Sir William Harris, of Southminster & Willingdale Doe

Update Oct 2017

"the William Harris who married Ellen Burrows is not proven to parents William Harris who married Joan Harding, who is not proven to the William Harris who married Jane Semer. One or both of these connections to parent is impossible due to DNA."

outdated notes

In May of 2001, J. Phillip Harris of Richmond, VA <jpharris@juno.com> discovered new material concerning locations of the various Harrises and it gave new light to the families in the William Harris/Temperance Overton Line. He believes that the immigrant Harris ancestor of that line is William Harris (1596-1656) of Willingale Doe, Essex this William Harris who came to VA with Col. William C. Claiborne as a surveyor.

In what he calls as THE INTRODUCTION TO WILLIAM HARRIS OF JAMESTOWN, he says, with regard to his findings:

"The key to this was discovering the village of Willingale Doe in Essex, England. Willingale Doe is about eight miles west of Chelmsford in Essex...[The location of this village was discoverd in the extracted parish records in the LDS International Genealogical Index [IGI]. Incredibly, what we have within a ONE SQUARE MILE area around Willingale Doe in the year 1600 are the following places:

1. Shellow Bowells - the village where Edward Harris resided for most of his adult life. Edward Harris was the youngest overall son of William Harris of Southminster by his third wife, Agnes Rutter.
2. Torrell Hall - the home of Henry Josselyn family and his daughter Mary who married Edward Harris as his second wife in 1583. The Josselyns were ccousins to the nearby family of Sir Thomas Gates of Good Easter, who became one of the early governors of the Virginia colony.
3. Little Burch Hall - the home of the John Butler/Jane Elliott family and their daughter Elizabeth, who was to marry William Claiborne in Virginia c1635. This family also included Elizabeth's older brothers John and Thomas Butler who both eventually came to Virginia and settled in Claiborne's Kent Island settlement in the upper Chesapeake Bay. The brother of the senior John Butler was Capt. Nathaniel Butler of nearby Roxwell who was to become the Governor of Bermuda from 1619 to 1622 and who later sat on the Council of Virginia with William Claiborne.
4. Willingale Doe - the village where we find the parish records for the entire William Harris/Joan Hardings family including their son William, who was born in 1596.

"When we begin to expand out from these four families and look at the marriages of the children and other associated families in the Willingale Doe, Shellow Bowells and Roxwell parish records, we find a number of interconnections between all four of the families. As it turns out, the key to discovering our Harris history in England AND Virginia lies not in the association with William Claiborne but in the various connections to the Butler family."

[NFJ - NOTE: Phillip Harris has proposed the entire line as he believes it occurred and I have entered it. It covers six generations starting with William Harris of Southminster and goes through the first three generations in VA. I have merged some of what I had on those lines with what he proposed because it does fit. ]

"For the most part, all of the information needed to construct this [lineage] can be found in commonly available sources, either online or at most larger libraries. The predominant sources are:

• The IGI parish records at LDS Family Search (batches begin with prefix "C" or "M").
• The Visitations of Essex of 1552 and 1558.
• Cavaliers and Pioneers Volumes I and II (Nugent I and Nugent II) - land patent records.
• Various volumes of the Virginia Genealogies series (also on FTM CDs or online at Genealogy.com if you have a subscription).
• A biography on William Claiborne called VIRGINIA VENTURER published in 1954, or any other suitable biography on William Claiborne.

"I would also suggest a good map of Virginia, preferably the DeLorme Atlas of topographical maps that exists for each state as well as a detailed driving atlas of Great Britain showing the towns and villages."

_________

From http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~harrisessex/Willi... Phillip Harris, Part 2 - WHY I BELIEVE WILLIAM HARRIS OF WILLINGALE DOE WAS THE GRANDSON OF WILLIAM HARRIS OF SOUTHMINSTER.

"The main records we have to rely on for William Harris of Southminster are the Visitaations of Essex 1552. Essentially that information tells us the basics about the first three generations. William Harris first married Joanna Smith and had son and heir William who married Jane Semer and who likewise had a son named William. The Visitations of Essex 1558 go on to list all three wives, all thirteen of his children, as well as a number of his grandchildren.

