• General Notes

  [316552.ftw]
  
  See Historical Document.
  
  TITL The Harrisons:  Landowners, Adventurers and Politicians
  AUTH Harrison, Timothy Paul
  PUBL October 30, 1991
  The Harrisons: Landowners, Adventurers & Politicia
  MEDI Manuscript
  TEXT QUAY 2
  TITL The House of  Cravens
  AUTH McConathy, Ruth H.
  PUBL Charlottesville, VA:  Published Privately, 1792
  The House of Cravens
  MEDI Book
  TEXT QUAY 2
  TITL Colonial Families of the Southern States of America
  AUTH Hardy, Stella Pickett
  PUBL Baltimore:  Southern Book Company, Second Edition, 1958
  Colonial Families of the Southern States of Amer.
  MEDI Book
  TEXT QUAY 2
  TITL Ancestors of American Presidents
  AUTH Roberts, Gary Boyd
  PUBL Boston:  New England Historic Genealogy Society, 1989
  Ancestors of American Presidents
  MEDI Book
  TEXT QUAY 2
  TITL The Great Plantation; A Profile of Berkeley Hundred and PlantationVirginia from Jamestow n to Appomattox
  AUTH Dowdey, C.
  PUBL New York, 1957
  The Great Plantation
  MEDI Book
  PLAC Atty. Gen., Speaker Of The House of Burgesses, Treas. of Colony\RESI\PLAC "Berkeley", Ch arles City Co., VAThe Harrisons had by now become a powerful political family in Virginia, an d the responsibility of upholding the family name was turned over to Benjamin Harrison's (II ) eldest son, Benjamin Harrison (III). However, rather than remaining on the family estate, B enjamin Harrison (III) moved across the James River to the Berkeley Hundred in Charles City C ounty, which his father had purchased in 1691. It is not exactly clear when the move was made , but it probably occurred not long after the property was bought.  He became the owner of Be rkeley, following the death of Giles Bland, son of  John Bland, the previous owner, when he w as hanged by Governor Sir William Berkeley in 1676, after participating in the Rebellion unde r Bacon.  Although he was only three years old at the time, it is probable that his father, p urchased it for him while he was still young.\Berkeley Hundred was comprised of about eight t housand acres on the James River in Virginia, and was a land grant of the London Company, i n 1618, to Sir William Throckmorton, Sir George Yeardley and Richard Berkeley and John Smit h of Nibley. It was\named for Richard Berkeley. In 1619, the "good ship Margaret" of Bristo l sailed for Virginia and brought thirty-five settlers to the new Town and Hundred of Berkele y. In 1622, a terrible massacre  took place and nine people were brutally slain at Berkeley . For several years, thereafter, the plantation lay abandoned, until William Tucker and other s got possession of it in 1636, and it became the property of John Bland, a merchant of Londo n.\In any case, it was from Berkeley that the ambitious young Harrison set out to establis h a political career. He soon became Attorney General of Virginia, holding that office betwee n 1697 and 1702. From there he entered the House of Burgesses, becoming Speaker of House in 1 705. He also served a Treasurer in the colony until 1710, when on April 10th he died at the y oung age of thrifty-seven. He apparently suffered from gout, and may have had a heart attac k following a game of cricket he played in March from which he never fully recovered.\He was a local supporter of the Established Church. The public erected a monument to his memory in t he Old Westover Churchyard.\He died at age thirty-seven in 1710, and his tomb may be seen tod ay at the site of Old Westover Church, on the river near Westover. The inscription on the tom b is in Latin and Greek. His wife, Elizabeth Burwell, is buried beside him and her tomb bear s the Family Coat of Arms.
  Benjamin III left only one male heir - Benjamin IV.

Details of Benjamin's family with Elizabeth Burwell