John
Harris
Born in Isle of Wight County, Colony of Virginia
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Mary (Drew) Harris
— married
about 1730 in Southampton County, Colony of Virginia
Descendants 
Father of
Mary Harris
Died before
before age 66
in Southampton County, Colony of Virginia
Profile last modified
| Created 7 Jun 2011
This page has been accessed 1,453 times.
| John Harris resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies |
This is the profile of John Harris, spouse of Mary Drew, named in Edward Drew Will in 1745.
Contents |
Biography
John was born about 1698 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.[citation needed]
John passed away before 13 December 1764, presumably in Southampton County, Virginia.[2]
Children
John, Mary, and six (6) of their children are named in her father Edward Drew's Will dated 1 February 1747/8.[1][3]
John and Mary's children include:[1][2][3]
- Newitt/Newit
- Thomas
- Drew
- Nathan
- Ann
- Martha
- John
- Mary, m. Henry Harris
Will & Death
Last Will and Testament of John Harris[2]
Southampton County, Virginia.
21 March 1764.
13 December 1764 (proved).
In his Will, John Harris names the following persons, in the following order:
- my son Drew Harris
- my son Nathan Harris
- my son John Harris, the land & plantation where I do now live
- all the remainder of my estate to be sold and the money to be equallly divided between my wife & seven children Newit, Thomas, Drew, Nathan, Ann, Martha, & John.
Signed: John Harris (his mark).
Witnesses: Simon Harris (his mark), Jesse Jones.
Executors: my son Nathan Harris, Edward Drew.
Research Notes
Place Creation
- Isle of Wight County, Virginia, was created in 1634 as one of the original eight shires.
- Southampton County, Virginia, was created in 20 Apr 1749 from Isle of Wight County. Part of Nansemond County was added in 1785.
Often Conflated
Two (2) Marys, LNAB Drew and Harris respectively, married John and Henry Harris. All four (4) are named in the Will of Edward Drew (abt.1667-bef.1746). The Mary profiles are:
- Mary (Drew) Harris (1700-1764), wife of John Harris (1698-1764), daughter of Edward Drew and Frances Ann Newitt.
- Mary Harris (1721-abt.1764), wife of Henry Harris (abt.1705-abt.1779), granddaughter of Edward Drew and Frances Ann Newitt.
Children
Son John is not listed in Edward Drew's Will, but is listed in John Harris' Will. Therefore, son John was presumably born after Edward's death which occurred before 8 Mar 1746. Spratlin-29 14:53, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
Purported (currently attached) daughter Mary, wife of Henry Harris, is listed in Edward Drew's Will as a granddaughter, but her parents are not explicitly listed. Daughter Mary is not listed in John Harris' Will. What is the reliable source establishing John and Mary Harris as her parents? Did she die before 21 March 1764 when John Harris wrote his Will? Spratlin-29 14:53, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
Edward Drew 1745 Will
[need to find the Court records referred to below}
"It has always been the conclusion by a Southampton County Probate Judge, that all of the seven Harris children named in this 1745 Edward Drew Will, were over the legal age of 14 years. This was the age requirement without an administrator or guardian being appointed for them. Since there is no such language in this 1745 Will nor in its probate, requesting or appointing an administrator or guardian, the legal assumption is that all seven named Harris children ,ie Newitt, Drew, Thomas, Nathan, Ann, Martha and Mary Harris were all at least 14 years old at the time this Edward Drew Will was written in 1745."
