Rev. Dr. Thomas Harrison, D.D.

Not the father of Isaiah Harrison, I

Thomas Harrison (c. 1618–1682) was an English nonconformist minister.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Harrison_(minister)_

Harrison was born at Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Robert Harrison, merchant. He matriculated as a pensioner at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, on 12 April 1634, aged sixteen, and graduated BA in 1638. link

Rev Thomas Harrison came to the early Jamestown, VA settlement about 1640 as minister of Elizabeth River parish (Anglican, Episcopal). chaplain to Governor of Berkeley (1645-1652).

Rev Thomas , a native of Kingston-Upon-Hull, England, he was of Yorkshire parentage, with residence in London, and was descended from the Durham family of Harrisons, entitled to bear the Yorkshire (London) Arms. He came from the same family as the line of Alderman and Burgess of the city of Hull, which was granted a charter by Edward I in 1299. He was an intimate of the Cromwell family.

Following the second Indian massacre, April 18, 1644, he turned Puritan himself, and in 1648, after refusing to read the Book of Common Prayer, or Administer the Sacrements, abondoned his ministrial office.

He removed to New England where he married Dorothy Symonds, daughter of Samuel Symonds of Ipswich, MA, Deputy Governor of MA, and a native of Great Zeldham, Essex Co, England. He became an Independent or Congregational minister of the gospel.

From MA in 1650, Thomas returned with his family to England as minister at St. Dunstans-in-the-East, London. He then removed to Bromborough Hall, Warrall, Cheshire, and in 1655, accompanied Henry Cromwell (son of the Protector) to Ireland.

Upon the Restoration, Rev. Harrison returned to Chester, where he preached to large congregations in the Cathedral. Following the passing of the "Act of Uniformity" in 1662, he settled permanently in Dublin, and founded there a flourishing dissenting church.

With the rise of the Catholic element under James II, there was little hope for any former followers of Cromwell, or his children. Having been so closely allied with the Cromwell party, Thomas's fortunes were doubtless depleted by the time Isaiah came to America.

Rev. Thomas Harrison died in 1682 in Dublin, Ireland - "A midst general mourning." "He was a complete gentleman", "Much courted for his conversation." He was the author of several works, among them "Old Jacobs Account Cast Up." He left a valuable library. His will recorded in 1682, and other family records was destroyed in the courts' fire of Public Records office of Ireland in the late rebellion of 1922,

Identified by J. Houston Harrison, Settlers By The Long Grey Trail, as the ancestor of the Rockingham Co Va Harrisons is circumstantial, but a good case for his findings, thus this author has accepted the results as reasonably adequate.

J. Houston Harrison conducted a thorough research of the origin of the Harrison families of England and Scotland, see CVii, pp. 77-78. The Harrisons came into England with the Norse Viking Sea Kings 1016-1035. They were among the free Danes of whom Kingsley's hero, Hereward the Wake was one, and the last to withstand William the Conquerer.

Northumberland is the Danish section of England and filled with Harrisons. The name being of Danish patronymic origin more properly spelled Arysen (Aertzsen) and common to this day in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.(Richmond, Va Standard, No. 41, june 12, 1880)

In 1650 he returned to England and became minister of St. Dunstans-in-the-East London. He came an intimate of Henry Cromwell and accompanied him in 1655 to Ireland where he settled permanently in Dublin

After the Restoration and assumption of the English throne by Charles II, He preached to large congregations in the Cathedral at Chester, England, was the author of several works of note, and left a valuable library.

From MA in 1650, Thomas returned with his family to England as minister at St. Dunstans-in-the-East, London. He then removed to Bromborough Hall, Warrall, Cheshire, and in 1655, accompanied Henry Cromwell (son of the Protector) to Ireland.

Family

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~harrisonrep/genealogy/hhdocs/81DecENG

He left a will recorded in the same year (1682), but it was destroyed in the courts' fire of Public Records office of Ireland in the late rebellion of 1922, along with other records of his family.

Rev. Thomas Harrison and his 2nd wife, Katherine Bradshaw had among others, according to an entry record in St. Peter's Church,Chester, the following:

• "1661. Thomas the son of Mr. Thomas Harrison Doctor in Divinitye born April 23, Baptized May 22. "
• "1663. Katherine daughter of Mr. Thomas Harrison, Doctor of Divinitye, born the 15th day of August Baptized 26th August. " (The last entry at St. Peters as to Katherine and Thomas Harrison. )

Descent

From The Will of Thomas Harrison, D.D.

