1. George Harris, bur. Oct. 19, 1570, Cornhill, St. Peter. (Half a mile from Bishopgate, via Bishopgate Road). His ancestry can not be determined, though guessed at with some probability.
   1.1. William Harris, bapt. March 1, 1562.
   1.1.1. Richard Harris, merchant, of “Leadenhall streete”, m. Hester …
   1.1.1.1. “Richard Harris s. Richard merchant, bapt. Sept. 17, 1620”.
   1.1.1.2. Nathaniell Harris, bapt. July 28, 1630.
   1.1.1.3. Margaret Harris, m. Clement Bacon.
   1.1.2. Margaret Harris, bapt. 1589.

1.2. Thomas Harris, “stocking-seller”, m. Margaret (probably Warner), bapt. Oct. 25, 1590, dau. of John Warner.
1.2.1. Thomas Harris, bapt. Sept. 9, 1610. Foley, Early Virginia Families Along the James River, vol. 2, p. 13: “Thomas Stegg, merchant, 1,000 acs. Chas. City Co., … 18th, 1640, p. 694. Being a neck of land between the old mans Cr. & Queens Cr. on the Sly. side, etc. 200 acs. being formerly granted unto Thomas Wheeler and later assigned unto Patrick Kannaday, mariner, by James Turner and Thomas Harris, assignees & attorneys of sd. Wheeler and by Kannaday, to Stegg”.

1.3. John Harris, “scrivenor”.
1.3.1. John Harris, bapt Jan. 25, 1596.
1.3.1.1. George Harris, merchant, bapt. Dec. 22, 1633, recorded in Charles City Co., O.B. 1655-65, p. 168. He was was dead by Oct. 4, 1663, when his widow, Sarah, as admin., gave Thomas Grendon power of attorney to collect debts, p. 549. His Will was recorded in London on March 24, 1672; mentioning his br., Thomas Harris, merchant in London, who, in 1674, sold 1200 ac. known as Causey’s Care in Charles City Co., to Thomas Grendon, Jr., the third husband of his sister-in-law, Sarah, relict of George Harris.

Among the bounds of the property mentioned were “lands late Hardaway”. Thomas Harris may have been the the person of that name who died in Charles City in 1677; the admin. of his estate being granted to John Echols (Eccles) and John Hardaway, jointly, his probable sons-in-law. Walter Aston sold one hundred ac. to William Edwards, and one hundred ac. to Hannah Hill, both tracts being purchased by George Harris, of Westover, whose inheritor, his br., Thomas Harris,* “merchant tailor of London”, sold the same to Col. Thomas Grendon, Jr., of Causey’s Care, who by his Will, proved Dec. 3, 1684, devised the same to William Byrd, Jr., son of William Bird, Sr. (Bird’s Book of Title Deeds).
1.3.1.2. *Thomas Harris. Was he possibly this Thomas Harris? (“of St. Leonard, East Cheap, Salter, Widr, ab’ 26” (b. 1636), who m. “Dorothy Bessana, of St. Lawrence Jury, Spr, ab’ 19, her parents dead; consent of eldest brother John Bezana her guardian; at S’ Mary le Bow, London, Feb. 1663” (New Cal.); kinswoman of (1) Noel Bassano, who witnessed the Will of Thomas Grendon. (2) John Lanier Jr., obit 1719, Prince George Co, VA., who m. (1) (1677) Katherine Sampson in Charles City Co.; great-grandfather of Rebecca Lanier, b. Dec. 16, 1744 , d. July 1818, in Green Co., Georgia, m. Walton Harris, b. Feb. 6, 1739, d. Jul. 20, 1809 in Green, GA. (3) John Lanier, who m. Elizabeth Bird. Was he possibly the Thomas of this report of March 1662 (New Cal.): “Whereas seriously examining the evidences taken against John Partridge for several blowes given by him to Thomas Harris overseer to Captian Thomas Stegg”; he embarking for Virginia immediately after marriage.