- [Why would there be any expectation that the Probate of Edward Drew would appoint guardians for the children of son-in-law John Harris and wife Mary (Edward's daughter)? John did not die until 1764. Spratlin-29 14:53, 14 June 2023 (UTC)]
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 County Court, Southampton County, Virginia, Will books, with inventories and accounts, 1749-1916; general index to wills, 1749-1937, Will book, No. 1-3 1749-1782; database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TZ-HQ65), images 18-19.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 County Court, Southampton County, Virginia, Will books, with inventories and accounts, 1749-1916; general index to wills, 1749-1937, Will book, No. 1-3 1749-1782; database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TZ-H7QZ), image 346.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Will, VA, Isle of Wight, Edward Drew 1745. [incomplete transcription missing items immediately after that for Ann Harris]
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John:
-
~0.78%
Ginger (Wingfield) McCall
:
23andMe, GEDmatch M895395 [compare], yourDNAportal GIN82fe2832
+
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A063061 [compare], yourDNAportal GIN82fe2832, Ancestry member gingwing23
+
MyHeritage DNA
-
~0.78%
Joyce Smith :
AncestryDNA
+
MyHeritage DNA
-
~0.39%
Katharine (Mounger) Jones :
23andMe, GEDmatch mf3385398 [compare]
-
~0.39%
Gordon Jones :
AncestryDNA
-
~0.39%
Kevin Wingfield :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A986608 [compare], FTDNA kit #948625
-
~0.39%
Doris (King) Leger :
Autosomal DNA Test, GEDmatch T977647 [compare]
-
~0.39%
Alena Smith :
MyHeritage DNA, GEDmatch H604814 [compare]
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Images: 5
Featured National Park champion connections: John is 15 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 21 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 15 degrees from George Catlin, 14 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 20 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 17 degrees from George Grinnell, 25 degrees from Anton Kröller, 18 degrees from Stephen Mather, 20 degrees from Kara McKean, 15 degrees from John Muir, 16 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 25 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Edward Drew's will does not mention John, son of Mary Drew and John Harris. Edward names only six children of John and Mary Drew Harris: 1. Newitt/Newit, 2. Thomas, 3. Drew, 4. Nathan, 5. Ann, 6. Martha. I assume John was born after Edward's death.
Edward names a granddaughter Mary Harris. He does not identify her as a daughter of Mary Drew and John Harris. She is identified only as the wife of Henry Harris.
John Harris did not die in 1755. He died after he wrote his will in 1764.
Warren County, NC is not mentioned in the will of John Harris; will proved December 13, 1764.
I question the assumption that Mary Drew Harris was dead before her husband, John Harris, died. In his will, he mentions his wife… “all the remainder of my estate to be sold and the money to be equally divided between my wife & seven children Newit, Thomas, Drew, Nathan, Ann, Martha, & John."
"A Henry in a later generation married the niece of Mary Drew who married John Harris (see Edward Drew's will)."
it has been a long time since I've worked on the Harrises. It may be that this was what was worked out as correct (that there was no Mary Drew niece who married a different Henry Harris).
The comments on the image attached to the profile for Drew-255 includes a link to Edward's will - https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Drew-255 -> https://brantleyassociation.com/southampton_project/gallery/will_bk_1/index.html (see page 9)
Names and number of children of John and Mary Drew Harris.
Mention of Warren County, NC in John's will?
Death date for Mary Drew Harris
Accurate date for John Harris’ death
Does it need cleaning up after the merge? How can that be done?
edited by Gloria Lee (Buckles) Reid
In his will, he does mention a wife. In the last item of his will, he states that his estate was to be “equally divided between his wife and seven children Newit, Thomas, Drew, Nathan, Ann, Martha & John.”
He does not name her precisely. Is there information about a wife other than Mary Drew?
This John Harris was the son of Robert Harris and Ann Fulgham. He did not die in 1755 as his Will was filed for probate in Southampton Will Book 2, pg 108 on 13 Dec 1764, naming four living sons and two living daughters.
Henry Harris & Nary Drew sold their patent land in 1772 to this John's son Nathan Harris before they moved with their family to NC.
Harris-3358 and Harris-2745 appear to represent the same person because: duplicate profile of Henry Harris who married Mary Drew. I think birth year of Harris-2745 is a guess based on birth year given for Mary - I'd recommend retaining 1705 birth year in merge.
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HARRIS-VA/1999-09/0936894714
It presents a disagreement about Henry's parents (showing Henry and his brother Thomas as brother also of Benjamin and all three the sons of Thomas and Judith Edwards).
Henry died intestate in Southampton County, Virginia in 1755.
Children of HENRY HARRIS and MARY DREW are:
i.BENJAMIN9 HARRIS14,15,16, b. 1732, Greenville Co., Virginia16; d. 1812, Hancock Co., GA or Greenville Co., VA; m. (1) FAITHY SMITH17,18.
ii.HENRY HARRIS19, d. 1791, Southampton County, VA; m. MARY.
Thomas Harris names his brother Henry in his 1729/30 will (proved March, Isle of Wight).
As far as I can tell, that Thomas does not have a WikiTree profile, although another Thomas with a 1729 IoW will does: Harris-3806