Benjamin Harrison III

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin Harrison III
Speaker of the House of Burgesses for the Colony of Virginia
In office
1705–1705
Attorney General of the Colony of Virginia
In office
1697–1702
Treasurer of the Colony of Virginia
In office
1706  April 10, 1710
Personal details
Born 1673
Virginia
Died 1710
Virginia

Benjamin Harrison III (1673-April 10, 1710) was an early member of the Harrison Family of Virginia, serving as the colony's Attorney General, Treasurer, and Speaker of the House of Burgesses. He was an ancestor of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.

Biography

Harrison was born in 1673, the son of Benjamin Harrison and Hannah Churchill.[1] He purchased a portion from the land patent of Berkeley Hundred from Giles Bland, where he would raise his family after marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis Burwell II and Abigail Smith. This location was home to the first Thanksgiving in the Virginia Colony, and where his son, Benjamin Harrison IV, began to construct the family's Berkeley Plantation in 1726.[2]

In 1697, at just 24, he became the Attorney General of the Virginia Colony, serving until 1702,[3] before moving onto the House of Burgesses between 1703–1706, where he was the Speaker in 1705. He became Treasurer of the colony in 1705, serving until his death in 1710.[2] Harrison began to compile the history of the colony shortly before he died, leaving it unfinished.[4]

His children included:

  • Benjamin Harrison IV, who married Anne Carter, daughter of Robert Carter and Betty Landon
  • Elizabeth Harrison
  • Nathaniel Harrison, who married Mary Cary, daughter of John Cary and Jane Flood

References

  1. "Presidents of the United Statess from McKinley to Pierce", p. 381, Retrieved 14 nov 2009.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Virginia, "A Guide to the old Dominion", p. 631, Retrieved 14 nov 2009.
  3. "William and Mary College Quarterly historical magazine", p. 38, Retrieved 14 nov 2009.
  4. "New England Families", p.2089, Retrieved 14 nov 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.