THOMAS2 AND NICHOLAS3 HARRIS

OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

 

Helen Schatvet Ullmann, cgsm, fasg

 

This compilation follows my own line for three generations from Thomas1 Harris, whose origin in Kent, England, is to be published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 2013 along with a biography and list of his children.

 

Thomas2 Harris, son of Thomas1 and Elizabeth (­­­____) Harris, was born, perhaps in England but more likely in Providence, Rhode Island, probably about 1637. He died in Providence on 27 February 1710/1.[ ] He married in Providence on 3 November 1664 Elnathan Tew[ ] who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on 15 October 1644, daughter of Richard and Mary (Clarke) Tew.[ ] She died on 11 January 1718 in her 77th year and was buried in St. Peters Churchyard in Johnston, Rhode Island, and moved to the North Burial Ground in Providence.[ ] An unreliable source says she died at Limerock, Rhode Island, on that date,[ ] Lime Rock being a village then in Providence, later in Smithfield, now in Lincoln.

A few facts give glimpses of Thomas’s life. On 19 February 1665 Thomas acquired lot 49 in a division of lands. On 1 July 1679 he was taxed 8s 9d. He served as deputy, i.e., a member of the colony government in 1671, 1679–82, 1685, 1691, 1694, 1997, 1702, 1706–08 and 1710. From 1684 to 1686 he was on the town council. On 1 September 1687 he was taxed 14s 5d. In 1688 his ratable estate consisted of 10 cows, 4 oxen, 6 steers, 3 yearlings, 4 two-year-olds, 3 horses, a mare, 10 sheep and 4 swine.[ ]

On 9 January 1702/3, Thomas Harris of Providence and his wife Elnathan sold twenty acres in Smithfield (that had been laid out to Thomas) to John Angell.[ ]

Thomas signed his will on 21 June 1708, and it was proved on 16 April 1711. Executors were his wife Elnathan and son Henry. His eldest son was Thomas. Sons Richard, Nicholas, William and Henry also received land. Daughters Amity Morse, Elnathan Harris and Mary Harris received household goods and £20 each. Witnesses were James Coggeshall, Henry Tew, Jr., and Richard Tew. His death date appears on both the probate of his will and on his inventory, taken 22 March 1710/1.[ ]

Children of Thomas2 and Elnathan (Tew) Harris:

          i.     Thomas3 Harris, born Newport 19 Oct. 1665;[ ] died (called Capt.) at Providence 1 Sept. 1741;[ ] married ca. 1695[ ] Phebe Browne, daughter of Henry and Wait (Waterman) Browne,[ ] who died in Providence 20 Aug. 1723.[ ] Thomas’s will dated 31 Jan. 1739/40, presented in court 18 Jan. 1741/2, names sons Henry, Thomas, Charles and Gidian, as well as daughter Wait Fenner.[ ]

         ii.     Richard Harris, born Providence 14 Oct. 1668;[ ] died 1750;[ ] married (1) ca. 1699 ___ King, daughter of Clement and Elizabeth (___) King,[ ] married (2) Susannah (Burton) Gorton, widow of Samuel Gorton and daughter of William and Hannah (Wickes) Burton,[ ] born 1665, died 25 June 1737.[ ] They lived at Smithfield, R.I.[ ] On 21 Sept. 1694 his father gave him about 200 acres and some meadow in Providence.[ ] On 25 July 1733 Susanna Harris, in her 68th year, made her will while her husband Richard was still living. She named her Gorton children and grandchildren. It was proved 15 Sept. 1739.[ ] Richard, “being grown old,” made his will on 6 March 1738/9, naming sons Richard, Amaziah, Jonathan, David, and Preserved, and daughters Amity Smith, Dinah Smith, and Elnathan Gile. It was proved on 15 Dec. 1750.[ ]

+      iii.     Nicholas Harris, born Providence 5 April 1671;[ ] married Ann ___.

