Major Robert Harris

Notes:

Lived at Brown's Cove on Doyle's River, halfway between Stanardsville and Waynesboro, VA on Skyline Drive; see Harriston, north of Waynesboro on Highway 340. Bought property in 1750. Copy of his will is in HISTORY AND GENEALOGIES, W. Harris Miller, p. 267. It was dated June 18, 1765.

Robert married Mourning Glenn on 30 Jan 1719/20. Mourning (daughter of James Glenn and Mourning Winn) was born in 1702; died in 1770. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth Harris
2. Nancy Harris
3. William Harris died in 1776.
4. James Harris was born in BET. 1721 - 1722 in Albemarle, Virginia; died in 1792 in ?.
5. Anna Harris was born on 31 Mar 1724.
6. Christopher Harris was born on 17 Feb 1724/25; died in 1794 in Madison County, Kentucky.
7. Tyree Harris was born on 8 Apr 1728; died in in Caswell County, North Carolina.
8. Mourning Glenn Harris was born on 27 May 1732; died in BET. 1805 - 1808.
9. Lucy Harris was born on 12 Apr 1734; died in 1803.
10. Sarah Harris was born on 24 May 1736; died on 31 Jan 1803.
11. Capt. Robert Harris was born on 8 Mar 1740/41; died in 1796 in Surrey County, North Carolina.
12. Rachael Harris was born on 24 Jun 1744.
13. Susan Harris was born in 1751.

Notes:

He was originally buried in a Colonial Church at Weyanoke on the James River. After the church went to ruin, on July 1,1875, his bronze tablet was moved to Norfolk and placed in the walls of St. Paul's old church.
On it is this engraving:
"Here lyeth ye body of
William Harris
who departed this life ye 8th
day of March, 1687
aged 35 years"
Source on Col. Harris: THE BOONE FAMILY by Hazel Spraker.

William married Temperance Overton in ?. Temperance (daughter of William Overton and Elizabeth Mary Waters) was born on 2 Mar 1678/79 in Hanover Co. VA; died on 10 Feb 1709/10 in Hanover Co., VA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"(Maj.) Robert Harris and wife settled in the colony of Virginia on the James River near Weyanoke" (-R.R. Denton).

Robert Harris & Mary Claiborne Rice " had one son, Capt. William Harris",(HARRIS FAMILY GENEALOGICAL NOTES, Virginia State Library).

The marriage of Robert and Mary is substantiated in HARRIS FAMILY OF VIRGINIA FROM 1611 TO 1914, by Thomas Henry Harris.


Some entertain the belief, and may be correctly, that Robert Harris came from Wales to Richmond, Virginia, and was employed in the tobacco house of one Rice, who soon died, and Robert Harris married his widow, Mary, who was a daughter of William Clayborne, Secretary of the Virginia Colony, and that William was born in Virginia. His father having engaged in the tobacco business, probably led William to be a tobacconist. [History and Genealogies, W.H. Miller, 1907]

Robert married Mary Claiborne. Mary (daughter of William Claiborne and Elizabeth Butler) was born in 1632 in King William County, Virginia; died on 9 Feb 1709/10 in Glen Cairn, Doswell, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Second marriage. First husband was Edward Rice.

William married Elizabeth Mary Waters on 24 Nov 1670 in Yorktown, Virginia. Elizabeth (daughter of Samuel Waters and Ann ? (Waters)) was born in 1650; died in 1697. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary Waters was of the St. Sepulchres Parish, London, England. She came to Virginia as "maid" to be a wife.

Notes:

Capt. Thomas Harris, born England, came to Virginia in 1611 aboard PROSPEROUS at "Neck of Land" on James River. Capt. Harris claimed land since Adria Gurganey is an "Ancient Planter", i.e., in Virginia prior to April 1616.

Thomas patented 870 [820?] acres in Henrico County, VA, known as "Longfield", later as "Curles Neck."

Living in Richmond, Va in 1965 I noticed a local Dairy Co. by the name of "Curles Neck Dairy." This piqued my curiosity, since I had seen the unusual name in the archival material on Capt. Harris. Driving down off the bluffs east of Richmond I easily recognized the finger of land that was Curles Neck Dairy, once called "Longfield" when owned by Capt. Harris. The meandering James River defined it precisely. (-Baxter P. Cochran, 1992).

He came to Virginia in May 1611 on the ship "Muomaduke"[sp?] (another source says aboard the ship "Prosperous" in May 1610). During the Indian wars of 1622 he was second in command to Capt Thos. Osborne and later of the Charles City Regiment. He owned 820 acres of land at "Long field."He was granted large (additional?) tracts of land in 1635 to 1655 & 1658 due unto him "as being an Ancient Planter and Adventurer, and for transportation of persons into the Colony." These grants amounted to 2270 acres. He represented Henrico County in the House of Burgesses (first English Assembly ever convened in America) from 1623 to 1639, and 1642.

Thomas married Joana Osborne. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

William Claiborne was Secretary of State of Virginia from 1652 - 1660.

He came to America on the GEORGE in 1621

William married Elizabeth Butler. Elizabeth (daughter of John Butler and Jane Elliott) was born in 1610; died in 1676. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Ann Gardiner. Ann was born in 1613. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Samuel married Ann ? (Waters). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]