Belva, you wrote: the only william harris i know who had a patent for 1500 acres in 1725 is stated to have been the william harris, jr, said to have been the son of captain william harris/ temperance overton. George Alves was the step-father to younger sons Wm & Edward of Maj Wm Harris d 1678. We know these two sons were in New Kent records from 1692 - 1698. The St. Paul's Vestry records begin in 1704/05...with George Alves serving on the vestry board in the first recording of the vestry...with Edward Harris as surveyor in 1703/4 & William Harris, surveyor in 1706. George Alves continued to serve on that vestry until 1730(except to make a trip to Great Britain 1711/12). In 1716 Wm Harris was admitted to the vestry with George Alvis as a member of the vestry board that day and from that point forward until 1727, both George Alvis and William Harris served on the same vestry board together until Wm Harris & James Overton were replaced on the board on 2 Jan 1726/27 by Thomas Anderson & Charles Hudson. I cannot see how George Alves and William Harris who also processioned their adjoining lands together in 1707, serving on this vestry board together for 10+ years (1716-1727) could be anything but "step-father & step-son". My findings are that the William Harris, surveyor of the Forks, vestryman, church warden with military rank of Captain was, in fact, the son of Major William Harris d 1678 Henrico Co. Edward Harris, surveyor in 1704 was also a son of Major William Harris. These two sons of Maj Wm were raised among surveyors within the Ligon family....their Aunt Mary & Uncle Thomas Ligon were a family of surveyors...with Col Thomas Ligon appointed Royal Surveyor of Henrico County. Col Thomas Ligon also served alongside Major William Harris as both Burgesses of Henrico Co....their son Richard Ligon tutored his orphan/cousin William Harris in 1682/83 by indenture...Richard Ligon is in a Henrico Co. record in 1680 as being a surveyor at that time. One issue that might have confused those who authored the old published articles was perhaps they weren't aware that surveyor's were privy or had access to inside knowledge of good land/deals & some surveyors ended up accumulating mass quantities of land in that regard as did surveyors like Peter Jefferson & George Washington. With so many land patents for William Harris in New Kent/Hanover Co. made it look as though there were many William Harrises and some articles did narrow it down to 3 Wm's for Hanover Co., however, that's not what I found. Profile of Major William Harris d 1678 Henrico Co. VA includes positions of Burgess and was serving as a Justice of the Henrico Orphans' Court just a few days before his death. Major William served as Burgess 1652-57 & served together as Burgesses with Thomas Ligon in 1655/56. The research of Malcolm H. Harris stated that the 1725 Cubb Cr. William Harris (aka "Third William Harris of Hanover Co.") was "without rank or any other identifying information other than his association with George Alves in the records of St. Paul�s Parish and patents of adjoining lands in Hanover County" was incorrect and this is the statement that has misled & confused many researchers from DNA Groups of 6 & 8 for some time & finding our research crossing over into the supposed territory of the Wm/Temp line & also involved in records with some in that line. It is DNA Gp 8 that does carry several lines that show the Overton middle name with proof that one line had that name as early as 1750'ish. How all of those male Harris names fit into the picture coming down from Capt William Harris can only be explained by more than one marriage by Capt William Harris. We do know that Mary was the wife of William in a 1692/93 Henrico Co. record...she doesn't show up in any record after that & we really don't know how many sons they had together & if she died & he then married an Overton or he could have had multiple marriages in his lifetime. I can see the possibility of an Overton marriage from the 1706 vestry minutes where two Robert Anderson's (Sr. & Jr.) were on the vestry board when William had made application for the vestry & it's my understanding that one Robert Anderson was married to an Overton and in 1716 William Harris was voted into the vestry in place of Robert Anderson dec'd. I'm not an expert & don't have all the answers except to say that I studied & stayed focused on this time frame coming down from Maj William Harris to the early New Kent records and have accumulated proof records for my findings & can say the process of this was well over a year in the study. I add a disclaimer that the above findings have been my own and for every other researcher to search & draw their own conclusions. Carol On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:12:01 -0800 (PST) belva cauthen <[email protected]> writes: recently this deed re william harris/ henrietta has been discussed > and as i went back and reviewed, i noted that it had been discussed > in the past and this same deed posted a number of times, including > the following post by e.w., which gives a lot more info per this > deed. > > i have both some questions and some comments. > > as shown, per this deed re william harris/ henrietta, it states that > it was part of the 1500 acres which was a patent to this william > harris'/ henrietta father. > > the only william harris i know who had a patent for 1500 acres in > 1725 is stated to have been the william harris, jr, said to have > been the son of captain william harris/ temperance overton. > > that patent for 1500 acres is described as being on elk creek > adjacent james overton. this patent here is described as being on > the north fork of little river at the mouth of horsepen swamp. > > so, are these different descriptions for the same patent? > > how is it known that this william harris' wife, henrietta was a > baker? is there a marriage record or some other info stating or > showing this? > > also, how is it known that the william harris, jr, who obtained this > patent for 1500 acres in 1725 was married to elizabeth burnett? > again, is there some record of this? > > are there any actual deeds for this william harris/ elizabeth > burnett? > > again, the following version of this same deed which pat posted and > discussed recently had been posted earlier by e. w. : > > She indicates her source is a deed in Louisa Co., VA. She abstracts > Louisa > Co., VA DB 2-298, 24 Apr 1759. > > A fuller abstract of this deed is found in a later-published book of > Louisa > Co., deeds. I will copy it here for the use of other Harris-Hunters. > > (Please cite the sources if you use this material.) > > [Louisa Co., VA DB B-298-300] 24 Apr 1759 William Harris of > Fredericksville > Par., Louisa Co., and Hennerittah, his wife, to Martin Baker of St. > Martin's > Par., Hanover 325 pds currt. money. 350 acres in Fredericksville > Par; part > of a tract of 1,500 acres granted by patent 24 Mar 1725 to one > William Harris > by records of Williamsburg and by sd. Harris, who was the father of > sd. > William Harris, gave unto his son in his Last Will and Testament > recorded in > Hanover Co. Land lyeth on north fork of the Little River ... at the > mouth of > Horsepen Swamp, up sd. Swamp to Benjamin Bibb's line ... near the > head of the > old mill pon(d) crossing the River south. > > Wm. Harris > Henrita Harris > Wit: David Smith, Thos. Rice., Jos Goodman. > 24 Apr 1759 acknowledged by William Harris and Renrita, his wife who > declared > her consent. > > (Rosalie Edith Davis, LOUISA COUNTY, VIRGINIA DEED BOOKS A AND B, > 1742-1759 > [Bellingham, WA: Published by author, 1976], p. 142) > > > belva harris cauthen > harris dna group 8--------26910 ____________________________________________________________ Click here to find the perfect picture with our powerful photo search features. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/PnY6rw1aBnCoyhlum1qIdn3S6wyO49yPPMRvMbp7Qe8k0A90ImAnc/