        iv.     William Harris, born Providence 11 May 1673;[ ] died (called Lt.) at Providence 14 Jan. 1725/6,[ ] buried in the North Burial Ground in Providence;[ ] married by 1700[ ] Abigail ___, born ca. 1679, died Providence 4 Nov. 1724[ ] age 45,[ ] buried with William.[ ] Their son Job’s will, dated 15 Dec. 1729, refers to his wife Mary, sister Alice Harris, three daughters, brother-in-law Daniel Smith, his cousin [actually nephew] William Smith, and his uncle, Job Whipple.[ ] An attempt to identify Abigail’s family by identifying this Job Whipple has so far been unsuccessful.

         v.     Henry Harris, born 10 Nov. 1675;[ ] died Providence 29 Mar. 1727;[ ] married Lydia Olney, daughter of Epenetus and Mary (Whipple) Olney,[ ] born Providence 26 Jan. 1688, died Providence 1727.[ ] Mary Whipple was the sister of Samuel2 Whipple who had married Mary2 Harris.[ ] In his will, Henry named sons Thomas and Henry and daughter Lydia Harris. His brother Thomas and brother-in-law Thomas Olney were to be executors.

        vi.     Amity Harris, born 10 Dec. 1677;[ ] died Canton, Mass., 5 June 1749 age 71, buried in the Canton Corner Cemetery;[ ] married, probably in Providence ca. 1704 Rev. Joseph Morse,[ ] son of Joseph and Priscilla (Colborne) Morse, born Medfield, Mass., 25 May 1671, died Canton 29 Nov. 1732 in his 61st year, buried with Amity.[ ]

       vii.     Job Harris, born 11 Jan. 1682 [1681/2?]; died Jan. 1689.[ ]

      viii.     Elnathan Harris, born ca. 1684; died after 27 July 1749;[ ] married, intentions at Rehoboth, Mass., 24 Nov. 1711, Nathaniel Brown of Rehoboth,[ ] born Rehoboth 24 Sept. 1689,[ ] died, probably at Providence, after 1749, son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Jenckes) Brown.[ ] They were evidently deceased by 14 May 1757 when Mrs. Sarah Jacox, widow, administrator of their son Capt. William Brown’s estate, petitioned for guardians for Nathaniel and Elnathan’s three children, who were orphans.[ ]

        ix.     Mary Harris, born ca. 1687; buried at St. John’s Church in Providence 13 Sept. 1765;[ ] married (1) in 1712, as his second wife, Gabriel Bernon of Providence, born La Rochelle, France, 5 or 6 April 1644, died Providence 1 or 21 Feb. 1735/6, son of André and Suzanne (Guillemard) Bernon.[ ] “Mrs. Mary Bernoon” married (2) at Providence 23 Dec. 1737, as his third wife, Nathaniel Brown of Rehoboth.[ ] This was not the Nathaniel Brown who had previously married Mary’s sister Elnathan; Elnathan was still living in 1749. It was Nathaniel’s father, whose second wife, Hannah, had died in November 1736 in her 66th year. Hannah and Nathaniel, who died 13 Nov. 1739 in his 79th year, were buried in the part of Rehoboth which is now Seekonk.[ ] The will of Nathaniel Brown of Rehoboth, shipwright, “Late of Rehoboth, Now Residing in Providence. . . Now Aged and Well Stricken in years,” dated 20 May 1738 and proved 5 Dec. 1739, did not name a wife. However, the executor John Brown’s account includes £100 “to my Mother in Law Mary Brown by a Contract made before Marriage with my Honoured Father.[ ] This elder Nathaniel Brown was born at Rehoboth 9 June 1661, son of John2 (John1) and Lydia (Buckland) Brown.[ ]


Nicholas3 Harris, son of Thomas2 and Elnathan (Tew) Harris, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on 1 April 1671. He died in Providence on 27 March 1746.[ ] He married about 1688, but whether it was to the Ann ___ of his will is not evident.[ ] She is often said to be the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Smith) Hopkins.[ ] An article on that Hopkins family lists an Anne as their daughter,[ ] but neither Thomas Hopkins’ will or Austin's Dictionary confirm that Thomas’s daughter Ann married Nicholas Harris. Thomas Hopkins’ will, dated 26 April 1711 and proved 19 May 1718, gives the daughter Ann an unspecified amount to be paid by his son Zebedee when she was 21 or married,[ ] so she was clearly much too young to be the mother of Nicholas Harris's children. If Nicholas Harris married this Anne Hopkins, it was as a second wife. The fact that the widow Ann declined serving as executrix of his will in 1746 suggests that perhaps she was quite elderly. On the other hand, it may have been because she was not the mother of his children.