Was he the Thomas Harris* who was executed in 1677 for his support of Nathaniel Bacon? Sarah, widow of George Harris, m. (2) Thomas Stegg, Jr., (3) Thomas Grendon, who died in 1685. (William Bird, m. Hannah Grendon, dau. Col. Thomas Grendon; their granddau., Elizabeth, m. John Lanier Jr.). Thomas Grendon Sr., father of the aforementioned namesake, described himself as of “St. James’s Duke’s Place” (Aldgate), per Will, which was bounded on the north by the ward of Bishopsgate. *His posterity in the male-line can not be determined with any degree of certainty.

Thomas Stegg was a slave-trader, which involved raids on Native tribes on the periphery of English settlement, and coercement of allied tribes to hand over their children, on the ruse of giving them an education. Thomas Stegg’s Will of 1670 bequeathed this enterprise to his nephew, William Bird, and he gave a young Indian slave girl to his relict. He gave instruction for Sarah to supervise the 18 year old William Bird until he had gained more experience of running a trading post (a compound where Native people were held captive before being sold). When the House of Burgesses attempted to “regulate” such trade, by such means as banning the sale of weapons to the white slave-trader’s Native allies, such as Nathaniel Bacon and William Byrd became incensed, moreso when their “slave-holding compounds” were attacked by resentful Natives. “Regulation” was a thinly disguised attempt to give a monopoly of the trade in Natives to the British government’s land-owning supporters – the conflict of Bacon’s Rebellion was between sections of the landed gentry, the “upper” gentry versus Bacon’s “middling” gentry, not between working people and the British government.

Governor Berkeley’s plan to create a series of border forts to protect colonists was not considered adequate by such as Bacon (who favoured the genocide of hostile Natives), and his land-hungry followers, who attacked the Pamunkey Natives in the Great Dragon Swamp area of New Kent Co. Not being able to capture their leader, Cockacoeske, they took prisoner an older woman that the thought to be related to her, who Bacon ordered to be killed by a blow to her skull when she did not cooperate in leading them to Cockacoeske. When the “rebellion” failed, and 23 English “rebels” were executed, female supporters were charged with “seditious libel”, rather than treason, it being assumed that their husband’s controlled their actions. Sarah was the exception to this rule, and was charged with treason (the penalty being a loss of property and life). Sarah assumed the role of the “foolish wife”, and was pardoned. She would have know of Bacon’s genocidal aim: “to ruine and extirpate all Indians in generall”. This was a conflict between devils, not angels and devils. Hollywood history, this was not.

The clue to understanding the relationship between George Harris and Nathaniel Bacon is a “note of the tenure of the Estate in St. Botolph’s, Bishopgate, to the effect that they were granted (by Henry VIII), to Nicholas Bacon, William Bretten, and Henry Ashfield”. (E.S.R.O., SAS-CO/1/638, ca. 1545).

THE BACONS OF BISHOPGATE

1. …
   1.1. Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-1579). Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, held property in Bishopgate, juxta Cornhill.
   1.1.1. Sir Nicholas Bacon (c.1540–1624), m. Anne, dau. of Edmund Butts, and Anne Bures.
   1.1.1.1. Butts Bacon, m. Dorothea Warner.
   1.1.1.1.1. Clement Bacon, d.v.p.
   1.1.1.2. Jemima Bacon (b. 1581), m. (1) May 11, 1597, as second wife, Sir William Waldegrave (d. 1613), of Smallbridge. She m. (2, in 1613), Henry Killigrew, of Arwenack, Cornwall.
   1.1.2. Clement Bacon. Clement Bacon v Fuller. Plaintiffs: William Bacon (nephew of Clement Bacon). Defendants: Richard Fuller, Richard Browninge and his wife. Subject: pretended will relative to lands in Norwood Barningham, late of Clement Bacon, ca. 1623. (C 2/JasI/B17/18).
   1.1.1.2.1. Clement Bacon, “of Bishopsgate streete. Free of the Drapers, 1618″; bur. Aug. 7, 1643.
   1.1.1.2.1.1. Nicholas Bacon, bapt. April 9, 1618, Cornhill.
   1.1.1.2.1.2. Thomas Bacon, “sonne of Clement Bacon, draper”, d. inf., bur. Nov. 14, “in pitt in ye east yeard”.
   1.1.1.2.1.3. William Bacon, d. inf.
   1.1.1.2.1.4. Clement Bacon, m. (2), Margaret Harris, bapt. Sept. 11, 1634, Cornhill, dau. of “Richard Harris, grocer”; kinswoman of George Harris.

