Many Burgesses for IOW Co. were from either side (Gloucestershire or Somerset) of the Bristol estuary, and traded from Bristol. They included John Seward (burgess in 1645), Arthur Smith (1645); John George (1647); Robert Pitt (1649); John Bond (1653), who named Francis England and Arthur Smith as “friends” in his Will; Daniel Boucher (1653), who named Hodges Counsell as “kinsman in his Will; James Pyland (1659); and Nicholas Hill (1659). Other ‘south coast’ merchants included the Moones of Southampton, and the Greenes of London. Tobacco and kinship bound them together.

The following permutation is suggested by some “Harris Hunters” of old. It obviously ignores the oft repeated claims that the Thomas Harris, d. 1672, and Thomas Harris, d. 1688, were not related, rightly so; made by present-day claimants as ancestors.

1. Richard Harris, m. Eleanor Bennett, Oct. 8, 1594, in Wiveliscombe.
1.1. Thomas Harris, m. Judith Blake, Nov. 20, 1623, in Wivelscombe.
1.1.1. Thomas Harris, d. 1672.
1.1.1.1. John Harris, who m. 2. (April 13, 1689), Elizabeth Church.
1.1.1.1.1. Isabella Harris, b. April 17, 1695, according to the records of Chuckatuck Monthly Meeting; she d. after 1749, having m. Nicholas Fulgham, son of Nicholas Fulgham, d. 1736, and Martha Pitt; son of Nicholas Fulgham and Sarah Davis; br. of Michael Fulgham, whose dau. supposedly m. a son of Robert Harris, d. 1688.

1.2. Richard Harris.
1.2.1. John Harris,* bapt. Feb. 18, 1624: Estate by Unity Harris, widow and admin. of John Harris. May 1687. Signed Wm Newsum, John Clarke, Wm. Newitt. (B. 3, p. 82).
1.2.1.1. William Harris, d. bef. 1693, m. Elizabeth …
1.2.1.1.1. John Harris. May 20, 1710: Thomas Ward of Lawne’s Creek Parish to John Chambers of same (his mother was Olive Ruffin). Witnesses: William Newsum and John Harris. (p. 10).
1.2.1.1.1.1. John Harris, m. Mary Drew. Will of Edward Drew, prob. March 8, 1746, SH Co. “son Newitt; grandson Newitt Harris, son of my dau. Mary Harris”. Witnesses, John Harris, James Ridley.
issue (per Will of John Harris, prob. Dec. 13, 1764, SH Co. Wit.: Simon Harris and Jesse Jones. (W.B 2, p. 108).
1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Drew Harris
1.2.1.1.1.1.2. Nathan Harris.
1.2.1.1.1.1.3. John Harris
1.2.1.1.1.1.4. Newitt Harris
1.2.1.1.1.1.5. Thomas Harris
1.2.1.1.1.1.6. Ann Harris
1.2.1.1.1.1.7. Martha Harris, m. … Newsum
1.2.1.1.2. Simon Harris.

1.2.2. Thomas Harris. Granted 850 acs. Surry Co. S. James Riv. , on N.W. & S.E. sides of Sunken Marsh above & below the mill; June 2, 1668.
1.2.2.1. William Harris,* inerhited this land. William Harris and wife Mary Harris, to William Newsum, 220 ac. now in the tenure of *Mr. John Harris; adj. William Newett, and the Sunken Marsh Path. Wit. Robert Ruffin. R. Jan. 5, 1685.
1.2.2.1.1. William Harris.
1.2.2.1.1.1. A son or dau.
1.2.2.1.1.1.1. Harris Taylor.
1.2.1.2. Elizabeth Harris, m. Samuel, son of Robert Lancaster Sr. and Sarah, widow of her 2nd husband, Richard Bennett, d. 1709.