On 27 April 1703 Nicholas Harris and James Thornton put in a bill requesting a highway from the “Neotaconkinitt” River westward.[ ] Ensign Thomas Harris, Nicholas Harris and others were summoned to give evidence in the Court of Magistrates in the case of Joseph Latham v. Benjamin Dayly on 14 July 1704. Both were described only as “of full age” and no details of the case appear.[ ] On 5 June 1710 Nicholas was elected as “way warden.”[ ] On 18 February 1713/4 he served on the jury at a coroner's inquest.[ ] On 4 June 1722 Mr. Nicholas Harris was chosen as constable but was excused from serving.[ ] In 1723 a town council record referred to a highway “from Newtaconconut River neere Mr. Nicholas Harris to Nicholas Sheldons orchard.”[ ]

On 27 January 1723/4 Nicholas signed and Ann made her mark on a deed for an undivided third of an acre of land in Providence, bounded on the west by the “main Towne Street,” owned jointly with his brothers Richard and Henry, bequeathed to him by his father Mr. Thomas Harris.[ ]

On 21 June 1731 Nicholas deeded three fifths of three rights of land, one fifth drawn by his grandfather Thomas, Sr., one fifth by his father Thomas, Jr., and one fifth in the original right of Christopher Onthank to Robert Gibbs of Providence, merchant. Ann did not sign. (This was evidently a mortgage because he later gave land of the same description to his son Thomas.) Among other deeds was another, this time signed by Ann, for land in the Plantation of Mashantuket, dated 25 December 1733.[ ]

On 25 March 1736/7 Nicholas and his brother Thomas divided a twenty-acre lot in the township of Scituate, and on 7 December 1738 Nicholas, Thomas and “our cousin [i.e., nephew] Henry Harris of Providence, son of Henry Harris deceased” divided their rights to 150-acre parcels in Scituate, laid out to Thomas Harris, Senior, and Thomas Harris, Jr., grandfather and father of Thomas and Nicholas and to Christopher Unthank. The piece Nicholas acquired lay on both sides of the “Pautuxett River,” the land where Nicholas' son Jedidiah was living.[ ] However, it appears that Nicholas had already given that land to “my son” Jedidiah “for love and affection” on 13 April 1732.[ ]

Nicholas signed his will on 16 July 1725 and added a codicil on 22 April 1739. It was proved on 7 April 1746. Executors were to be his wife Ann and son Thomas, but Ann refused, so Thomas alone was appointed. Son Joseph was under age in 1725. Thomas was to provide for Ann and for the daughter Amity. Sons Nicholas, Jedidiah and Christopher were given land by the will, but the codicil said that Joseph should get part of the land designated for Nicholas who should receive £100 instead of land. Daughter Ann Kilton received 5s and daughter Zerviah Waterman £10. Mary and Sarah were to receive £25 at age 21 or their marriage. According to the codicil the daughter Mary’s portion was to go to her son if he lived to 21.[ ]

Children of Nicholas3 Harris, all born probably at Providence:

          i.     Thomas4 Harris, probably the eldest son; perhaps married (1) Mary Rutenberg,[ ] perhaps the daughter of John and Mary (Shippee) Rutenberg,[ ] but no verification of this statement has been located; it may be a confusion with his wife Sarah. Thomas married (2?) at Providence 31 March 1743[ ] Sarah (Collins) Rutenberg, born Warwick, R.I., 31 Oct. 1698, daughter of Thomas and Abigail (House) Collins of Providence and widow of John Rutenburg.[ ] On 25 March 1736/7 Thomas's father deeded him twenty acres in Glocester, R.I., on the Connecticut line, in addition to Nicholas's right in the “division of small lots.”[ ] On 17 March 1742 Nicholas, for love and goodwill, “not on a suddon or meane Motion but upon mature and Good Consideration. . .” gave land in Providence and Glocester and a fifth of three original rights in the common lands (see above) to his son Thomas.[ ] This could be the Thomas Harris who was a freeman at Providence in 1747.[ ] No sale of these lands in either Glocester or Providence appears and no further trace of this Thomas has been found.

