Thomas Harris, I - @Thomas Harris

Good on them. However, once you get to the Colonies it's deuces wild and Katy bar the door. The College of Arms has never had (or at least never tried to enforce) any authority over the New World - and once Colonials figured out that they could lay claim to arms with impunity, guess what they did. ;-)

You evidently have no knowledge of the workings of the heralds of the College of Arms in London. They have maintained records on all families of the English nobility since the 1400's. These are obtained by personal visits to these families (Visitations) and from letters they have requested from title holders and their male siblings naming all of their male offspring, both living and deceased. Sir Arthur Harris sent several of these letters informing the College of new births and deaths for his children and none of them name a son named Thomas Harris. His father's letters do name a son Thomas, his exact date of birth and his death in 1617. FYI, arms are only issued to the one living title holder based on his accomplishments up to the time that the arms are issued, NOT TO ANY OF HIS FAMILY OR RELATIVES. And the right to bear those arms is only descended to his rightful living heir, possibly with added embellishments for their own accomplishments. So while there are many Colonial descendants that claim DESCENT from a given noble, only those individuals that are the proven heir of the title can bear the arms. ARMS ARE ONLY ISSUED TO ONE LIVING INDIVIDUAL WHO HOLDS THE TITLE FOR THOSE ARMS. Sure, you can buy a coat of arms for Harris (for which there are many) but all you can do is to hang it on the wall and say is that it was one that was issued to one of your ancient ancestors.

I'm quite aware of all that. I'm also aware that they never bothered to enforce the rules in America - leading to a sizable number of "assumed arms" and "arms of pretense". The point here is that you *can't trust* somebody's say-so that their ancestors were "armigerous" unless it's been officially checked out by the College of Arms.

Lt. Edward Waters, my somethingth great-uncle, used a coat of arms that he *may or may not* have had any right to. Most likely he didn't, but nobody told him he couldn't.

I guess I'm being a little too flippant about this. My bad.

You do not have my permission to quote any of my copyrighted emails that include some intentional typos so please remove them. You have clearly disregarded the footnote at the bottom of the message that warns of copyright violations.

That was not my intention of course, merely enough of a snip / reference to give the context. It is removed, and I presume my question unanswered.

FYI, the 1995 Millennial Copyright Act does not include personal use of any part of a private email. The complete contents of tall email messages and all attachments are automatically copyright to the sender, with no notice requirement, but my copyright attorney insisted that I add his convoluted footnote to my email messenger software.

No worries and I apologize for the faux pas. Tag me if I can be of further assistance to you.

There are no extant Charles City records that name any of the children of this Thomas Harris d1677 so there is no proof for the claims of any of the children or siblings you cite for him. He did have a brother George Harris whose Westover plantation he inherited in 1663.

Please remove my name from this profile. I do not want to appear to sanction the garbage that is posted there. The notes give a link to a postem for me that does not exist. The children named are all unproven and most of them are proven children of others. This wensite is getting as bad as Ancestry and wikitree for the garbage that everyone is adding to trees without taking the time to research what they are copying is correct in the original court records. If something is not in an original court record made at the time that the person was living, then anything else is purely guesses and wishful thinking, and not considered accurate genealogy research.

Tom, this site is much better than any other because we are doing the corrections as fast as we find out about them. This is not my direct family, I am not a Harris researcher, so for me, it's many hours of trying to find the correct information -- and as you say, there's a lot of bad info. If members would edit directly into the profiles it would be faster. If there were internet links to examine and draw from for the correct information it would be easier. Many of the errors you are finding are years old, and the people who entered the data are no longer active, nor did they enter any references to begin with. So it seems to be falling to me to (try and) get the tree in better shape, and then I can "lock up the data," but it's a process, and patience appreciated.

This is a DRAFT of the children written in April for feedback:

John (b abt 1636- d 1713). Married 1) Margaret Hobbs 2) Elizabeth Church
Thomas (b abt 1637- d 1688). Married Ann Mason.
Mary (b abt 1640 - ). Married Anthony Spolltember.
Martha. Married John Jennings.
Edward ( - d 1677) (probably). Married Martha Hardy.

Is it correct?

