Please get acquainted with the Library of Virginia website [google search for it] Go down the alpha index to and *Land Patents* and choose the one which includes Northern Neck land grants.  (If any colonial Harrises got Northern Neck land grants, they are not Harrises with whom I am acquainted.  Most of our Virginia immigrants could not own land in England or any country controlled by England, so they were land hungry!!!) You will use as your search term on the LVA website for the Virginia land patents the surname Harris.   But you will have to  click all the way to the end of the Harris database to find the earliest patents, as patents are still being granted by the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 21st century and they appear first on the long list for Harrises.  (Amazing but there many swamps still in Virginia, and many may have been drained to accommodate newish patents!!!) Newer techniques in genealogy are called *cluster* research.  You note all the families who clustered around a watercourse or in a county, although if the *stranger* [to you] county is just across the river, gather those folks up also.  You need an atlas for Virginia.  DeLorme still publishes one, which I bought some years ago, but the index is not as good as I might wish.  Also, I was told by an archivist at LVA some years ago that when the land changed hands, the new landholder  might change the name of the creek, etc.  (However, I was lucky!!!) These patents which have also been published [some of the newer books have editor's remarks which I find helpful!  The first three of these volumes called Cavaliers and Pioneers were published many decades ago by the Library of Virginia, and the editor was Nell Marion Nugent.  The succeeding five volumes have been published in the past decades by the Virginia Genealogical Society.  Te editor was Denis Ray Hudgins.  All of these volumes are well indexed.  (I think VA Geneal Society sold their volumes to Ancestry.com.  But I am not as comfortable with the internet as I am with books. Here is an example from Vol IV of Cavaliers & Pioneers.  I consider this fellow a *usual suspect*.  Even if he is not my ancestor, he is of the right county and of the right time.  So I round him up: Patent Bk No. 18:  Robert Harris, 95 acs. Hanover Co., S side of Little Riv., adj. Col. Jones & sd Harris; 2 Jul 1738, p 77.  10 shill   (Denis Hudgins, Cavaliers and Pioneers:  Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants. Vol. Four: 1732-1741 [Richmond:  Virginia Genealogical Society, 1994] p. 169) So--how is this Robert Harris connected to anyone about whom I have already done research?  In the index are place names, such as rivers, swamps, counties, etc.  I will first gather up other folk who are clustered on Little River, perhaps in Hanover Co., but earlier may have been of New Kent Co. In Vol 4 of C&P [Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. there are references to Little River on these pages:  1, 87, 129, 144, 169 [the one quoted above], 221, 251.  (I need to analyze these patents--who, where, when, neighbors, etc.]  I already have some suspicions about this particular Harris man, but I had better double check. I am going to proceed quickly by cutting short on page 1 of same volume of C&P.  I already have some earlier info on Col.Thomas Jones, and he is another *usual suspect*  He appears in earlier volumes of Cavaliers and Pioneers. Patent Bk No 15  Col. Thomas Jones of the City of Willamsburgh, Gent.  [Note to EWW:  is he a colonial official of some importance--like in the House of Burgesses?  Or head of a military company?  Didn't he patent land earlier with another close friend or neighbor of a Harris?  to continue:]  3,400 acs. NL [new land] OL [old land] in Hanover Co.; both sides of North Fork of Little Riv. & head brs. of Elk Cr; adj. William Harris [which William Harris may this be?  EWW] James Nuckolls, John Poindexter, Dickenson & Winston; 9 Oct 1732, p. 2 15 pds  part formerly gtd by pat. to Josep Powell of King Wm.Co. & by him sold to sd Thomas Jones.  Years ago, I think Genealogical Publ Co. took lots of articles from older publications like the William and Mary Quarterly, Tyler's Quarterly and published in about four volumes named [what else?] Virginia Genealogies.  (Take your magnifying glass.  