Benjamin Harrison V - Family

Family

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.