No, none of them are correct or proven. The Mary and Martha are proven daughters of Robert Harris. There never was a Thomas Harris 1637-1688 who married an Ann Mason. The John Harris d1713 was a proven son of Thomas Harris d1672 and the Edward Harris d1677 is of unproven parents. AS I HAVE SAID REPEATEDLY, THEIR ARE NO EXTANT CHARLES CITY RECORDS THAT NAME ANY OF THE CHILDREN OF THIS THOMAS HARRIS d1677. Despite claims by Ancestry, Wikitree and findagrave.com there are no other Virginia records that would even indicate the names of any of his children, much less when they were born or where they lived after he died. If you don't have proof of a child, it is a disservice to all the other geni visitors that are looking for accurate data for their own trees, to add children to his profile that there is no proof of and quite probably belong to someone else or never even existed.
You also need to correct the tree for Benjamin Harris d1848 that the profile manager wrote me that she didn't know how to make corrections. This Benjamin Harris is directly but incorrectly connected to this Thomas Harris d1677.

Excellent, now that I am informed there are no proven children of this Thomas Harris I will work on revising the tree. Will advise when done.

I take it Thomas Harris, of Isle of Wight County is "parents unknown." ?

Private User perhaps adjust the profile overview text and create curated "unknown parents" ?

I don't know which Benjamin Harris d 1848 to work on, Geni search gives me 8:

https://www.geni.com/search?search_advanced=open&search_extende...=

You have removed the links from this Thomas Harris that connected him to the Benjamin Harris d1848. His profile is the one that incorrectly names his parents as Absalom Harris and Elizabeth Tarver and incorrectly names siblings for him that were children of Absalom Harris & Elizabeth Tarver, only their brother Benjamin died 15 Oct 1802 in Hancock Co., GA, and his estate administered by his father Absalom Harris in Nov 1802 in Hancock Co., GA. Hancock Wills & Estates Bk 2, pgs 65-77.
The Absalom Harris Family Bible was published in the 1940's by the Old Oglethorpe County Georgia Historical Society. There are no known parents for Absalom's father Benjamin Harris d1774 in Southampton though many old books had Henry Harris and Mary Drew incorrectly shown which is impossible.

On the Thomas Harris d1688 his parents are unknown but his wife is shown correctly on her findagrave memorial was Ann Martin Tomlin, NOT an Ann Martin.
And there is one son omitted, Thomas Harris, who witnessed a deed in Dec 1712 between his uncles John and Mathew Tomlin and then moved to Chowan Co.,,NC with his wife and children to land that his brother John Harris had given him before he died in Chowan in 1711/12. Last known record of him there.

- Benjamin Harris has been disconnected as child of Absalom Harris & Elizabeth Lowe Harris

- Benjamin Harris, Sr. (father of Absolom) has been disconnected as child of Henry Harris & Mary Harris

Looks okay. Now remove all parents, children and siblings shown for this Henry Harris who married Mary Drew. Will send correct parents when I find their geni profile.

- Henry Harris disconnected as child of Edward Harris, Sr., of Isle of Wight & Mary Harris

It will take a little while to detach the children because I need to create a parent holder to keep them together as siblings.

Good luck on that since no parent has ever been found for these children. They are all named as deceased brothers in the 1791 Will of an unrelated Henry Harris d1791 in Southampton. I've tried for several decades trying to trace back the land that each of them had, but they all had purchased land at different times with no clue as to where they actually originated. None of them held any patent land so no clues there either.

unknown Harris created - and locked - as parent of the 4 brothers

Hardy Harris , Abraham Harris , Meschalind Harris & Henry Harris

They'll have to convince a curator to change that.

Updated the name for Ann Martin Harris based on https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=159632896 but question: it looks on the memorial page that Tomlin was her maiden name. Does that mean the parents on geni of Joseph Martin Tomlin & Martha Ann Tomlin are incorrect ?

OK, good, I merged in Henry Harris who married Mary Drew as son of Edward Harris, Sr., of Isle of Wight & Mary Harris

Are the birth / death dates correct? They are conflicting.

Are the children showing of Corporal John Harris , Olive Harris & West Harris correctly placed ?

Is this a different Henry Harris & Mary Harris

I think I got it!

Except there was no daughter Dorothy and there was a son Thomas Harris who witnessed a deed in IOW in Dec 1712, between his uncles John and Mathew Tomlin ,and then moved with his wife Elizabeth and children and moved to Chowan Co., NC to land his brother John Harris had given him before he died there c1711/12.

Disconnected Dorothy Harris & letting her float

Dropping off a reference cited:

Brayton, John Anderson. 1995. The five Thomas Harrises of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Winston-Salem, N.C.: J.A. Brayton.

Find in a library http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34919389

Google book record https://books.google.com/books/about/The_five_Thomas_Harrises_of_Is...

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Added Thomas Harris as son of Edward Harris, Jr. & brother to Henry Harris

Thanks for the tip. I'm trying to find the parents of William F. Harris born in1792 in Pittsylvania, VA. I'm going to try these references. Hope I have luck.