1.3. Edward Harris, b. 1596. Richard Bennett, bapt. Oct. 9, 1573, d. Aug. 28, 1626, in VA, m. Judith … ‘The will of Judith Bennett of St. Dunstans in the East, London, widow was proven by (Richard’s nephew) Edward Harris, executor, Nov. 23, 1638. (P.C.C. 164 Lee). Edward Harris of St. Dunstan in the East, London, merchant, aged 45, named in the Hubberday v. Penniston court case of 1641, which stated he received tobacco from Virginia with Captain Thomas Cornwallis. E.D.N., p. 7, 1875: ‘Among the first sale of negro servants is that made by (Edward’s cousin) Richard Bennett, when a Virginia merchant, to Thomas Cornwallis. About the year 1643 he sold two Africans for fifty pounds sterling. From that period black laborers increased. Bennett after this was made Governor of Maryland by Cromwell. He was the nephew of Edward Bennett (as, probably, Edward Harris – M.S), a London merchant, who had been Deputy Governor of the English traders at Delft, Holland. The same Richard Bennet was associated with Rice jones, who was in bond to him for 1,200 lb. of tobacco.
Rice Jones patented 88 ac. in Lanc. Co., on N. Side Rappa, adj. land of Edward Harris (deceased) Sept. 2, 1652, he subsequently sold this land to Howell Powell, Jan. 22, 1652, p. 53. This land had been sold to Rice Jones by Richard Bennett, as part of his patent of Nov. 4, 1642. It is almost certain that Edward Harris also held land of this patent.
Rice Jones also sold land to Howell Powell, on N. Side Rappa. adj. land of Wm. Newsome, April 6, 1653, p. 51. The last record of this William Newsome appears November 1, 1657 in a promissory note to John Flower (a Bristol merchant) from “William Newsome of Lower Chippoakes in James, Virginia, planter”, p.111. His son and namesake received grants of land were made to him in partnership with Robert Ruffin and Arthur Allen, a Bristol merchant. (B. 6, p. 650-654). He m. a granddau. of William Spencer, alluded to here: Indenture, Wm. Cockerham (as the Joyners and Hardys, of Dorset, c. 40 miles from Wiveliscombe, Somerset), to *Wm. Harris, 150 acres in Hog Island granted to Wm. Spencer, late of the County, dec’d February 1, 1637. Beginning at a marked white oak very neare a saw pitt in the line twixt said Cockerham and Robt. Barham, orphan (son of Charles), associated with Thomas Harris, d. 1672.
Edward Harris was the cousin of Thomas Bennett, b. c. 1590, listed in the 1624 census on the south of the James River, near Lawne’s Creek. In that year, Elizabeth Pierce, dau. of his wife Alice, chose her stepfather, Thomas Bennett, as her guardian. Elizabeth Pierce m. (2) Richard Jackson, by whom she had issue (1) Sarah, who m. Arthur Smith Jr. (who with his wife gave to George Hardy deeds for the land on Blackwater, in 1666, the deed reciting that Sarah and (2) Mary (wife of George Hardy, appraiser of estate of Edward Harris, d. 1677;) were daus. of Richard Jackson and granddaus. of Alice Bennett. (B. 1, pp. 69, 70).
Thomas Bennett was the father of Richard Bennett, d. 1709, a second-cousin of Edward and of ‘1.1.1. Thomas Harris, d. 1672’. Richard’s first wife was (circumstantially) Anne, who was Charles Barham’s sister (see Douglas Richardson, ‘Plantagenet Ancestry’). Mr. Charles Barham Ex., Thomas Harris (d. 1672) and Thomas Tuke overseers, were officers of the will of William Ridley, who was probably the br. of Elizabeth Ridley, Charles Barham’s wife.
Richard’s grandson William Bennett, m. Mary Hardy, dau. of George Hardy, and sister of Martha Hardy, wife of Edward Harris, d. 1677. Their dau. Ann Bennett, was a beneficiary in the Will of Mathew Fones (1704), witnessed by Philip Pardoe, who witnessed the Will of Martha, wife of Edward Harris, d. 1677. Mathew Fones witnessed the Will of George Hardy (1704). Philip Pardoe’s wife was Jane George, dau. of John, and almost certainly related to the second wife of Thomas Harris, d. 1672. Their dau., Joyce Pardoe, m. Phillip Brantley.
1.3.1. Edward Harris, d. 1677, m. Martha Hardy; in the convention of these days, a (Bennett) kinswoman. The inventory of Edward Harris states that he owed money to “Mrs Davis”; almost cartainly the wife of John Davis, i.e. *Mary Greene; da. of Thomas Greene (br. of John*) and Mary Moone, and cousin of Martha Greene, who m. Anthony Fulgham, of Pitminster, Somerset, aforesaid.
1.3.2. Thomas Harris, d. 1688, a cousin of ‘1.1.1. Thomas Harris, d. 1672’. A headright of Thomas Harris, d. 1672, was Giles Driver, witnessed here: Bridgman Joyner (guardian of an orphan of Thomas Harris, d. 1688): Appraised by Thomas Mandew, Giles Driver, Andrew Griffin. Ordered in October Last past. R. Dec. 4, 1719. Signed Ann Joyner. (G.B. 23). This is one example of numerous shared connections.

1.4. William Harris, headright of John Moone, IOW, 1637. John Moone’s da., Sarah Moone, m. Lt. John Pitt, son of Col. Robert Pitt, the Bristol sea captain and merchant. John Moone’s da. Mary Moone, m. Thomas Greene; his sister m. Anthony Fulgham, of Pitminster, Somerset; their son, Michael Fulgham, m. Anne Izzard, having issue: (1) Anne Fulgham, who, it is claimed, m. Robert Harris, son of Thomas Harris, d. 1688.
William Harris was also claimed as a headright by John Seward, the Bristol sea captain and merchant, IOW, 1648, who patented land in 1638: “Upon Warresquioke River. Beginning at a pynie pint by a little gutt running into the woods right over against the land of Nathaniell Floyd and near his former pattent. “Francis Hobbs’ now wife Mary was former wife of Nathaniel Floyd deceased”. Francis Hobbs’ da. was the wife of John Harris, son of Thomas Harris, who died in 1672, probable nephew of William Harris, who m. ….. His relict m. 2. Clement Thrush, whose Will of 1659 bequested to his step-daughter, Ann Harris, and named his son-in-law as Thomas Goodricke, and his children Benjamin, Joseph, Charles, Anne, Peter, and Katherine. Clement Thrush was the “servant” and headright of John Moone, aforesaid. Ann Harris, relict, was a headright of John Gillett, IOW, 1653; himself a headright of Nathaniel Floyd, aforesaid, IOW, 1637. *John Green, the son of Jno. Green, late of Rappa. Co., dec’d., 200 acs. in sd. Co., 10 Sept. 1663, p. 147. S. side Rappa. Riv. & S.W. side of Gillsons Cr., dividing this from land of Bartholomew Hoskins. Granted to John Gillett 4 Feb. 1653, assigned to John Green, dec’d., 6 Oct. 1654 & now renewed.

At least, reasonable.

copyright m stanhope 2018