Benjamin Harrison IV was born in a small house on the plantation named "
Berkeley Hundred" or "Berkeley Plantation".[5] The immigrant of his family is thought to have come from London and earlier from Northampton.[6] He completed his studies at
The College of William & Mary and became the family's first college graduate.[7] He settled on his family estate and increased his land holdings, as his ancestors had done.[3][7]
Around 1722, Harrison married Anne Carter, whom
William Byrd II described as "a very agreeable girl",[1] and he managed and received profits from her father's land as part of her dowry.[8] Carter
entailed this land to Harrison's son Carter Henry Harrison.[8] Harrison built a
Georgian-style three-story brick mansion on a hill overlooking the
James River in 1726 using bricks that were fired on the plantation.[9][nb 1] Berkeley has a distinction shared only with
Peacefield in
Quincy, Massachusetts, as the ancestral home of two presidents.[4] In 1729, Harrison purchased 200 acres of the Bradford plantation from Richard Bradford III.[11] From 1736 to 1742, he represented
Charles City County, Virginia in the House of Burgesses.[12]
Henry (born ~1736–1772)[1] who served as a captain under Major General
Edward Braddock in the French and Indian War and under Lieutenant Colonel
George Washington. Lived at
Hunting Quarter in Sussex County.
Nathaniel (b. ~1741–d. 1792) who became Sheriff of Prince George County in 1779 and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1781–1782. In 1760, he married Mary Ruffin, daughter of Edmund Ruffin and they had four children. He married Anne Gilliam in 1768 and they had six children. His descendants include
J. Hartwell Harrison.[15]
Harrison in 1745 was struck by lightning and killed, with one daughter, Hannah. Some reports incorrectly say his "two youngest daughters" were killed in 1745 when lightning struck his house.[1][nb 2] Harrison's will expressed his intent to be buried near his son Henry,[1] and it broke with the British tradition of
primogeniture by leaving large amounts of wealth to all of his children.[16] His oldest son Benjamin became responsible for the six plantations that comprised Berkeley, along with the manor house, equipment, stock, and slaves.[7] Eight other plantations were divided among the remaining sons, and his daughters were given cash and slaves.[7]
One source indicates that Harrison's tomb is located on the grounds of the "old
Westover Church",[11] but another states that he was buried in his family's cemetery.[12]
Notes
^Meg Greene reported that the mansion was built after Harrison received "a grant of twenty-two thousand acres of land", but does not state precisely when he acquired the land.[10]
^Reports around the incident do not name the two others who died, but W.G. Stanard named them as "Lucy" and "Hannah" in 1924. The survival of Lucy is well documented, which suggests that Stanard's report is at least partially in error.[1]
References
^
abcdefghijklmnopqrCowden, Gerald Steffens (July 1981). "Spared by Lightning: The Story of Lucy (Harrison) Randolph Necks". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 89 (3). Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Historical Society: 294–307.
JSTOR4248494.
^Harrison, Francis Burton. “Commentaries upon the Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison: V. Benjamin Harrison of Aldham and Stationer Harrisons.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 54, no. 3, 1946, pp. 244–54.
JSTOR website Retrieved 30 Sept. 2023.