Benjamin Harrison V - Family

Family

See also: Harrison family of Virginia

Harrison was a son of Benjamin Harrison IV and Anne Carter, and a grandson of Robert Carter I, who was an ancestor of Robert E. Lee. Harrison's cousin was the plantation owner Robert Carter III. Benjamin Harrison V, was married to his second cousin, Elizabeth Bassett.

Their son William Henry Harrison and great-grandson Benjamin Harrison both rose to become the President of the United States.

Ironically, John Tyler, son of the man who had once defeated him for office, would serve as his son's Vice President. Harrison's grandson was the Congressman John Scott Harrison. His great-great-great-grandson was the Congressman William H. Harrison of Wyoming (1896–1990).

Besides William Henry, their youngest child, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had six other children; Elizabeth, Anna, Benjamin VI, Lucy, Carter, and Sarah. Harrison's brother-in-law was the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Peyton Randolph, who was the first cousin once removed of Thomas Jefferson. Harrison's brother-in-law, Burwell Bassett, was married to the sister of Martha Washington.

Harrison lived all his life at Berkeley Plantation, the Harrison family home in Virginia, and his children were born there.

Harrison County, West Virginia was formed in 1784 and named in Governor Harrison's honor. Reportedly no contemporary portrait of Benjamin Harrison "The Signer" survives; the figure labeled as "Benjamin Harrison" in John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence is actually based on his son Benjamin Harrison.

Read more about this topic:  Benjamin Harrison V

Famous quotes containing the word family:

    “No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession. It comes only by the grace of God. It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. You must be born into the family of the Walkers. Ambulator nascitur, non fit.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “True spoiling is nothing to do with what a child owns or with amount of attention he gets. he can have the major part of your income, living space and attention and not be spoiled, or he can have very little and be spoiled. It is not what he gets that is at issue. It is how and why he gets it. Spoiling is to do with the family balance of power.”
    —Penelope Leach (20th century)

    “Diamonds may have been a girl’s best friend in an era when a woman’s only hope of having a high family income was to marry a man who was well-off, but today, marketable skills that will enable a woman to command a good income over her lifetime are a better investment.”
    —Grace Baruch (20th century)