Benjamin Harrison IV
member of the Virginia House of Burgesses
Benjamin Harrison IV (1693 – July 12, 1745) was a colonial American planter, politician, and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was the son of Benjamin Harrison III and the father of Benjamin Harrison V, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the fifth governor of Virginia. Harrison built the homestead of Berkeley Plantation, which is believed to be the oldest three-story brick mansion in Virginia and is the ancestral home to two presidents: his grandson William Henry Harrison, and his great-great-grandson Benjamin Harrison. The Harrison family and the Carter family were both powerful families in Virginia, and they were united when Harrison married Anne Carter, the daughter of Robert "King" Carter. His family also forged ties to the Randolph family, as four of his children married four grandchildren of William Randolph I.
Biography
Benjamin Harrison IV was born in a small house on the plantation named "Berkeley Hundred" or "Berkeley Plantation" to politician Benjamin Harrison III (1673–1710) and his wife Elizabeth Harrison, née Burwell (1677–1743). His paternal grandfather was Benjamin Harrison II (1645–1712), and paternal greatgrandfather was Benjamin Harrison I (1594–1648). The immigrant of his family is thought to have come from London and earlier from Northampton. He completed his studies at The College of William & Mary and became the family's first college graduate. He settled on his family estate and increased his land holdings, as his ancestors had done.
Family and children
Around 1722, Harrison married Anne Carter (1702–1743), daughter of planter and merchant Robert Carter I, whom William Byrd II described as "a very agreeable girl", and he managed and received profits from her father's land as part of her dowry.
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