Thomas Harris and Elizabeth Hills
Husband Thomas Harris
Born: 1580-1581 - Hatherup, Gloucester, England Christened: Died: Abt 1632 - Charlestown, Massachusetts Buried:
Father: William Harris (1536-1599) Mother: Agnes Mason (1559-After 1586)
Marriage: - Gloucester, England
Wife Elizabeth Hills
Born: 1577-1578 - Gloucester, England Christened: Died: 16 Feb 1670 - Charlestown, Massachusetts Buried:
Father: William STetson (1551- ) Mother:
Other Spouse: Richard Hills ( - )
Children
1 F Anna Harris
Born: Abt 1613 Christened: Died: 7 Sep 1697 - Reading Buried:Spouse: Elias Maverick ( - ) Marr: Bef 1651
2 M Daniel Harris
Born: 1615 - Gloucester, England Christened: Died: 1701 - New Haven, Connecticut Buried:Spouse: Mary Weld (1627-1711) Marr: 1648-1649 - Massachusetts
3 M John Harris
Born: Abt 1616 - England Christened: Died: 1695 - Rowley, Massachusetts Buried:Spouse: Bridget ( - ) Marr: Bef 1645Spouse: Elizabeth (Rowlandson) Wells ( - ) Marr: Oct 1677 - Rowley, MassachusettsSpouse: Alice ( - )
4 M Thomas Harris
Born: Abt 1618 - England Christened: Died: 1687 Buried:Spouse: Martha Lake ( - ) Marr: 15 Nov 1647 - Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts
5 M William Harris
Born: 1619 - Hatherup, Gloucester, England Christened: Died: 17 May 1714 - Middletown, Connecticut Buried:Spouse: Edith Bligh (1620-1685) Marr: 1641-1648 - Middletown, Connecticut or Ipswich or Wethersfeld, Massachusetts.Spouse: Lydia (Wright) Smtih ( - )
6 M Anthony Harris
Born: Abt 1622 Christened: Died: 1651 - Chelsea, Massachusetts Buried:Spouse: Elisabeth ( - ) Marr: Bef 1651
General Notes (Husband)
"The Harris Family" based largely on Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers
Thomas Harris and wife Elizabeth were among the early emigrants from England to Massachusetts. They were in Charlestown, MA, in 1630. After the death of Thoams his widow amrried, 2, Deacon William Stilson of Charlstown. In 1680 Eacon Stilson testified that Thomas Harris kept the ferry from Boston to Winnisimet (now Chelsea), marreid the widow of Thomas Harris and continued the ferry. This is the oldest ferrry in the U.S.. thomas and Elizabeth had sons Athony and William, and Anthony in his will, in 1651, mentions brothesr Daniel and Thoams, and brother in law Elias Maverick, who married his sister Ann.
Joh, Thomas, and William Harris were among the first settlers of Rowley, Essec Co., MA, in 1644, and Daniel came soon after; each had a two-acre house-lot laid out to him. The lots being of two acrtes each, shows taht they were all men of property and importance. The four houselots were aladjoining each other, which woulod indicate that they may habe been brother; and Daniel and William were certainly brothers. It is very probable taht all the following six early settlers of New Engalnd were childre of Thomas and Elizabeth Harris.
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THOMAS HARRIS
ORIGIN: Hatherup, Gloucestershire (or vicinity)
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Winnissimmett
OCCUPATION: Ferryman. On 18 May 1631 "Tho[mas] Will[ia]ms hath undertaken to set up a ferry betwixt Winnettsem[e]t & Charlton, for which he is to have after 3d. a person, & from Winnettsem[e]t to Boston 4d. a person" [ MBCR 1:87].
FREEMANSHIP: Requested October 1630 (as "Thomas Will[ia]ms alias Harris") and admitted 18 May 1631 (as "Thomas Williams") [ MBCR 1:80, 366].
OFFICES: Coroner's jury, 18 September 1630 on the body of William Bateman (as "Thomas Williams") [ MBCR 1:78].
ESTATE: Thomas Harris died before land records were maintained, and left no will. He does not appear in the lists of early Charlestown residents, or in Boston records, so it is likely that he supported himself solely by his ferrying operations. Examination of the land records of WILLIAM STITSON might show that some land was earlier held by Thomas Harris.
