Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-21
HARRlSON'S GENEALOGY,
He Descended From Master John Harrison,
Virginin's First Governor-No Relation
to Cromwelps Butcher-His Family Tree,
Cont. of. Arms snd Crest.


to CromweIrs Butcher-His Family Tree
Coat.of-Arms and Crest.
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATCH.1
WASHINGTON, January 20.-There have beer
many statements made in the past month to
the effect that the President-elect was de
scendant from Cromwell's General Harrison
The President-elect has been written to on the
subject, and his widely-published reply went to
show that if he did not believe that the asso-
ciate of the "bloody CROMWELL was his ances'
tor, he was not entirely sure of the fact.
l am able to asseverate and conclusively
prove think, that the next President of the
United States is no more descended from the
regicide than he is from the regicide's chief,
whose history is entirely damnable, and whose
| very name is an utter abomination.
Mr.. B. E. Blackford, originally Of Freder-
icksburg, Va, but resident of Washington
for the past five decades, has made heraldry
and genealogy his fad for many years and has
made an especial study of the lineage and an
cestry of the old Virginia families. He fought
beneath the stars and bars in tie rebellion, and
in his Democracy he is noteworthy and unre-
lenting. These facts gave an additional en-
phasis when he said to me the other day:
LAS an old Nirginian resent the idea that
the descendants of one of the Oldest OIL our
Virginia families and the Presidentelect OF
our country should for a moment be considered
to have sprung from regicides and CromWelllan
satraps. The glaring character OF the mis-
statement can be shown in a few words. Crom-
wells General Harrison is merely supposed TO
have come to America after Cromweli's execu-
tion in 1860. Now, as. will prove to you, the
ancestor Of the President-elect was governing
Virginia in 1923, q years before the Cromwell
ite is said to have come to America.
4
Master John Harrison.
"Among the second importation of Virginia
colonsts under John Smith, about the year
1909, was one Master John Harrison, gentleman.
In 1923 the Virginia Company, as private cor
poration, was extinguished, and Master John
Harrison was made Governor of Virginia. 10
HIM, in 1645, was born a son, who in due time
became known as Benjamin Harrison, of Surrey.
This son was the first great landed proprietor
of his name in Virginia. He was buried at
Westover, on the James river, and monument
was erected on the lawn of the family estate.
The monument which is still extant, bears the
following epitaph:
Here lyeth the body of Honora-
BILE BENJAMIN Harrison, Esquire.
who did justice loyed mercy and
walked humby with his God;
was always loyal to his PRINCE,
and a great benefactor to his
country.
"This worthy man." continued Mr.. Black
ford, "left three sons. The eldest was Ben
jamin Harrison, of Berkeley who died in April,
17lO, at the age Of 81. A monument was erect
ed TO his memory in Westover, at the expense
of the State. lie left son named Benjamin,
who married daughter of Robert Carter. of
Corotoman-calied King Carter, and celebrity
in those days. This Benjaman Harrison was,
with his two daughters killed by lightning. or
his sons, the first was Benjamin, the great.
grandfather of the President-elect, and one OF
the signers of the Declaration of lndepend-
ence. 1t could not have been said Of him that
he was always loyal to his Prince, but it can
be said that he was the father of a ruler and
the great-grandfather of a ruler of country
far more great and happy than ever Prince or
King drew bounty from.
ence married Miss Bassett. They had three
sons-Benjamin, Carter Ia member of Congress)
and William Henry, ninth President OF the
United States. There was one daughter who
married Randolph N. Wilton.
president Harrison's son, John Scott was
the father of the President-elect, and think
You will admit that the succession from Mas
ter John to the gentleman who will succeed Mr..
Cleveland on the 4th of March has been very
clearly shown"
Harrison's Family Tree.
MIR. Backford rapidly drew q partial genoa
logical tree, which tells its own story at ? |
glance:
MASTER JOHN HARRISON, |
First Governor of Virginia in 1873.
His son, |
BENJAMIN HARRISON, OF SURREY. |
Born l645.
His son,
BENJAMIN HARRISON, OF BERKELEY.
Died April, Hl0.
His son,
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Killed by lightning.
His son,
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Great-grandfather of the President-elect.
His son,
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON,
President of the United States.
His son,
JOHN SCOTT HARRISON,
father of
THE PRESIDENT-ELECT.
"Hugh Griggsby, continued my genealogical
who insisted on supplementing his
facts with documentary evidence, '.n his book
On the Convention of l776,' says of the Harri-
son family: OF all the ancient families in the
colony, that of Harrison, if not the oldest, is
,ne of the oldest; and added: From 1923 to
this date, period of two centuries and half,
The name has been distinguished for the patri-
)tism, the intelligence, and the moral worth Of
hose who have borne it.
MIR. Blackford also showed me the coat of
.rms of the Harrison family. and described
hem as follows, in heraldic vernacular:
"Perpale GU and az; an eagle displayed or,
nurally gorged of the first, between two pheons
n fesse arg, chief indented erminois.
"Crest The faces fessivise ppr. banded gu,
by an anchor erect, entwined by
able-all gold.
"a prominent English family, the Harrisons
# Tynemouth." said Mr. Blackford in con-
usion, "of record in Burke's Landed Gentry,
las adopted these arms and the crest, although
heir genealogy is not traceable to the far older
amily, the Harrisons of Virginia"
M |