On 8 Feb 2021 Catherine (Taylor) Fussell wrote on Harris-1869:
In his "William Harris of Jamestown, Phil Harris, email jpharris@juno.com, states: "The one thing I refuse to use as support for my conclusions is the myth about Mary Claiborne Rice being the wife of this Robert Harris. It simply is not true. There is a very valid explanation for this whole story. One simply has to examine the factual records as well as Rice genealogy. Thomas Rice came to Virginia in 1683, which is confirmed by records in the Bristol Register. He married a woman named Marcey, and St. Peter's Parish records in New Kent County show them having a son, Edward, born on 17 April 1690 (IGI North America C504901). This Edward Rice died in Goochland County in 1769 and in his will named his wife Mary who was said to be a Claiborne. The name "Claiborne" often appears as a given name among the Rice descendants. Whether this Mary Rice remarried a Harris is not known nor does it matter. The whole story occurred two generations after the traditional Harris genealogy has it happening. The sad thing is that Rice researchers figured this out a long time ago, but Harris researchers continue to hang on to the false information. William Claiborne had only one daughter, Jane, who married Thomas Brereton about 1658. There was no Mary Claiborne in Robert Harris's time. There was no Edward Rice in that time. You will not find a single valid record that lists anyone by either one of those names in that period of time. It was always said that Robert Harris named his first son William after his famous father-in-law. That, of course, cannot be true because William Claiborne was not his father-in-law. But he probably did name him after his own father, William Harris of Jamestown." In the above biography, there is a question mark after Mary Elizabeth Claiborne's name. I would propose that based on this statement by Phil Harris, Mary Claiborne is not the spouse of Robert Harris, Sr.
