John Harris (1725 - abt. 1804)

Born 29 Sep 1725 in Hopewell, Cumberland, New Jersey

Ancestors

Husband of Ruth Test — married 4 Feb 1762 in Pilesgrove, Salem, New Jersey

Descendants

Died about 1804 at about age 78 in Salem, Salem, New Jersey, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Linda Matlack [send private message]

Biography

John Harris, son of Nathaniel Harris of Hopewell, Cumberland, New Jersey and his 2nd wife Elizabeth (Unknown), was born 29 Sept 1725.^[1]

John Harris married Ruth^[1] Test, daughter of Francis and Elizabeth (Bacon) Test, in Alloways Creek, Salem, New Jersey on 4 Feb 1762.^[2]

They had a daughter, Letitia Harris, born 27 March 1767 in Upper Alloways Creek, Salem, New Jersey. Letitia is thought to be named after her mother's sister, Leticia Test.

Research Notes

Our Harris ancestors were yeomen (and some weavers) who raised cattle and grew crops in land west of the great Delaware River in New Jersey. Some of them were Baptists but some married into Quaker families and converted. (Ruth Test, who John married, was a devout Quaker.) Across the river from their land was Philadelphia, and like Penn's land, much of western New Jersey was settled by Quakers beginning in the late 1600s. The three brothers - Thomas and Nathaniel and Samuel were the youngest children of a barrel maker in Connecticut, who died by his own hand in 1697 when they were all very young children. Their mother remarried and stayed on Long Island, while her three grown sons arrived in New Jersey by 1715, when they are found together on the roster of the local militia.

It's nearly impossible to reconcile what has been published of their lives with the John Harris who graduated from Princeton in 1753. The birth date for the Rev John Harris (a common enough name) was possibly assumed from that of the New Jersey family, or possibly it was the same birth date and the connection was assumed. The third possibility is that they are the same person.

Anyone who can add to the history and understanding of John Harris, (son of Nathaniel, son of Thomas d. 1697 in Killingswroth, Ct), please add to these research notes.

For additional sources or information on the Rev John Harris (d. in South Carolina), please add to his profile: Rev John Harris.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Part II - The Family of Nathaniel Harris of Hopewell, by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. and Lewis D. Cook, PGM Vol 17 (1950), pp 92
2. ↑ Salem New Jersey Monthly Meeting Marriages 1724-1899, p. 91, image 88.

• Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine. Philadelphia, PA: Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1895–. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) Part II - The Family of Nathaniel Harris of Hopewell, by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. and Lewis D. Cook, PGM Vol 17 (1950), pp 92

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