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- [S5142] Find a Grave - US Index (Famous), Patriot HARRISON Benjamin V 1730-1791 (Veteran) - Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Declaration of Independence Signer. Born in Charles City County, Virginia, he attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, but left the college before graduating, returning home to manage his family estate after his father was killed by lightning. At age 23 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served for the next twenty-five years. Elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774, he shared a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with fellow Virginian George Washington. Benjamin Harrison would serve in the First and Second Continental Congresses, from 1774 to 1777. A large man at 6 feet 4 inches and 240 pounds, Harrison once picked up the much smaller John Hancock and set him on the President's chair, quipping "We will show Mother Britain how little we care for her by making a Massachusetts man our president." As Chairman of the Committee for the Whole, he presided over the debates that resulted in the Declaration of Independence. While in Congress, he helped establish the three major governmental departments of War, the Navy, and the State Department. Leaving Congress in the fall of 1777, he returned to Virginia, where he served as Governor from 1781 to 1784. Near the end of the war, he had to flee to the interior of Virginia to avoid being captured by the British Army. Leaving behind politics, he returned to his family's estate and died there in 1791 at the age of 60. He was the father of 9th United States President William Henry Harrison and the Great-Grandfather of 23rd United States President Benjamin Harrison.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2784/benjamin_harrison
- [S11421] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004;).
- [S4094] Daughters of the American Revolution - Ancestors, HARRISON, BENJAMIN - Ancestor #: A052117.
Service: VIRGINIA Rank(s):
Birth: 1726 BERKELEY VIRGINIA
Death: 4- -1791 BERKELEY VIRGINIA
https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A052117
- [S4149] Sons of the American Revolution - Patriots, Benjamin HARRISON Sr - SAR Patriot #: P-176297.
State of Service: VA Qualifying Service: Signer Declaration of Independence / Patriotic Service
DAR #: A052098
Birth: 15 Aug 1726 Barkley / Charles City / VA
Death: 24 Apr 1791 Barkley / Charles City / VA
Qualifying Service Description:
Governor of VA
Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses
Spouse: Elizabeth Bassett
Children: William Henry; Lucy; Sarah; Anne; Benjamin; Carter; Elizabeth; Fairleanah;
- [S11548] Wikipedia: Benjamin Harrison V, Benjamin Harrison V.
Benjamin Harrison V (April 5, 1726 – April 24, 1791) was an American planter, merchant, and politician who served as a legislator in colonial Virginia, following his namesakes' tradition of public service. He was a signer of the Continental Association, as well as the United States Declaration of Independence, and was one of the nation's Founding Fathers. He served as Virginia's governor from 1781 to 1784.
He was born into the Harrison family of Virginia at their homestead, the Berkeley plantation. He served an aggregate of three decades in the Virginia House of Burgesses, alternately representing Surry County and Charles City County. Harrison was among the early patriots to formally protest measures that King George III and the British Parliament imposed upon the American colonies, leading to the American Revolution. Although a slaveholder, Harrison joined a 1772 petition to the king, requesting that he abolish the slave trade.
As a delegate to the Continental Congress and chair of its Committee of the whole, Harrison attended and presided over the final debate of the Declaration of Independence. He was one of its signers in 1776. The Declaration included a foundational philosophy of the United States: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Harrison was elected as Virginia's fifth governor; his administration was marked by its futile struggle with a state treasury decimated by the Revolutionary War. He later returned to the Virginia House for two final terms. In disagreement with his traditional ally George Washington, Harrison, in 1788, cast one of his last votes in opposition to the nation's Constitution for its lack of a bill of rights. He left two descendants who became United States presidents—son William Henry Harrison and great-grandson Benjamin Harrison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Harrison_V
- [S11551] Wikipedia: Declaration of Independence, United States Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in the engrossed version and original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial era capital of Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
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(Historic) Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in the engrossed version and original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who convened at Pennsylvania State… |
- [S11547] Wikipedia: Benjamin Harrison IV, Benjamin Harrison IV.
Benjamin Harrison IV (1693 – July 12, 1745[1]) was a colonial American planter, politician, and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was the son of Benjamin Harrison III and the father of Benjamin Harrison V, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the fifth governor of Virginia.[2][3] Harrison built the homestead of Berkeley Plantation, which is believed to be the oldest three-story brick mansion in Virginia and is the ancestral home to two presidents: his grandson William Henry Harrison, and his great-great-grandson Benjamin Harrison.[4] The Harrison family and the Carter family were both powerful families in Virginia, and they were united when Harrison married Anne Carter, the daughter of Robert "King" Carter.[5] His family also forged ties to the Randolph family, as four of his children married four grandchildren of William Randolph
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Harrison_IV
- [S11421] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004;), Source number: 1585.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: CCC.
- [S10407] Find a Grave - US Index, CARTER Sarah Anne Harrison 1704-1745.
Died. Spring 1745 before 12 July 1745 because Benjamin was a widower with young children—Hannah and Lucy—when Ben H was struck by lightning, killing him and Hannah and Lucy on 12 July 1745
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51201086/sarah_anne_harrison
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