         ii.     Nicholas Harris, born Oct. 1691[ ] or perhaps 10 Oct. 1696;[ ] m. Hannah Blake. This author’s article on Nicholas and his descendants was published in The Genealogist 15 (2001):201–218; 16 (2002):99–122. Further articles, also by this author, on descendants of Nicholas’s son John Harris have appeared as

1. “John6 Harris of Hardwick, Mass., Washington and Goshen, N.H., and Springfield, Vt., and Some of his Descendants,” Vermont Genealogy 10 (2005):87–91;

2. “Oliver6 Harris of Hardwick, Greenwich, and Dana, Massachusetts, and Some of His Descendants,” MASSOG 29 (2005):14–20, 42–47, 76–79;

3. “David6 Harris of Washington and Newport, New Hampshire, and Many of His Descendants,” New Hampshire Genealogical Record 22 (2005):97–111, 149–63;

4. “Descendants of Solomon5 and Margaret (Harris) Mason of Ashford and Willington, Connecticut, and Greenwich, Massachusetts” (Acton, Mass., 2004), 35 pp., computer printout at the Family History Library [FHL microfiche 6,008,087] and the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

        iii.     Jedidiah Harris, living Cranston, R.I., 1 April 1773[ ] but is not in the 1774 census of Rhode Island;[ ] m. Patience ___, said to have been a daughter of Othniel Brown.[ ] However, the only Othniel Brown of the right age made his will on 4 Sept. 1749, naming wife and children but no daughter Patience.[ ] On 13 April 1732 Jedidiah’s father deeded him land and the house where he was living in Scituate, on both sides of the “Pautuxet River.”[ ] On 5 Nov. 1744 Nicholas gave 20 acres to Jedediah.[ ] (See Jedediah's brother Joseph for information on some land in Scituate that they owned jointly). In 1747 “Jeddediah” was a freeman at Scituate.[ ] On 12 Feb. 1755 Jedidiah and Patience, of Scituate, sold a half acre with a grist mill in Scituate.[ ] Among a few other deeds are two signed by Jedediah and Patience Harris of Cranston on 23 May 1758 and 19 Sept. 1761.[ ] Cranston was formed from Providence in 1754, so they had apparently moved. On 1 April 1773 Jedidiah and Patience sold a 49-acre farm with house and barn in Cranston to Philip Burlingame of Cranston.[ ] Jedediah was not listed in the 1774 or 1777 censuses of Rhode Island. His son, Dr. Nicholas Harris, went to Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., N.Y.[ ] Born 26 Aug. 1749, died 22 April 1819, he is buried in Rensselaer Co.[ ] Jedediah’s son James may have lived in Lanesborough, Berkshire Co., Mass.[ ]

        iv.     Ann Harris, married Samuel Kilton of Providence,[ ] son of Robert and Bethiah (Fenner) Kilton.[ ] A cordwainer, he died 28 Dec. 1740, and Ann was appointed adminstrator on his estate 25 July 1741.[ ]

         v.     Zerviah Harris, born 19 March 1701; married (1) at Providence 25 May 1722 Zuriel Waterman of Providence,[ ] born Providence 20 Sept. 1699, son of Capt. Richard and Abigail (Angell) Waterman,[ ] died Providence 12 Oct. 1739;[ ] married (2) at Providence 1 March 1740/1 James Williams, Jr.,[ ] born Cranston, R.I., 29 Feb. 1704, son of James and Elizabeth (Blackmer) Williams.[ ]

        vi.     Amity Harris, evidently over 21 but perhaps under some disability in 1725 as her father specifically said her brother Thomas was to provide for her. On 13 Feb. 1732/3 an Amity Harris was found dead in Providence River, having fallen through the ice on 10 Feb. She was not further identified in the record of the Jury of Inquest,[ ] but it seems likely she was this Amity.

