I did some prowling of the goodly collection of books collected over the years by the Orange County California Genealogical Society and housed at the Huntington Beach CA library branch on Talbert St.  I forget the name of the branch currently. I found several indexes for the many volumes of the periodical The Virginia Genealogist edited by John Frederick Dorman. The beginning of the two part [?} series on Three William Harrises in Hanover County is in Volume 22 (1975) pages 3-15 and page 99-? of The Virginjia Genealogist, editor John Frederick Dorman.  Here are some rough notes William Harris the elder died on or before Feb 1733.  A patent was issued to him 24 Mar 1725.  His wife is believed to have been Temperance Overton. The son of this William Harris was said to be of Cedar Hill. It is believed he married Elizabeth Burnett.  Three of his sons had children with the given name Burnett.  This information about the names of the children is not given. There are listed five children of this second William Harris: 1.  Overton Harris (1726-1789) m. Ann Nelson of Hanover Co. 2.  William Harris - wife Henrietta.  He was in Louisa Co. militia [date not given]. He went to Kentucky and reportedly died Mercer Co., KY 1773 3.  Frederick Harris 4.  Benjamin Harris - will proved Louisa Co. 14 Oct 1765 5.  Robert Harris m. Mesapina, dau of John Walton. [end of my notes but not end of Dr. Harris's article on Three William Harrises f Hanover Co.] My suggestions to verify the above statements.  Dr. Harris was a frequent contributor to The Virgina Genealogist and Dorman, I am sure, checked his facts as far as his editorship would allow.  I have heard Dorman speak, and he is rather careful about his research.  However, we all make mistakes, and the best way to check these facts is through the land records and whatever other material you can find. If I have the correct Overton Harris f early date, [not my ancestor of the same name but of later Madison Co., KY where he died testate 1827], his wife divorced him, and you will find references to this divorce if you keep digging far and wide.  If your library has hefty two volumes called informally Swem's Index, you may find other material about these early Harrises, but check the facts with originals, if you can.  Swem was long the genealogical librarian at College of William and Mary. VA land patents [highly abstracted] can be found on the Library of Virginia website.  Google for URL.  In the alpha index of total holdings and publications [in some cases] which shows up, search for Land Records and choose the subject which includes the words *Northern Neck Land Grants*. When you get to what seems the right database on this website, type in the surname Harris.  The oldest patents [of which the above-named Harris is one] will be at the very end.  If you can find at your local public library (or a university library) these books [now numbering eight volumes] of colonial Virginia land patents, you can check on the patents of the Harris's neighbors and the watercourse on which the Harris family lived--all clues in this detective work called genealogy or family history.  The books which list the abstracted land patents are called Cavaliers and Pioneers.  The first three volumes are credited to the main compiler, Nell Marion Nugent and were originally printed by the Library of Virginia.  The other five volumes of Virginia land patents have the same title but were compiled and published in the last decades by the Virginia Genealogical Society, a private organization, in Richmond, VA.  (If you are a member of VA Gen Society, I believe you can still get a discount on their publications.  As well as receiving a quarterly journal and a bimonthly (?) newsletter.) I did not follow through on Dr. Harris's genealogy of the three Harris men of Hanover Co.  I suggest you use the database PERSI if it is available to you, perhaps through your local library and order copies of Dr. Harris's explanation of these three William Harrises. You may telephone [at night Tues, Weds,Thurs,the Family History Library in Salt Lake City to see if they have these volumes of The Virginia Genealogist.  They have a form [or did have] called Request for Phoptocopy, which prices were reasonable, at least a few years ago.  Or telephone or email the Allen Co. Indiana Public Library at Fort Wayne, INdiana.  They are the compilers of PERSI.  A library patron told me a few years ago that the turnaround time at Fort Wayne was acceptable. (Check on those neighbors as mentioned in the land patents.  They may be in-laws and they migrate with the Harris family.  I like to check who all lived on the same watercourse.  I understand that the barrels of tobacco were rolled to the watercourse and then to the boat on the bigger river. (Corrections, any one?) Lloyd D. Bockstruck, recently retired head of the genealogy department at the Dallas Public Library and an author and lecturer, said the bridegrooms in early Virginia married brides who lived downstream.  It was an easy row downstream, and the grooms were so invigorated by the visit that the row back home was easy.  Always look for the watercourses and note the neighbors in that neighborhood!!! Some genealogists [like Croom, if I remember correctly] calls rounding up the neighbors in your research is *cluster research*.  Even if the jigsaw pieces don't yet fit, round them up anyway.  The white population was not too great in those early days. More later. Evelyn W. Wallace

