother who eventually lived outside Tennessee.
He died in 2006 at the age of 65.
His burial was in Monticello, Indiana.
This is another clear example that the family eventually spread far beyond Jonesborough.
Did Some of the Brothers Stay in Tennessee?
Yes.
Several of them remained in northeastern Tennessee.
An obituary from the early 2000s gives a particularly useful snapshot of the family. At that time, brothers were listed in places including Gray, Elizabethton, Limestone, Greene County and Greeneville.
Other brothers were listed in Monticello, Indiana and Weatherford, Texas.
So the family became spread across several states rather than remaining in one location.
What Happened to Ivan Houston Harrison?
Ivan Houston Harrison was the youngest of the surviving sons.
He was born in 1955 and died in 2002.
His death came relatively early compared with some of his older brothers.
An obituary connected with the family described his brothers and sister and showed how widely the family had spread by that point.
By then, some brothers were in Tennessee while others were living in Indiana and Texas.
What Happened to Their Parents?
Emory Landon Harrison was born in 1910 and died in 1971.
His wife, Thelma Rose Sells Harrison, was born in 1911 and died in 1976.
Both were buried at Sulphur Springs Cemetery in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
Thelma's genealogy record confirms the marriage and lists the children of the couple, including all 14 sons.
What Happened to Barbara Anne, the Only Daughter?
Barbara Anne became the famous daughter who arrived after all those boys.
The 1950s newspaper story described how the family reacted when she was born.
Her mother reportedly said that the boys adored their new little sister, while her father was especially excited because he had always wanted a girl.
At the time of the newspaper story, Barbara Anne had eight brothers still living at home.
The five older brothers were already married.
Later records identify Barbara Anne as Barbara Ann Roberts and place her in the Fall Branch, Tennessee area.
Did Barbara Anne Stay in Tennessee?
The available family records place Barbara Ann Roberts in Fall Branch, Tennessee later in life.
That means the daughter appears to have remained much closer to the family's original Tennessee home than some of her brothers who moved to Indiana or Texas.
However, detailed information about her later personal life is limited.
Did the Harrison Family Have More Children After Barbara Anne?
The historical record can be confusing here because some modern posts give different years for Barbara Anne's birth.
The contemporary newspaper account places the daughter in the family after the 14 sons, with the youngest surviving son listed as Houston, age 7, at the time of the article.
The genealogy records identify Ivan Houston Harrison as being born in 1955.
For that reason, 1955 is the better-supported year for the birth of the youngest son and the period of the famous family story, rather than some of the later dates repeated on social media.
Why Did This Family Become Famous?
The Harrison family was unusual because of the sheer number of boys.
Having a large family was not as unusual in rural America during that period, but having 13 surviving sons and no daughter until later was unusual enough to attract newspaper attention.
The story became even more memorable because the family eventually had a daughter.
That combination made the Harrisons a perfect human-interest story for newspapers of the era.
Why Is the Harrison Family Trending Again?
The old family photograph has been circulating again on social media and history communities.
People who see the photograph naturally start asking what happened to the children after the picture was taken.
Recent online discussions have included people trying to identify the family, searching genealogy records and wondering whether any of the children are still alive.
The story has basically become a "where are they now?" mystery more than 70 years after the original photograph.
Did the Family Stay Together?
No.
This is probably one of the biggest misconceptions created by the famous photograph.
The photograph shows the entire family together, but the brothers eventually became adults and created their own lives.
Some stayed around northeastern Tennessee.
Others moved to Indiana.
Others moved to Texas.
Several eventually returned to Tennessee for burial, particularly at Sulphur Springs Cemetery in Jonesborough.
So the family's history remained connected to Tennessee even though individual members moved away.
Are Any Descendants Still Around?
Very likely, yes.
Several of the brothers had wives and children, and some had grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
For example, Gordon Harrison's obituary lists children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Kenneth Harrison also had a son.
The original 13 sons may all have passed away, but their descendants are another matter entirely.
There are likely Harrison descendants living today, although detailed information about living private family members should not be guessed without reliable records.
So, Where Are Emory Harrison's 13 Sons Today?
The answer is that none of the original 13 surviving sons appears to still be alive.
They lived across different parts of the United States during their adult years.
Some remained in Tennessee, especially around Washington County and the surrounding communities.
Others moved to Indiana and Texas.
Several members of the family were eventually buried in Tennessee, while others were buried in the states where they spent their later lives.
The family that once appeared together in that famous 1950s photograph therefore became scattered across the country over the following decades.
What remains today is a fascinating piece of Jonesborough history: Emory and Thelma Harrison raised an extraordinary family of sons, finally welcomed a daughter, and briefly became nationally known for something that would be almost impossible for people to forget — 13 surviving boys in one family before the long-awaited daughter arrived.