       vii.     Christopher Harris, born 13 Dec. 1706; died Johnston, R.I., 27 July 1781;[ ] married Anna Harris, daughter of Toleration and Sarah (Foster) Harris, of Providence, born possibly 31 Dec. 1709, a descendant of William1 Harris.[ ] Nicholas sold the four acres in Providence where Christopher had his house, smith's shop, and waterworks for £200 to Christopher on 12 Oct. 1742.[ ] In 1747 he was listed as a freeman in Providence.[ ] In 1774 Christopher and his son Andrew Harris were listed together at Johnston with two males over 16, two under, two females over 16, two under and two blacks.[ ] A Christopher Harris was on the payroll in Col. Archibald Crary’s regiment in 1776.[ ] This must have been in or soon after Oct. 1776 when Lt. Col. Crary took over the 9th Continental Regiment.[ ] The 1777 military census listed Christopher Harris, aged over 60, at Johnston.[ ] The heading of the record of Christopher’s will calls him “Col.” Christopher’s will, dated Johnston 25 May 1777, proved 29 Sept. 1781, named sons William, deceased, and Andrew, daughters Ann, wife of Thomas Whipple, Sarah, wife of John Brown, and Amy, wife of Charles Lee, as well as Japhet, Joseph and Hiram, sons of William.[ ]

      viii.     Mary Harris, born say 1708; under 21 in 1725. She had an unnamed son born between 1725 and 1739.[ ]

        ix.     Sarah Harris, born say 1710; under 21 and apparently unmarried in 1725; perhaps married Israel Carpenter,[ ] who is unidentified. This is not likely the Israel Carpenter born 3 Sept. 1722, son of Silas and Sarah (Arnold) Carpenter, Capt. in the militia, 1760, resident of Pawtuxet (a village partly in Warwick, partly in Cranston).[ ] Several deeds for a Capt. Israel Carpenter of Johnston show he bought land there on 2 July 1759, mortgaged to John Rutenborge of Johnston in 20 April 1761 [an in-law to Sarah’s brother Thomas?], witnesses being Henry and Caleb Harris, and redeemed 12 June 1761. He again mortgaged half his farm on 19 May 1767, witnesses being Henry and Josiah Harris, and lost the whole by execution 11 March 1768.[ ] Israel and Nicholas Carpenter evidently lived in the same house at Johnston in 1774.[ ] That was probably the Israel Carpenter who d. Johnston, probably in early March 1811, in his 94th year,[ ] thus born ca. 1718. That he had a son named Nicholas[ ] supports this possible identification.

         x.     Joseph Harris, under 21 in 1725; married at Newport, 15 June 1738 Sarah Sweet,[ ] probably the daughter of the widow Sarah Sweet who was mentioned three times in the wills of various “mariners” at Newport, witnessed two of those times by Joseph Harris.[ ] Sarah, “Relict of the late Capt. Joseph Harris of Newport,” died in Providence 27 Dec. 1783 in her 63d year and was buried at the North Burial Ground in Providence,[ ] thus born ca. 1721.

A Joseph Harris was listed as a freeman in Providence in 1747.[ ] But on 5 Sept. 1748 Joseph was of Newport, a mariner, when his brother Jedediah quitclaimed on the southern part of 218½ acres in Scituate given to them by their father Nicholas in his will and Joseph quitclaimed to Jedediah on the northern part. Both deeds were witnessed by Charles and Christopher Harris.[ ] On 5 Feb. 1756 the sheriff attached Joseph's part of the land under a judgment of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas at Providence on the third Thuesday of Dec. 1754, suit having been brought by A... or Paul[?] Tew of Providence, shopkeeper. The document says that Joseph had left the colony.[ ] Nothing about Joseph Harris has been found in Newport newspapers before 1800, except for the notice of his wife’s death cited above. A Capt. Joseph Harris sailed to and from the West Indies from Portsmouth, N.H., 1769–1773.[ ]

A Sarah Sweet, probably Joseph’s mother-in-law, was a member of the Second Baptist Church at Newport in 1729 or sometime fairly soon after that.[ ] A Sarah Harris was living alone at Newport in 1774.[ ] She probably took refuge in Providence during the Revolution.

