While he was yet a young man he went to Georgia to live with his grandparents and to study for the ministry. He returned to Tennessee to the home of his mother late in 1823. He was attending a camp meeting when he met his sister’s (Kate) best friend, Mary Murchison. They were married March 11, 1824.

We do not know about the early days of James work but have found 6 church records. The earliest is:
After due examination ito the gifts, grace and usefulness of James Steele Harrison I hereby authorize him to preach the Gospel in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, so long as his faith and practice comports with the doctrines and discipline of sid church. By order of the quarterly Meeting Conference for the Savannah Circuit at Mt. Hebron, Sazannah, Tennessee, July 15, 1847, G.W. Martin, P.E.
The next 5 records were issued after James moved to Van Buren County, Arkansas in the early 1850s. They deal with renewals of his permit to preach. On October 25, 1857, James was made a Deacon, and on September 30, 1866 he was made an Elder.
In the early days of his ministry James was called upon to perform the marriage ceremony of Tennessee’s illfamed outlaw, John A. Murrell. The story goes that James was sitting by his fire reading the Bible when the outlaw and his lady rode up to the gate. They refused to get off their horses for a posse was close on their heels. So James performed the ceremony standing at his gate, by the dim light of the moon, and he always admitted he was almost scared to death.