Evelyn, Ira, and everyone, Sorry to be so late in responding, but I have been concentrating on trying to sort out all the numerous descendants of Benjamin & Sarah Dumas Harris, and just plain missed this posting. I have a couple of documents that may help to further define the descendants of William & Elizabeth Burnett Harris (reportedly d. 1749, the younger son of William & Temperance Overton Harris [and the younger brother of the Robert Harris who m. Mourning Glenn.] This is Group 6 DNA.) William's son, Overton Harris, supposedly was appointed Executor of his father's estate in Hanover Co., VA in 1749, and was married to Anne Nelson (Does anyone have proof of this marriage, or Overton's administration of his father's estate? [If so, I have never seen it.]) Does anyone have any proof of that? (That would help a lot to help define this branch of our own Harrises.) I believe that a couple of the children of William & Elizabeth Burnett Harris married into the family of Richmond Terrell, Sr., whose estate was settled in Louisa Co., VA in 1779---and this may have ALSO identified the WIFE of Benjamin (d. 1765. Louisa Co., VA, the son of William & Elizabeth Burnett Harris, as a TERRELL.) >From the documents, it appears to me that the Richmond TERRELL that died in 1779 was the father of the Richmond TERRELL that had died in 1765 (leaving children: named sons: Richard, James, Wm., and Samuel; and named daughters: Elizabeth HARRIS, Anne TERRELL, Mary Overton TERRELL, and Barbary Overton TERRELL.) This Richmond TERRELL d. 1779 appears to have had also a son of the same name who died without heirs in 1771, who was not named in his will. Hope this information will help someone to sort out their own Harris line. Pam ========================================== Extracted from: Chappelear, Nancy, and Hatch, Kate Binford: Abstracts of Early Louisa County, Virginia Will Books, 1743-1819; Copyright, 1964, by Nancy Chappelear and Kate Binford Hatch; Published, 1964, by by Nancy Chappelear and Kate Binford Hatch, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. --- Notes by the authors: Will Book 1 was partially mutilated, so we have Verified the Will Book by the Order Book. The mutilated first page of the Will Book is numbered 145. -p. 55: W.B. 2, p. 362a Settlement of the estate of Richmond TERRELL. Dated 20 Sept 1779; Rec. 11 Oct 1779. Amt.: L16,748-13-2. Each legatees amt.: L1890-5-2. Richd. TERRELL, David TULLOH, Wm. TERRELL, Geo. LUMSDEN, Rich. OVERTON overseer, Clough OVERTON, Francis BICKLEY, Waller OVERTON clerk, James OVERTON Jr. clerk, James HILL, John BAKER, Cleavers DUKE, Fredk. HARRIS, Mrs. Anne TERRELL, Chas. BARRETT, Col. JOHNSON, Maj. Garrett MINOR, Aaron FONTAINE, Wm. TERRELL, Col. Zachary LEWIS, Chas. THOMSON, Saml. TERRELL, Wm. McGEHEE, James McGEHEE, Bond POINDEXTER, Wm. WOOD, Wm. REYNOLDS, Anthony MAURY, Richd. EGGLESTON Jr., Wm. PRICE, Saml. NEWTON, John WALTON, Henry DAVIS, Robt. WALTON, John LUCAS, Martin HAWKINS, Elias THOMASON, Capt. Robt. DABNEY, Geo. PHILLIPS, John DICKINSON, Moses MORRIS, Wm. SMITH, Tyree YANCEY, Francis LIPSCOMB, Rev. John TODD, Micajah DAVIS, Robt. GOODWIN, Robt. HONEYMAN, James OVERSTREET, Anthony WINSTON, John SMITH, John HUCKSTEP, Anthony ADDISON, Wm. THOMSON, Jr., Asa HALL, Col. Richd. ANDERSON, Griffith DICKESON, Rchd. OVERTON, Alex. PARKER, Jas. BURNLEY, John WASH, Saml. WADDY, Jos. STREET, Wm. BAKER, Waller OVERTON, Jas. OVERTON Jr., Capt. Jas. OVERTON. Signed: William PETTUS, Charles BARRET, John CRUTCHFIELD - [END OF FILE] From: EVELYN WALLACE [mailto:hdanw@verizon.net] Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2012 8:04 PM To: Harris Hunters Cc: Ira Harris; Pam Stone Subject: Some Early Wiliam Harrises in Hanover Co., VA I did some prowling of the goodly collection of books collected over the years by the Orange County California Genealogical Society and housed at the Huntington Beach CA library branch on Talbert St. I forget the name of the branch currently. I found several indexes for the many volumes of the periodical The Virginia Genealogist edited by John Frederick Dorman. The beginning of the two part [?