I saw these volumes in a nearby genealogical library recently, but I figures I did not have sufficient time to dip into those.  Well, some of these books are now on Ancestry.com.  Try searching for Virginia land records--and lok for a surname index at the very end.) If a library near you has issues of The Virginia Genealogist, check the indexes, if any are available.  John Frederick Dorman has been the editor/publisher of these for decades, but my impression was that most of the material was of later centuries rather than the earlier centuries. However, Dorman has been editor or co-editor of several versions of some costly books entitled Adventurers of Purse and Person.  Get your librarian to help you track down these books and see if you can order them on interlibrary loan. ________________________________ From: Anne Harris <amh504@yahoo.com> To: EVELYN WALLACE <hdanw@verizon.net>; "harris-hunters@rootsweb.com" <harris-hunters@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 10:00 PM Subject: Re: [HARRIS-HUNTERS] Major William Harris Thank you for answering my email The Major William Harris (1626), Henrico, son of Captain Thomas Harris (1587), Henrico, VA is the Major William Harris I am inquiring about.  Do you have any direction or info for me? Have a good day, Anne >________________________________ > From: EVELYN WALLACE <hdanw@verizon.net> >To: "harris-hunters@rootsweb.com" <harris-hunters@rootsweb.com>; "holmes-diane@att.net" <holmes-diane@att.net> >Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 7:01 PM >Subject: Re: [HARRIS-HUNTERS] Major William Harris > >Dear Diane Holmes,  If your Harrises were in Albemarle Co.,formed 1744 from Goochland and Louisa Cos., VA can you give some approximate dates?  My Christopher Harris, son of Major Robert Harris, surveyor of colonial Louisa Co., was in the process of moving ca 1787 to Madison Co., KY.  However, I am fairly certain that he left behind (maybe the eldest) a son named John Harris who became his executor in Albemarle Co.  If you have access to the digitized database HeritageQuest through your local (or State) library system, you can find The Boone Family by Hazel Spraker.  Toward the back of the book are related families and there is a list of Christopher's children (19 if I remember correctly) by two wives.  The first wife is said to be Mary Dabney (can be conjectured from the will which mentions Cornelius Dabney) and the second wife was Agnes McCord--one of those Scotch-Irish persons from Pennsylvania who settled in Augusta Co, VA.  Some McCords were >later in Albemarle Co.  Evelyn W.Wallace > > > > > > >________________________________ >From: Diane Holmes <holmes-diane@att.net> >To: harris-hunters@rootsweb.com >Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 5:29 AM >Subject: Re: [HARRIS-HUNTERS] Major William Harris > >Mary June, >    No my group is 7. I know there are a lot of William Harris. My family >settled in Albemarle and Nelson County, Virginia. > >Diane D. Holmes > > > > >________________________________ >From: "boxerb@aol.com" <boxerb@aol.com> >To: harris-hunters@rootsweb.com >Sent: Wed, August 29, 2012 6:56:30 PM >Subject: Re: [HARRIS-HUNTERS] Major William Harris > > >Is this group 6? > >Mary June > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Lynda SoRelle <clsorelle@sbcglobal.net> >To: Anne Harris <amh504@yahoo.com>; harris-hunters <harris-hunters@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Wed, Aug 29, 2012 6:23 pm >Subject: [HARRIS-HUNTERS]  Major William Harris > > >Major William Harris left three children when he died,  Thomas, William and >Edward. According to the following wills and deeds,  Thomas Harris died without >issue. >Alice Harris, widow of Major William Harris, later married George Alves.  