"Since he was a prominent Essex official, there are other court records that substantiate the time period in which he lived. His will in 1556 confirms five of his sons, that his last wife was named Agnes (Rutter), and lists the properties he owned. The five surviving sons that were still living in 1556 were William and Vincent by the first marriage, Arthur by the second marriage, and Christopher and Edward by the third marriage. Even if the Visitations are inaccurate, we know that he did have those five sons, and he names them in that order in his will. The eldest son William actuarry does not receive a legacy from his father in the will. Wording in the will implies that the son William Harris had already been provided for and was well established in 1556. It is stated that he had already been assigned property that was not named in the will. We do not know the location of that property.

"Although there are few actual parish records for the early 1500s, we can estimate by various sources that William Harris married his first wife Johanna Smith around 1515. With thirteen children, if William Harris averaged one child every two years over all three wifes, that would put the last child being born in 1541. We already know from the 1556 will that Christopher and Edward Harris were still underage in 1556 confirming that Edward, the last son, was probably not born until around 1540-1545. If William, the first son, was born shortly after the 1515 marriage, then he was just coming of age, marrying, and having his first son William in that same 1540-1545 time period. That means William Harris of Southminster had a son Edward and a grandson William who were approximately the same age.

"The parish records of Willingale Doe (IGI M058661) tell us that William Harris (the grandson) married Joan Hardings on 6 May 1576. That is a perfect 30 year cycle from 1516 (1515-1546-1576), giving the distinct possibility of William Harris of Willingale Doe to be the third generation William. Edward Harris married Mary Josselyn 8 July 1583 in Shellow Bowells (IGI M042611). He had first married Elizabeth Barrington around 1575 (no IGI record). The Barringtons were from Hatfield Broad Oak about six miles from Shellow Bowells and Willingale Doe. It is very apparent that Edward Harris and William Harris were almost the same age and lived within a half mile of each other. They have all the apperances of a family relationship. The only possible relationship in the known family that would fit this criteria of a William being the same age as Edward Harris would be that of the uncle and nephew described above.

"One other connection can be gleaned from the 1556 will: Thomas Kinge was listed a number of times as the personal servant of William Harris of Southminster and received a small legacy. The will also listed a daughter (unnamed) of the third wife, Agnes Rutter, by her previous marriage and the daughter was stated to be the wife of Richard Kinge of Bockinge. Bockinge was also the home of Joanne Cooke, the second wife of William Harris as well as the home of Jane Semer who married the second generation William Harris. Bockinge is 12 miles from Willingale Doe, straight up the old Roman road from London.

"Two of the children of William Harris of Willingald Doe married members of the Kinge family of Haostead. Halstead is just a couple of miles outside of Bockinge along the same road. The two marriages were Thomas Harris to Sarah Kinge, 25 March 1617, and Alice Harris to Thomas Kinge, 24 November 1618 (IGI 8205631). Sarah and Thomas Kinge were the children of Richard Kinge, both christened in Colchester, Essex in 1587 and 1592 respectively (IGI 812134, 812138). It appears that Richard Kinge was the grandson of Agnes Rutter who, of course, was also the mother of Edward Harris.

"Considering the compelling evidence, I feel very comfortable in drawing the conclusion that William Harris of Willingale Doe was the grandson of William Harris of Southminster and nephew of Edward Harris of Shellow Bowells.

"Side NOTE: I will not use any of the possibilities concerning Capt. Thomas Harris in support of my conclusions about the identity of William Harris since none of the theories about Capt. Thomas Harris can be proven yet. One of those theories is that Thomas Harris was the son of Edward Harris and Mary Josselyn. Obviously, if that theory were to end up being validated, it would not only support my conclusions about William Harris, but taken together would have major implications concerning the whole history of the Harris family in England and their involvement with the settlement of Virginia."

Sources:

1. Abbrev: J. Phillip Harris Research Title: <i>J. Phillip Harris Research</i> HARRIS HUNTERS (internet)
2. https://archive.org/stream/visitationsofess13byumetc#page/58/mode/2up The Visitation of Essex in 1558 page 59
3. https://archive.org/stream/visitationsofess13byumetc#page/60/mode/2up The Visitation of Essex in 1558 page 60