 

November 2012

 

 

INDEX


 


Anderson

Robert Charles, 6

Angell

Abigail, 9

John, 2

Arnold

James N., 1

Sarah, 11

Attwood

Mary Shaw, 6

Austin

John Osborne, 1

Baldwin

Norman A., 1

Bartlett

John R., 8

Bernon

André, 5

Gabriel, 5

Mary (Harris), 5

Suzanne (Guillemard), 5

Blackmer

Elizabeth, 10

 

Blake

Hannah, 8

Brown

Allen, 5

Ann, 5

Ann (__), 4

Christopher, 5

Elnathan (Harris), 4–5

George Tilden, 5

Hannah (__), 5

John, 5, 10

Lydia (Buckland), 5

Brown

Nathaniel, 4–5

Othniel, 9

Patience, 9

Sarah (Harris), 10

Sarah (Jenckes), 5

William, 4–5

Browne

Henry, 2

John, 5

Phebe, 2

Wait (Waterman), 2

William B., 5

Buckland

Lydia, 5

Burlingame

Philip, 9

Burton

Hannah (Wickes), 3

Susannah, 3

William, 3

Carpenter

Israel, 11

Nicholas, 11

Sarah (Arnold), 11

Sarah (Harris), 11

Silas, 11

Chamberlain

Mildred M., 10

Clarke

Jeremiah, 1

Mary, 1

Coggeshall

James, 2

Colborne

Priscilla, 4

Collins

Abigail (House), 8

Sarah, 8

Thomas, 8

 