} series on Three William Harrises in Hanover County is in Volume 22 (1975) pages 3-15 and page 99-? of The Virginjia Genealogist, editor John Frederick Dorman. Here are some rough notes William Harris the elder died on or before Feb 1733. A patent was issued to him 24 Mar 1725. His wife is believed to have been Temperance Overton. The son of this William Harris was said to be of Cedar Hill. It is believed he married Elizabeth Burnett. Three of his sons had children with the given name Burnett. This information about the names of the children is not given. There are listed five children of this second William Harris: 1. Overton Harris (1726-1789) m. Ann Nelson of Hanover Co. 2. William Harris - wife Henrietta. He was in Louisa Co. militia [date not given]. He went to Kentucky and reportedly died Mercer Co., KY 1773 3. Frederick Harris 4. Benjamin Harris - will proved Louisa Co. 14 Oct 1765 5. Robert Harris m. Mesapina, dau of John Walton. [end of my notes but not end of Dr. Harris's article on Three William Harrises f Hanover Co.] My suggestions to verify the above statements. Dr. Harris was a frequent contributor to The Virgina Genealogist and Dorman, I am sure, checked his facts as far as his editorship would allow. I have heard Dorman speak, and he is rather careful about his research. However, we all make mistakes, and the best way to check these facts is through the land records and whatever other material you can find. If I have the correct Overton Harris f early date, [not my ancestor of the same name but of later Madison Co., KY where he died testate 1827], his wife divorced him, and you will find references to this divorce if you keep digging far and wide. If your library has hefty two volumes called informally Swem's Index, you may find other material about these early Harrises, but check the facts with originals, if you can. Swem was long the genealogical librarian at College of William and Mary. VA land patents [highly abstracted] can be found on the Library of Virginia website. Google for URL. In the alpha index of total holdings and publications [in some cases] which shows up, search for Land Records and choose the subject which includes the words *Northern Neck Land Grants*. When you get to what seems the right database on this website, type in the surname Harris. The oldest patents [of which the above-named Harris is one] will be at the very end. If you can find at your local public library (or a university library) these books [now numbering eight volumes] of colonial Virginia land patents, you can check on the patents of the Harris's neighbors and the watercourse on which the Harris family lived--all clues in this detective work called genealogy or family history. The books which list the abstracted land patents are called Cavaliers and Pioneers. The first three volumes are credited to the main compiler, Nell Marion Nugent and were originally printed by the Library of Virginia. The other five volumes of Virginia land patents have the same title but were compiled and published in the last decades by the Virginia Genealogical Society, a private organization, in Richmond, VA. (If you are a member of VA Gen Society, I believe you can still get a discount on their publications. As well as receiving a quarterly journal and a bimonthly (?) newsletter.) I did not follow through on Dr. Harris's genealogy of the three Harris men of Hanover Co. I suggest you use the database PERSI if it is available to you, perhaps through your local library and order copies of Dr. Harris's explanation of these three William Harrises. You may telephone [at night Tues, Weds,Thurs,the Family History Library in Salt Lake City to see if they have these volumes of The Virginia Genealogist. They have a form [or did have] called Request for Phoptocopy, which prices were reasonable, at least a few years ago. Or telephone or email the Allen Co. Indiana Public Library at Fort Wayne, INdiana. They are the compilers of PERSI. A library patron told me a few years ago that the turnaround time at Fort Wayne was acceptable. (Check on those neighbors as mentioned in the land patents. They may be in-laws and they migrate with the Harris family. I like to check who all lived on the same watercourse. I understand that the barrels of tobacco were rolled to the watercourse and then to the boat on the bigger river. (Corrections, any one?) Lloyd D. Bockstruck, recently retired head of the genealogy department at the Dallas Public Library and an author and lecturer, said the bridegrooms in early Virginia married brides who lived downstream. It was an easy row downstream, and the grooms were so invigorated by the visit that the row back home was easy. Always look for the watercourses and note the neighbors in that neighborhood!!! Some genealogists [like Croom, if I remember correctly] calls rounding up the neighbors in your research is *cluster research*. Even if the jigsaw pieces don't yet fit, round them up anyway. The white population was not too great in those early days. More later. Evelyn W. Wallace