They >lived in New Kent and Hanover Co., VA where William and Edward  Harris, younger >sons of Major William, also lived in close association  with George Alves. The >descendants of William and Edward Harris of New Kent/Hanover Co. are Group 8 in >the Harris DNA project. > > >From Adventurers of Purse and Person, 2nd edition 1964, p. 384 >WILL OF MAJOR WILLIAM HARRIS >Not knowing what the Lord hath ordained or at what tyme he may take out of >this life, I doe settle my estate of lands as followeth: I give & bequeath to >my sonne Thomas all my lands below the ware and to keep the ware run for his >Bownes till it shall come to ye spring at ye hed & then to follow a bottom on >ye lower side of the clearing of John Rabon, to the hundred roade path, and >then on a straight roade or course to the land of Coll. Petter Ashbrooke, but >in no case to cross pocketts' path; to my younger sonns Wm. & Edward Harris, >I give the rest of my dividend, Wm. to have the plantation where I now live & >Edward ye land next Ashbrooke. But Wm. to extend outwards one hundred yards >beyond ye clearing of John Rabon on the path called pocketts' path & thence >on a straight course to ye redd watter & Edward the Heds, vizdt: to Petter >Ashbrooke's line as allsoe to ye Ashen swamp above, to them & their Heires; >neyther to sell unless the one to ye other & if eyther die without ishew, the >land to come to ye survivor; my two younger sons to live with their mother >till ye age of sixteene, if shee marry; if not, till 19 years of age. My will >is that my wife live on the plantation during her life but not to hinder my >sonne Wm. at the head of ye Ware if he come for himself. I desyre my friends >Mr. Thomas Cocke & Mr. Wm. Randolph to see this my will performed. In witness >of every pte. >hereof, I putt to my hand this 20th day of April, 1678. >Signed Wm. Harris >Signed in ye presence of Rich. Lygon ye mark of X >Proved in Henrico County Court the first day of Feby., 1678/79 by the oath of >Ann Steward, one of the witnesses to the will above written, >and entered amongst the records of the sd. Court per. Wm. Randolph Cl. Cur. >Henrico CountyRecords (Deeds & Wills) 1677-1692, p. 68 >Ann Stuart > >Will of Thomas Harris dated Feb. 10, 1678/9, proved June 2, 1679. >In the name of God, Amen, I, THOMAS HARRIS, being very ill and sicke and very >weake, make this my last Will and Testament, being in sound mind and perfect >memory. First I bequeath my soul to God who gave it, & my body to the earth from > > >whence it came. I give and bequeath unto my sister-in-law, Loue Harris, my land >at ye ware, according to the bounds sett in my father's will, to her and her >heirs forever and give her as much power of the afores'd land as I myself had in > > >my lifetime. I give and bequeath unto my Cozen, Richard Lygon, all my horses, >mares or folds y't can be found or to be said or proved to be mine to him and >his heirs forever, they not being given by my Grandfather into the hands of the >overseers for the true and honest p'formance of this my last will. I have >hereunto sett my hand and seale In the years of our Lord God, February the 10th, > > >Anno 1678-9. Thomas Harris. >Teste: Alice (X) Harris, Mary (X) Lygon, Junr. - : Richard Lygon. >Proved in Henrico County Court the 2nd day of June, 1679, by the oath of Mrs. >Mary Lygon, the younger. >Tste: Wm. Randolph, Cl. Cur. And recorded , per W. Rid p'h. >Henrico Co. Wills & Deeds 1677-92, pg 90-91 - Weisiger > > >William Harris, son of Maj. William Harris, dec’d., for a tract of 250 acres, >now conveyed to me by Hon. William Byrd, Esq., being that tract on south side of > > >James River called “The Ware,” given by Maj. Harris to his son Thomas Harris, >Dec’d, and since escheated to His Majesty, sells to said Byrd a tract also on >south side of James River, part of a tract Maj. Harris died seized of on Ware >Run, 225 acres, 1 Oct. 1692. > >/s/ William Harris >Wit: Wm. Soane, George Alves >Rec: 1 Oct. 1692Henrico Co., VA Deed & Will Bk. 1688-1697, p. 347 - Weisiger > > > >Lynda Harris SoRelle > > > > >________________________________ >From: Anne Harris <amh504@yahoo.com> >To: EVELYN WALLACE <hdanw@verizon.net>; "harris-hunters@rootsweb.com" ><harris-hunters@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Tue, August 28, 2012 11:29:39 PM >Subject: Re: [HARRIS-HUNTERS] Some Edgecombe Co. NC Info > >Is there information on Major William Harris, son of Captain Thomas Harris as to > > >the names >of his children and wife? > > >Have a good day, >Anne > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >HARRIS-HUNTERS-request@rootsweb.com > >with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of >the message > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >HARRIS-HUNTERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HARRIS-HUNTERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HARRIS-HUNTERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >