We have one of those England to America Harrison families. They seem to name their children the same also. You know those John, Thomas, Isaiah, Samuel kind of names.
My line immigrated to the Virginia colonies in 1636-1640 time frame. We find him in the Ancestry U.S. and Canada Passenger and Immigration lists index. His children were there and later my line migrated to North Carolina then Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida.
There is also another Harrison line who migrated at the same time. They came to New England and made an oath of allegiance in New Haven, Connecticut in 1644. The son that keeps getting mixed up with my line is a Thomas Harrison born in Chester, England about 1630 and died in Banford, Connecticut in 1704. His line stayed there for several generations.
Ancestry link to the "Five Generations to the Connecticut Harrisons".
My line is:
- Thomas Harrison born 1619 in Chester, Cheshire, England
- Migrated to America 1636-1640 to the Virginia colonies
- He is a Reverend who was in Jamestown, Virginia about 1640.
- He was a minister of Elizabeth River parish.
- He served as chaplain of the early Jamestown Colony during the first part of Governor Berkeley's first term (1645-1652).
- He was at first anti Puritan Calvinist, then turned Pilgrim himself.
- He had some issues with the whole way of ministering, so in 1648, abandoned his ministry and the church and moved from Virginia to New England.
- He married first wife Dorothy Symonds 1648-49.
- In 1649 he and his family returned to England to pastor a non-conformist church in London.
- He ended up in Ireland and ministered there.
- After his first wife died, he married 2nd, Katherine Bradshaw.
- He died there in 1682.
- Our line is from his son Isaiah Harrison born about 1666 in Chester, England.
- Isaiah migrated to America just before 1687, as he is recorded in the Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, book "B" ancient town book.
- (Hood, Dellman, The Tunis Hood Family; pp 453-455)
- (Harrison, J. Houston, Settlers by the Long Grey Trail; Chapter VIII, p. 120)
The two Harrison families seem to get mixed up often on Ancestry due to the names.
It took a while to search out the true path of our line. When I saw trees saying Rev. Thomas Harrison died in Ireland, I was sure that could not be so. After reading the text mentioned above with the explanations, it made sense. I had forgotten that genealogy is a tree with many twisted branches.
For my own documentation, I am satisfied for now with the explanations and the careful research both Dellman Hood and J. Houston Harrison have done. When more information is discovered, this may very well change.