Cowell

Benjamin, 10

Crary

Archibald, 10

Dayly

Benjamin, 6

Endicott

Frederic, 4

Fenner

Bethiah, 9

Foster

Sarah, 10

Gibbs

Robert, 7

Gile

Elnathan (Harris), 3

Gorton

Samuel, 3

Susannah (Burton), 3

Guillemard

Suzanne, 5

Ham

Thomas H., Mrs., 2

Harris

___ (King), 2

Abigail (__), 3–4

Alice, 3

Amaziah, 3

Amity, 2–4, 7, 10

Amy, 10

Andrew, 10

Ann, 7, 9–10

Ann (__), 3, 6–7

Anna, 10

Anna (Harris), 10

Anne (Hopkins), 6

Benjamin C., 1

Bethuel, 3

Caleb, 11

Charles, 2, 11

Christopher, 7, 10–12

David, 3, 8

Dinah, 3

Elizabeth (__), 1

Elizabeth (King), 3

Elnathan, 2–5

Elnathan (Tew), 1–2, 6

Hannah (Blake), 8

Henry, 2, 4, 7, 11

Hiram, 10

Hugh, 12

James, 9

Japhet, 10

Jedidiah, 7–9, 11

Job, 3–4

John, 3, 8, 12

Jonathan, 3

Joseph, 7, 10–12

Josiah, 11

Lovell, 3

Lydia, 4

Lydia (King), 3

Lydia (Olney), 4

Margaret, 8

Mary, 2, 4–5, 7, 10

Mary (__), 3

Mary (Rutenberg), 7

Nicholas, 1–3, 6–10

Oliver, 8

Patience (__), 8

Patience (Brown), 9

Phebe (Browne), 2

Preserved, 3

Richard, 2–3, 7

Sarah, 7, 10–12

Sarah (Collins) (Rutenberg), 8

Sarah (Foster), 10

Sarah (Sweet), 11

Susannah (Burton) (Gorton), 3

Thomas, 1–2, 4, 6–8, 11

Toleration, 10

William, 2–3, 10

Zerviah, 7, 9–10

Hopkins

Anne, 6

Mary (Smith), 6

Thomas, 6

Zebedee, 6

House

Abigail, 8

Hutchinson

Albert, 3

Jacobus

Donald Lines, 2

Jenckes

Sarah, 5

Justice

Alfred Rudulph, 1

Kastenen

Hans, 11

Kilton

Ann (Harris), 7, 9

Bethiah (Fenner), 9

Robert, 9

Kilton

Samuel, 9

King

___, 2

Clement, 2

Elizabeth, 3

Elizabeth (__), 2

Lydia, 3

Thomas, 3

Latham

Joseph, 6

Le Roy

Newbold, 5

Leavitt

Emily W., 4

Lee

Amy (Harris), 10

Charles, 10

Mason

Margaret (Harris), 8

Solomon, 8

McGunnigle

Bruce, 8

Meyers

Martha Pamelia, 1

Moriarty

G. Andrews, 1

Morrison

George Austin, 3

Morse

Amity (Harris), 2, 4

J. Howard, 4

Joseph, 4

Priscilla (Colborne), 4

Olney

Epenetus, 4

Lydia, 4

Mary (Whipple), 4

Thomas, 4

Onthank

Christopher, 7

Root

R. P., 9

Rutenberg

John, 7–8, 11

Mary, 7

Mary (Shippee), 7

Sarah (Collins), 8

Rye

George, 11

Sanborn

George F., 6

Melinde Lutz, 6

Schutz

John A., 9

Sheldon

Nicholas, 6

Shippee

Mary, 7

Shipton

Clifford K., 4

Smith

Amity (Harris), 3

Daniel, 3

Dinah (Harris), 3

Mary, 6

William, 3–4

Spear

M. E., 3

Sprague

Waldo C., 4

Sterling

John E., 1

Steward

Scott Campbell, 5

Sweet

Sarah, 11

Sarah (__), 11–12

Tanner

Andrew, 11

Tew

A, 12

Elnathan, 1–2, 6

Henry, 2

Mary (Clarke), 1

Paul, 12

Richard, 1–2

Thornton

James, 6

Tingley

Guilford Solon, 1

Martha Pamelia (Meyers), 1

Raymon Meyers, 1

Torrey

Clarence Almon, 3

Unthank

Christopher, 7

Walker

Anthony, 10

Waterman

Abigail (Angell), 9

Edgar Francis, 2

James, 9

Jonathan, 9

Richard, 9

Susan, 9

Thomas, 9

Wait, 2

Zerviah (Harris), 7, 9–10

Zuriel, 9

Whipple

Ann (Harris), 10

Job, 4

Mary, 4

Mary (Harris), 4

Samuel, 4

Thomas, 10

 

Wickes

Hannah, 3

Williams

Elizabeth (Blackmer), 10

James, 10

Zerviah (Harris) (Waterman), 10

 

 John Osborne Austin, The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (Albany, 1887; repr. with Additions and Corrections by John O. Austin and G. Andrews Moriarty, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982), 310; the date from his probate (Providence Record Commissioners, Early Records of the Town of Providence, 21 vols. (Providence, R.I.: Snow & Farnham, 1892–1915), 7:48–56). James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island 1636–1850, 21 vols. (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1891–1912), 2 (Providence):267.

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):20, 35.

 Austin, Dictionary, 310, 394; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):77. Mary Clarke was not related to Jeremiah Clarke of Newport (Austin, Dictionary, 44–45, 394; Alfred Rudulph Justice, “Genealogical Research in England: Clarke,” Register 74 (1920):130–40 at 132), despite the claims in Norman A. Baldwin, “Early Rhode Island Harrises,” Lifeliner 23:34–35.

 John E. Sterling, North Burial Ground, Providence, Rhode Island: Old Section, 1700–1848 (Greenville, R.I.: Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2000), 61. Her grave was moved from “a small burial ground in Manton, R.I.” (in Johnston, R.I.) to the Benjamin C. Harris lot in the North Burial Ground.

 Raymon Meyers Tingley, Some Ancestral Lines: Being a Record of Some of the Ancestors of Guilford Solon Tingley and His Wife Martha Pamelia Meyers (Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing Co., 1935),128, but he gives no sources for anything in his work. Tingley’s work must be verified on every point, as it appears that he included some fictional material.

 Austin, Dictionary, 310.

 Smithfield Land Evidence, 3:196, recorded 16 March 1752. Smithfield was formed from Providence in 1731.

