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Thomas Harrison, the Cromwellian, was the forefather of President Benjamin Harrison. There is a family tree of the Carters of Virginia of elaborate preparation on which appears the name of Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley. This Benjamin was married to a Carter.
A second Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley (1726-1791) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His home was the Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.
In 1764, Benjamin Harrison, the signer, was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and Speaker. At the time of the Stamp Act, young Harrison was offered a seat in the Executive Council, which he rejected, proclaiming himself a Republican, and from that time on was a leader in the opposition to British oppression. In 1774, he was one of the first seven delegates from Virginia to the Continental Congress; re-elected in 1775. Simultaneously he was appointed to a committee by Congress to co-operate with George Washington, chief commander of the army (before the Boston Tea Party) to devise ways and means for military operations. On 4 July 1776 he voted for the Declaration, and signed it. Thereafter he was made a commander of the militia for his county, later going into the field against Cornwallis. In 1782 he was elected Governor of Virginia; and chosen again in 1791, but died before his inauguration.
William Henry Harrison, the second son of the first Benjamin Harrison, was under age when his father was laid away. His guardian was Robert Morris, the financier, but his affairs were in such bad condition that he determined to find a livelihood in the practice of medicine and for that purpose attended Hampden Sidney College. He was attending this college when the Indian war broke out in the West. Against the wishes of his guardian, he joined St. Clair's Army; however, President Washington favored it and commissioned him Ensign in the First Regiment of Regular Artillery (then in garrison at Fort Washington in the vicinity of Cincinnati). He earned distinction in this capacity and was promoted to full lieutenant. In 1793 he joined Mad Anthony Wayne, and was installed as aide-de-camp. When Tecumseh fell, his confederacy fell with him. Thus, the reputation of William Henry Harrison spread throughout the Nation. But the secretary of war was jealous and drove him to resign his position, but he left the army with the distinction of "Father of the Northwest" In 1824 he was elected Senator of the United States from Ohio; but retired after a short term to his home located on the North Bend of the Ohio River. In 1839, a National Whig Convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, nominated him as their candidate for President. He was elected President but only served one month before he died.
John Scott Harrison, son of William Henry Harrison, was an agriculturalist, lived and died on his farm; when he died he left no estate. His second son was Benjamin Harrison, born at North Bend in his grandfather's home on 20 Aug 1833. He attended Farmer's College for two years.
