Benjamin Harrison I (abt. 1594 - 1649)

Born about 1594 in Northampton St Giles, Northamptonshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 21 Mar 1649 at about age 55 in Jamestown, Colony of Virginia

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Benjamin Harrison I resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

Ancestor of William Henry Harrison 9th US President.

Biography

Benjamin Harrison I was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.

Benjamin Harrison I is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

Benjamin Harrison I was a Virginia colonist.

The parentage of Benjamin Harrison is the subject of several different viewpoints. Genealogist McConathy states that the father might have been Richard Harrison, who descended from Rowland Harrison of Durham. ^[1] McConathy's work also allows that he could have been the son of Thomas Harrison, Lord of Gobion's Manor (1568–1625), and wife Elizabeth Bernard (1569–1643) of St Giles, Nottinghamshire, England. ^{[2] [3]} Still other sources indicate that the father may have been merchant Robert Harrison of Yorkshire. ^{[4] [5]}

Benjamin Harrison ^[6] was born in 1594. Benjamin is the child of Thomas Harrison and Elizabeth Bernard. Benjamin passed away in 1648 ^[7]

His descendants include President William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the Declaration of Independence

Taken from New England Families, genealogical and memorial: a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation, Vol 4 p 2088.

Benjamin Harrision, the Immigrant. Born in England and came early to Virginia. That he was a man of exceptional education is shown by his appointment as a clerk of the Virginia council before 1633. He was a member of the House of Burgesse in 1642. ^[8] By his wife Mary, he had two sons: Benjamin II and Peter who died in middle life without issue.

Mary, widow of Benjamin Harrison, married (second) Benjamin Sidway. Her will, dated 01 Mar 1687-88, bequeaths to granddaughter, Hannah Harrison; to sons Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Sidway and John Kersey...

At midday on Good Friday, 22 Mar 1622, there were twelve-hundred-and-forty inhabitants in the State of Virginia. Of these, three-hundred-and-forty-seven, in a few hours were killed by the Indians in the eighty settlements on the north and south sides of the James River, of which number fifty-three were residents of this county. (Isle of Wright) ^[9]

Some miraculous escapes are reported in the Worrosquoyacke settlement. The Indians came to one Baldwin's house, wounded his wife; but Baldwin, by repeated firing of his gun, so frightened them as to "save both her, his house, himself and divers others." About the same time they appeared at the house of Mr. Harrison, half a mile from Baldwin's, where was staying Thomas Hamor, a brother of Captain Ralph Hamor, who also live nearby. The Indians sent a message to Captain Hamor that their king was hunting in the neighborhood and had invited him to join them. The captain, not coming as they expected him to do, they set fire to a tobacco warehouse and murdered the whites as they rushed out of Harrison's house to quench the fire. Many were killed, but Thomas Hamor was saved by a chance delay. He remained to finish a letter which he was engaged in writing. When he went out he saw the commotion; and although he received an arrow in his back, with twenty-two others he fought his way back to the house which, being set on fire by the Indians, he left to burn and fled to Baldwin's. In the meantime Captain Ralph Hamor was in utmost peril. Going out to meet the king he saw some of the wretches murdering the unarmed whites. He returned to his new house, where, armed with only spades, axes and brickbats, he and his company defended themselves till the Indians gave up the siege and departed. At the house of Captain Basse, in the same neighborhood, everybody was slain. Basse, who was in England at the time, of course, escaped. The consternation produced by this horrid massacre caused the adoption of a ruinous policy. Instead of marching at once bold to meet and drive the Indians from the settlement or reduce them to subjection by a bloody retaliation, the colonists were huddled together from their eighty plantations into eight. Works of great public utility were abandoned and cultivation confined to a space too limited merely for subsistence. These crowded quarters produced sickness, and some were so disheartened that they sailed for England. All Worrosquoyacke, from Hog Island down the river for fourteen miles, was abandoned.

But it was not the nature of the Anglo-Saxon man to be for long intimidated by fear of these weak, cowardly wretches who had inflicted upon them such a dastardly outrage; for, in July of the same year, they commenced to move against them, and in the early fall Sir George Yeardley commanded an expedition against the savages down the river. He drove out the Worrosquoyackes and Nansemonds, burned their houses and took their corn. On 21 May 1623, Captain Roger Smith was ordered to build a fort on the Worrosquoyacke shore, opposite to Tindall Shoals, where Captain Samuel Each had a blockhouse in building. Excerpted from ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY 1608 -1907 by Col E M Morrison ^[10]

Benjamin Harrison, 1st, was clerk of the council of Virginia in 1633 and Member of the House of Burgesses in 1642. ^[11] A land grant on record in the Virginia Land Registry Office was made to him for 200 acres in "Warrosquinoake County", 20 Jul 1635. ^[12] The house was known as "Wakefield", now Surry County, on the James River and is the oldest of the many Harrison’s’ homes in Virginia. It was burned by Benedict Arnold during the Revolution, but has since been rebuilt and still remains as one of the famous beautiful old houses along the James.

Buried Jamestown, James City County, Virginia, USA.

Baptism: 01 Dec 1594. Northampton, St Giles, Northamptonshire, England.

Marriage Husband @P1046@. Wife @P1047@. Child: @P670@. Marriage 1644 Jamestown, James, Virginia.

Benjam was born about 1593. He was the son of Thomas Harrison and Elizabeth Bernard. He passed away about 1677.

• Fact: Burial Jamestown Fort James Cemetery

Sources

1. ↑ McConathy, Ruth H Supplement to the House of Cravens, University of Wisconsin, 1972
2. ↑ Harrison, J Houston (1935). Settlers by the Long Grey Trail. Joseph K Ruebush Company p 91
3. ↑ Harrison, Francis Burton, "Benjamin Harrison of Gobions Manor” Virginia Historical Society, Vol 54, No. 4, Oct 1946
4. ↑ Harrison, Francis Burton, "Rev Thomas Harrison, Berkeley's 'Chaplain'", Virginia Historical Society, Vol 53, No. 4, Oct 1945, pp 302–311
5. ↑ "Thomas Harrison" University of Cambridge. Retrieved 10 Dec 2019.
6. ↑ Harrison, Benjamin - A3509; died 1645/48, James City County: 1642 (Burgess). accessed 22 Sep 221
7. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 7656419
8. ↑ Stanard, William G and Mary Newton Stanard. The Colonial Virginia Register. Albany, New York : Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers. 1902 p 62
9. ↑ Indian Attack of 1622
10. ↑ [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vaisleof/history.htm ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY 1608 -1907 by Col E M Morrison
11. ↑ History of the National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America By National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, p 39
12. ↑ Settlers by the Long Grey Trail: Some Pioneers to Old Augusta County By John Houston Harrison p 90

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 29 Jun 2020, 01:12), entry for Benjamin Harrison (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G76B-MPW); contributed by various users.
• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 29 Jun 2020, 01:12), entry for Benjamin Harrison (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G76B-MPW); contributed by various users.
• Colonial Families of the Southern States of America, A History and Genealogy, by Stella Picket Hardy, Tobias A Wright, Printer and Publisher, New York, 1911, "Harrison Family" pp 282-296

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Harrison-1269 created through the import of Lea and Randol and Ely and Si.ged on 31 May 2011 by Maude Randol.
• Thank you to Diane Hoffman for creating WikiTree profile Harrison-4346 through the import of Davis Family Tree_2013-08-21 Partial Bells.ged on 23 Aug 2013.