Benjamin Harrison V
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Benjamin Harrison VBenjamin Harrison (V) (April 5, 1726 April 24, 1791) was an American planter and revolutionary leader from Charles City County, Virginia. He was educated at the College of William and Mary and was, perhaps, the first figure in the Harrison family to gain national attention. Harrison was a representative for Surry County, Virginia (1756 - 1758) and Charles City County (1766 - 1776) to the House of Burgesses. He was a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777, signed the Declaration of Independence, and was Governor of Virginia from 1782 to 1784. He was son of Benjamin Harrison IV and Anne Carter, and grandson of Robert Carter I; his cousin was the plantation owner Robert Carter. His son William Henry Harrison and great-grandson Benjamin Harrison would both become President of the United States. His brother in law was Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Peyton Randolph. A great-nephew of a wife of his brother Nathaniel Harrison was Edmund Ruffin.
Harrison lived all his life at Berkeley Plantation, the Harrison family home in Virginia, and his children were born there.
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HARRISON, Benjamin, (1726 - 1791)
Benjamin Harrison V, is a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Virginia
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Bibliography
Smith, Howard W. (Howard William). Benjamin Harrison and the American Revolution. Edward M. Riley, editor. Williamsburg, Va.: Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978.
HARRISON, Benjamin, (father of Carter Bassett Harrison and William Henry Harrison, grandfather of John Scott Harrison, great-grandfather of Benjamin Harrison [1833-1901] and great-great-great grandfather of William Henry Harrison [1896-]), a Delegate from Virginia; born on the plantation Berkeley, Charles City County, Va., April 5, 1726; pursued classical studies and attended the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.; member of the colonial house of burgesses 1749-1775; member of the Virginia revolutionary convention in March, July, and December, 1775; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1777; as chairman of the Committee of the Whole House he reported the resolution on June 10, 1776, offered three days before by Richard Henry Lee, declaring the independence of the American Colonies, and reported the Declaration of Independence, of which he was one of the signers, on July 4, 1776; resigned in 1778; member of the State house of delegates 1776-1782 and 1787-1791 and served as speaker 1778-1782, 1785, and 1786; Governor of Virginia 1782-1784; delegate to the State convention for the ratification of the Federal Constitution in 1788; died at his home, Berkeley, Charles City County, Va., April 24, 1791.