The ancestry of the Harris family of Wiveliscombe, intermarried with the family of Governor Bennett of Virginia takes on a new understanding when an accurate transcription of the name of the wife of William Harris is given; instead of West it should read Westbrooke. Immediately, the kinship network of his family is revealed, which exhibits a very close and repeated affinity to the Bennett family through kin intermarrying into such families as the Stevens. Other members of this kinship group include the Hill family (thus a familial connection is established to the Symes family of Mells), and a family of Forte, which was probably the same one connected to the son of Thomas Harris, d. 1672, as I have previously shown.

WIVELISCOMBE KINSHIP NETWORK

William Harris/Dorothy Westbrooke, 31 Aug. 1562.
Joan Westboke/John Clowter, 23 Sep. 1559.
Joan Upham/ Henry Westbrooke, 10 Dec. 1569.
John Westbrooke/Margarett Davie, 19 Sep. 1573.
Grace Davie/ John Moore, 9 Jun. 1575.
Nicholas Davie/Joan Birde, 7 Feb. 1596.
Robert Davie/Joan Williams, 23 Feb. 1596.
Joan Davie/Richard Hawkins, 1 Feb. 1599.
Thomas Davie/Elizabeth Stevens, 1626.
Joan Clowter/John Bowring, 29 Nov. 1565.
Henrie Bowring/Tamsin Grant, 5 Apr. 1624.
John Bowring/Margaret Rogers, 13 Nov. 1630.
Joan Bowring/ William Atkins, 15 Jun. 1634.
Agnis Bowring/John North, 8 May 1641.
Grace North/Samuel Stone, 22 Jun. 1643.
John Clowter/Agnes Lovell, 7 Feb. 1568.
Katherine Lovell/James Horne, 25 Aug. 1561.
Alice Lovell/Robert Forte, 8 Aug. 1605; issue Richard Forte, issue Francis Forte, bapt. 26 Aug. 1631
Elianor Forte/ Christopher Stevens, 19 Oct. 1581.
Thomas Forte/Ellen Webber, 8 Jun. 1588; issue 1. William Forte, issue Henry Forte, bapt. 21 May 1614; 2. John Forte, issue Thomas Forte.
Andrew Upham/Elizabeth Hill, 29 Jan. 1575.
Mary Hill/Robert Yea, 8 Oct. 1564.
Joan Hill/ David Edney,* 30 Jan 1574, *cousin of Eleanor Bennett, wife of Richard Harris.
Jane Hill/Richard Gardiner, 17 Jan. 1596.
Ethelred Hill/ William Hutchin, 4 Jun. 1618.
Elizabeth Hill/Lawrence Comer, 3 Feb. 1620.
Simon Hill/Joan Thorne, 6 Sep. 1623.
Anstice Hill/ Phillip Tucker, 1 Dec. 1638.
Joan Upham/Christopher Newton, 30 Jun. 1575.
John Newton/Emmett Goodman, 29 Oct. 1621.
Radigon Goodman/John Stevens, 17 Jan. 1625.
Mary Stevens/Richard Bennett, 12 Jan. 1648.
Thomas Upham/Elizabeth Southcotte, 20 May 1576.
John Upham/Jane Boddy, 28 Apr. 1588.
Emmett Boddy/ Thomas Briante, 4 Oct. 1577.
Robert Boddy/ Elizabeth Skinner, 20 Oct. 1586.
Robert Upham/Joane Perrett, 11 Oct. 1600.
George Upham/Sara Baker, 6 Nov 1637.
Thomas Upham/Mary Howell, 30 Oct. 1640.

There seems to be some very intersting names here in relation to Virginia ancestries.