BIRTH: Born about 1590 in or near Hatherup, Gloucestershire, son of William and Agnes (Mason) Harris [ Bethia Harris Anc 5].
DEATH: Prior to 1634, when Stitson took over the ferry between Boston and Winnissimmet.
MARRIAGE: By about 1613 Elizabeth _____. She married (2) WILLIAM STITSON , who took over the ferry operation. Her death is given as 16 February 1669/70, aged 93 [ ChVR 1:73]; she was more likely a decade younger.
CHILDREN:
i ANNA, b. about 1613 (d. Reading 7 September 1697, aged 84); m. by 1635 Elias Maverick, son of Rev. JOHN MAVERICK .
ii JOHN, b. say 1616; m. (1) by about 1645 Bridget _____ (eldest child b. by about 1645 [ Bethia Harris Anc 10-11]); m. (2) Rowley 24 October 1677 Elizabeth (Rowlandson) Wells; m. (3) Alice _____, who survived him [ Bethia Harris Anc 10].
iii THOMAS, b. about 1618 (deposed aged about forty in 1658 [ EQC 2:113]); m. Ipswich 15 November 1647 Martha Lake [ Bethia Harris Anc 56].
iv WILLIAM, b. say 1620; m. (1) by 1645 Edith _____ (first child b. Rowley 1 July 1645); m. (2) by Lydia (Wright) Smith, daughter of Thomas Wright and widow of Joseph Smith [ TAG 23:153; Manwaring 1:233].
v ANTHONY, b. say 1622; m. by 1651 Elizabeth _____, who survived him and was named in his 1651 will [ Bethia Harris Anc 8, citing MPR Case #10479].
vi DANIEL, b. say 1626; m. by 1651 Mary Weld (first child b. Rowley 2 April 1651), daughter of Joseph Weld (on 19 May 1652 "Daniell Harris and Mary my wife, one of the daughters of Captain Joseph Weld of Roxbury ... late deceased" sold to John Weld land that had been bequeathed to her by "her said father Joseph Weld" [ SLR 1:260; Parker-Ruggles 500-01; Brainerd Anc 153, 155, 296-97; TAG 23:154]).
ASSOCIATIONS: Nephew Richard Iles also resided at Winnissimmet.
COMMENTS: Three documents are critical for defining this family: the 1639 will of Richard Iles of Winnissimmet; the 1680 deposition of William Stitson; and the will of William Stitson. Iles was nephew of Thomas Harris, and may have come with him in 1630; in his will he names his cousins Thomas Harris, William Harris, Anthony Harris, John Harris, Anne Maverick and Daniel Harris, giving 20s. to each, and also a coverlet to "my aunt for her pains and her love" [ NEHGR 2:102-03]. (A discussion of this will by T. W. Harris is helpful, but must be used with care [ NEHGR 3:218-21].)
On 15 June 1680, Deacon William Stitson testified that Thomas Harris kept the ferry from Boston to Winnissimmet and Charlestown forty-nine years ago, and that he married Harris's widow [Middlesex County Court Records, 1671-1680, p. 297].
In his will of 2 April 1688 William Stitson bequeathed to "John Harris, Thomas Harris, William Harris, Daniel Harris, and Anna Maverick, relict widow of Elias Maverick, deceased, the children of my first wife" [ MPR Case #21376].
In some early records, Thomas uses the double name "Williams alias Harris" or simply the surname "Williams." The reason for this is not known, and his descendants used only Harris, the ancestral surname.
No records of Thomas Harris in England have been found other than the mention in his father's 1599 will. Since the Winthrop Fleet was assembled mostly from East Anglia and London, one would expect to find evidence of the marriage of Thomas and the baptisms of his children in these areas rather than in Gloucestershire. Davis suggests, however, that Harris came on the Lyon, which sailed from Bristol and not from London. (The only reliable account of this familyis in Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Bethia Harris ... [Portland, Maine, 1934], pp. 3-34.)
General Notes (Wife)
She remarried, and left a will, which is discussed in an article in NEHGR in 1848. Its author didn't know who was her first hsuband, but names the children of Thomas and Elizabeth Harris, and the details match.
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