1.1.3. Nathaniel Bacon 1547-1622, given estates in Norwood Barningham by his father, m. (1), June 29, 1569, at St. Sepulchre, Anne, illegit. dau. of Sir Thomas Gresham, of Gresham House, Bishopsgate Street, London. (2) Dorothy, dau. of Arthur Hopton (and widow of William Smith of Burgh Castle (Suff.), having issue:
1.1.3.1. Winifred Bacon (bapt. May 4, 1578), m. Sir Robert Gawdy (1577-1639), of Claxton, Norf.
1.1.4. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), of Hasset; the renowned philosopher (son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and his 2nd wife, Anne, dau. of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall, Essex); Chancellor of the Colony of Virginia, 1609.
1.1.4.1. Elizabeth Bacon, m. Sir James Bacon*.

1.2. James Bacon, alderman of London, d. 1573.
1.2.1. *Sir James Bacon, m. Ellizabeth, dau. of Francis Bacon, of Hasset.
1.2.1.1. Nathaniel Bacon, 1593-1644.
1.2.1.1.1. Thomas Bacon, of Friston, M.P.
1.2.1.1.1.1. Nathaniel Bacon, “rebel” (slave-trader of Natives) in Virginia.

BIRDS OF BISHOPGATE

1.
1.1. William Bird, bur. Apr. 23 1626, aet 65.
1.1.1. Philip Bird. m. Frances …
1.1.1.1. William Bird, bapt. Oct. 1, 1620.
1.1.1.2. Thomas Bird.
1.1.1.2.1. William Bird, bapt. Oct. 5, 1654.
1.1.2. William Bird, bapt. July 20, 1600.
1.1.3. Richard Bird, bapt. Feb. 23, 1606.
1.2. Robert Bird.
1.2.1. Robert Bird, bapt. June 1, 1585, “merchant taylor”, m. Sarah …
1.2.1.1. William Bird, bapt. Oct. 1, 1620, d. inf.
1.2.1.2. William Bird, bapt. July 7, 1623, d. inf., father dec.
1.3. Mathew Bird.
1.3.1. Christopher Bird, bapt. Sept. 4, 1580.
1.3.2. Mathew Bird, bapt. Oct. 8, 1583.
1.3.3. Mary Bird, m. Alexander Mercer, Nov. 4, 1604.
1.4. Ralph Bird, m. Elizabeth Agborow, 1587.
1.5. Robert Bird.
1.5.1. Robert Bird, bapt. June 1, 1585, “merchant taylor”, m. Sarah …
1.5.1.1. William Bird, bapt. Oct. 1, 1620, d. inf.
1.5.1.2. William Bird, bapt. July 7, 1623, d. inf., father dec.
1.5.2. Ralph Bird, bapt. Sept. 24, 1587.
1.5.3. Ann Bird, m. Lawrence Ballard, July 1617.
1.5.4. Sara Bird, bapt. May 21, 1598, m. Thomas Collier, July 14, 1629. (I suggest this to be significant).
1.5.5. Frances Bird, m. William Harris, Nov. 10, 1629.
1.6. John Bird, d. 1610, haberdasher, m. Helen … He inherited (1598) property in Hillingdon, formerly that of the Herde family.
1.6.1. John Bird, b. 1605. Feoffment of messuages and malt mill, gardens etc. and appurtenances, land in Little Hillingdon Field, Stubwell Close and elsewhere in Hillingdon. Parties: (1) John Bird, citizen and goldsmith of London. (2) John Watson of the Middle Temple, Esquire. (3) Thomas Diconson of the Middle Temple, Esquire. 1652. (LMA. ACC/0401/026).
1.7. Christopher Bird, of Hillingdon.
1.7.1. William Bird, of Hillingdon.
1.8. Judith Bird, m. Thomas Blount, June 22, 1589; of him I know not.

The more “realistic” commentators of the likely origin of William Bird of Westover have only ever alluded to “some connection” to John Bird, citizen and goldsmith of London, who was probably the cousin of his father, Thomas, as given.

Simple stuff, get on in life by any means available. Human “dog” eats human “dog”, but both are superior to those not deemed to be human; those they fight over to exploit. A lesson of history, sadly.

copyright m stanhope 2020