Ever since I started researching my genealogy and eventually discovered I was descended from Isaiah Harrison of Oyster Bay, I have been interested in finding out who his ancestors were. In Settlers by the Long Grey Trail J. Houston Harrison says: "the only apparent reasonable explanation lies in the conclusion that the father of the immigrant was Thomas Harrison, D.D." However, his conclusion is based on a series of possibilities and coincidences. There is no birth record for Isaiah, although many sites list his birthday as 25 September 1666 (for who knows what reason!). No record of his passage to America. No record of anything.

Dr. Thomas Harrison died in 1682 in Dublin, but his will was lost in the Four Courts fire in June 1922. I've always thought that somebody, sometime, would have made notes or a copy during the 240 years between when the will was filed and when it was destroyed, or that a birth or christening record or mention in some other obscure contemporary document might show up.

Recently I did a Google search on Dr. Thomas and came across an article by Francis Burton Harrison in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Oct., 1945), pp. 302-311, that not only includes an abstract of the will but also a reference to the location of a certified copy at the Virginia Historical Society. The copy had been ordered by Charles Penrose Keith (1854-1939) in 1899 and donated to the Society in 1932.

There is no mention of Isaiah, or any other son, in Dr. Thomas Harrison's will. While this does not prove absolutely that Thomas had no sons who survived him, it reduces the possibility to a matter of wishful thinking.

Will

of Rev. Thomas Harrison as follows:

• "Public Record Office of Ireland---Certified copy--Will of Thomas Harrison, 1682--Diocese of Dublin. 16th. June 1682. Thomas Harrison Preacher of Ye Gospell in Dublin, being weak in body, but having ye use of my understanding and memory,...do ordain and constitute this my last will and Testament....
• "For my worldly substance...: 'I do...give and bequeath all that estate really and postal wch I have in England unto my two younger daughter Mary and Susanna Harrison (except only) such debts or summer of money as now are, or shall become due unto me on the 24 day of this June...to be equally divided betwixt them...with the aforesaid estate forever but to be managed for their use by my well beloved Bror. in Law, Sr. James Bradshaw Knt. till they [are 21] [or married]...
• "To my daughter Dorothy Byfield £140 to be improved for her use by my son-in-law William Smyth, but the principal not to be paid her or her Husband unless upon great necessity.
• "I give unto the congregation in Cookstreet whereunto I do belong £20 to buy plate for the Lord's Table.
• "To poor of said congregation £5.
• "To my Brother in Law Sr. James Bradshaw one large piece of Gold triple sovereign of Queen Elizabeth....
• "To my well beloved son-in-law Mr. William Smyth of Dublin and Elizabeth his wife residue real and personal. He to receive moneys due to me in England on June 25.
• "Son-in-law William Smth sole Executor
• Signed Tho: Harrison
• Elizabeth would thus be the wife of William Smyth, Harrison's executor.

  ---

Disputed Origins

Parents seen as

• Richard Harrison Sr. (1595-1653) & Mary (1595-~1640)
• Richard Harrison and Margaret (Pilkington) Harrison [uncertain]
• Not a known son of Richard Harrison *nor of Richard Harrison of Branford

  ---

http://harrison.jhamedia.com/pats.html

This line is haplogroup I-M253.

• Isaiah Harrison b. 1666 Chester, England, d. 1738 Shenandoah Valley, VA, m1. Elizabeth Wright
  • Isaiah Harrison b. 27 Sept 1689 Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY, d. Craven Co., SC
    • Gideon Harrison b. c1715 Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY, d. 1761 Augusta Co., VA

      ---

References

• http://lmperry.net/Perry-Poole-Tree/ps08/ps08_314.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_family_of_Virginia
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Harrison_(minister)_
• https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~harrisonrep/genealogy/hhdocs/81DecE...
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Sep 9 2016, 2:30:13 UTC
• https://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&...
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/puritans-in-colonial-virgi...
• https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_...
• Harrison, Francis Burton. "Commentaries upon the Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison. IV. The Reverend Thomas Harrison, Berkeley's "Chaplain"." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 53, no. 4 (1945): 302-11. Accessed April 25, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4245373.
• 1682 - will of Thomas Harrison, preacher of the Gospel in Dublin