Christopher Harrison, 1775-1862, was born on 29 August 1775 in Cambridge, Maryland, and attended St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. He moved to Indiana in 1808 and eventually became a founding investor in the Farmers and Mechanics Bank in Madison, opened a dry goods business in Salem, and served a one-year judgeship in Washington County. In 1816, Harrison became the first lieutenant governor of Indiana, and in 1818 he acted as governor in the absence of Governor Jonathan Jennings, 1784-1834. In the 1820s, Harrison served on committees that platted Indianapolis and studied the possibility of building a canal near Clarksville. Harrison's home in Salem, Indiana, was famous for the beautiful gardens he tended. He also painted several portraits of early figures in Indiana history. When his father died in 1834, Harrison returned to Maryland, took charge of his family's plantation, and freed the family's slaves. He died on 4 April 1862.