The following Harris of the adjoining parishes of Nettlecombe and Halse were very likely members of this Harris family:
John Harris, m. Joan Woolcott, 6 Feb 1562, Nettlecombe.
Joan Harris, m. John Woolcot, 16 May 1568, Nettlecombe.
Robert Harris, m. Tamsen Stevens, 28 Jan 1584, Halse; having issue: Margaret Harris, m. John Stevens, 3 May 1595; William Harris, bapt. 1 Jun. 1585; George Harris, bapt. 9 Jul. 1589.

WIVELISCOMBE

1.
1.1. William Harris, m. Dorothy Westbrooke, 31 Aug. 1562.
1.1.1. Richard Harris, m. 8 Oct. 1594, Eleanor Bennet, sister of (1) Thomas Bennett, who had issue: (a) Thomas Bennett, b. 5 Nov. 1603, m. Agnes Beard, 17 Jul. 1623, parents of Richard Bennett, who m. Mary Stevens, 12 Jan. 1648, and Phillip Bennett, bapt. 6 March 1626. (b) Richard Bennett, bapt. 6 Aug. 1609, Governor of Virginia, whose son ….. (2) Edward Bennett, bapt. 2 Feb. 1577, in Wivelscombe; later of of St Olave, Southwark, London, and Lawn’s Creek, Virginia, father of Alice Bennett, who m. John Hardy. Nugent, C&P vol. 1, p. 569: Mr. John Hardie 1150 acres IOW Co., 5 June 1666. Beginning at upper corner tree of Mathew Tomlins old land, running SSE by Wm. Westwrayers land &c. SW on Mathew Tomlins new land. Their daus. m., respectively, Hodges Counsell, and Richard Jackson, whose da. Mary Jackson, m. Capt. George Hardy, who patented 500 acres on July 17, 1648 ‘lying on east side of Lawne’s Creek extending to main river and along the great river to the creek dividing the same from land of Alice Bennett’. George Hardy was an appraiser of the estate of Edward Harris, d. 1677. Richard Bennett’s first wife was Anne, who was Charles Barham’s sister (see Douglas Richardson, ‘Plantagenet Ancestry’). Mr. Charles Barham Ex., Thomas Harris (d. 1672) and Thomas Tuke (of Barwick, Somerset, whose family were tenants of the Symes family) overseers, were officers of the will of William Ridley, who was probably the br. of Elizabeth Ridley, Charles Barham’s wife.
1.1.1.1. William Harris, bapt. 28 Jan. 1595.
1.1.1.2. Richard Harris.
1.1.1.2.1. John Harris, bapt. 18 Feb. 1624; probably d. 1687, Virginia, m. Unity.
1.1.1.2.1.1. Elizabeth Harris, m. Samuel, son of Robert Lancaster Sr. and Sarah, widow of 2nd husband Richard Bennett Sr., d. 1710.
1.1.1.2.2. William Harris, m. Eleanor (probable sister-in-law of Christne Tucker).
1.1.1.2.2.1. James Harris, bapt. 13 Apr. 1657.
1.1.1.2.2.2. William Harris.
1.1.1.3. Thomas Harris,* m. Judith Blake, 20 Nov. 1623. *Cousin of Richard Bennett, , Governor of Virginia, and probably he who d. in Virginia in 1672.
1.1.1.4. Charity Harris, m. Robert Manning, br. of Thomas Manning, who m. Elizabeth Moore, 9 Jun. 1631, whose da. Joan Manning, m. Nicolas Perratt, 20 Feb. 1647.
1.2. Anstis Harris, m. Robert Woolcott, 8 Sep. 1569, Wiveliscombe

The proposition is that such as Edward Harris, d. 1677, and Thomas Harris, d. 1688, were of this general family, sharing their associations; a case of whatever the degree of blood kinship being reinforced by marriages into the same families over succeeding generations. The level of intermarriage within such kinship groups was truly staggering by most modern standards, and caution should be used when considering ‘DNA results’, which probably show closer ‘matches’ than was the fact.

As a footnote, is it known that the John Harris who married Unity did not leave male children?

copyright m stanhope 2017