 Austin, Dictionary, 310; Early Records of Providence, 7:48–56, from Providence Wills, 1:192–95.

 Austin, Dictionary, 28, 311; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):63.

 Austin, Dictionary, 28, 311, says November, but his inventory has the September date (Providence Wills, 4:22–25), as does Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):267.

 According to Austin, Dictionary, 28, 311, their first child was born 21 April 1694 and their second 16 Dec. 1698. But on 21 Sept. 1694 a Phebe Brown witnessed a deed from Thomas2 Harris to his son Richard (Smithfield Land Evidence, 1:470). Mrs. Thomas H. Ham, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Harris (n.d., 1904?), 3, says the first child was born 21 April 1696, but the children are not in Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island.

 Austin, Dictionary, 28, 311; Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, The Waterman Family: Descendants of Richard Waterman of Providence, Rhode Island, 3 vols. (New Haven: E. F. Waterman, 1954), 3:12. Henry Browne's will, dated 22 Sept. 1698, names his daughter Phebe Harris (Early Records of Providence, 6:216, from Will Book 1:143).

 Austin, Dictionary, 28, 311; Ham, Harris, 3; Jacobus, Waterman, 3:12.

 Providence Wills, 4:22–25.

 Austin, Dictionary, 117, 311; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):63.

 Austin, Dictionary, 117, 311, says only 1750, based on the probate of his will. An old LDS family group sheet [FHL microfilm 1,274,267] says 18 August 1750, but none of the sources cited there include that date.

 Austin, Dictionary, 117, 311, and George Austin Morrison, Jr., King Genealogy: Clement King of Marshfield, Mass., 1668 (Albany: Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1898), 8, do not give her given name. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, CD-ROM (Boston: NEHGS, 2001), suggests her name was “?Elizabeth,” probably from Tingley, Tingley, 131, apparently one of Tingley’s inventions. M. E. Spear, “A Genealogy of Lovell Harris of Harrisville, N.H.,” typescript at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2, taken largely from Albert Hutchinson, A Genealogy and Ancestral Line of Bethuel Harris of Harrisville, N.H. (Keene, N.H.: the author, 1907), calls her Lydia, clearly drawing on Ham, Harris, and Austin, Dictionary, 2, and M. A. Benns, “Harris Family Records,” (1942), a notebook at the Rhode Island Historical Society [FHL 0,022,327], 2. The will of Thomas King, who died at Providence 10 Oct. 1723, names his brother Richard Harris and his King brothers (Providence Wills, 2:164), all listed by Austin as children of Clement and Elizabeth.

 Austin, Dictionary, 302, 311 (Samuel Gorton died 6 Sept. 1724); Morrison, King, 8–9.

 Smithfield Probate, 1:125, the date on her inventory; Benns, Harris, 2.

 Austin, Dictionary, 311.

 Smithfield Land Evidence, 1:470, recorded 27 Jan. 1738/9.

 Smithfield Probate, 1:125.

 Smithfield Probate, 2:34, no inventory found.

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):63; Austin, Dictionary, 311 says 1 April.

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):63; Austin, Dictionary, 311.

 Austin, Dictionary, 311; Providence Will Book, 2:269, where his inventory gives his death date.

 Sterling, North Burial Ground, 61.

 Their first child, John, “of William and Abigail,” born 10 Aug. 1700 (Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island 2 [Providence]:227).

 Austin, Dictionary, 311.

 Ham, Harris, 6.

 Sterling, North Burial Ground, 61.

 Providence Wills, 3:149. Job Harris died in Providence 17 Dec. 1729, probate 5 Jan. 1729/30.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313, 355.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313, 355; Providence Wills, 3:44–45, where his inventory gives his death date; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):267.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313, 355. An inventory for Epenetus Olney, who died 3 June 1698, was presented in court by Mary Olney, widow, on 12 July 1698, but no document mentions the children (Early Records of Providence, 6:210, from Will Book 1:141).

 Austin, Dictionary, 313, 355, his source for her death unknown; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):235 (birth, but it says 1668, right after her brother Thomas born in 1686, surely an error).

 Austin, Dictionary, 222.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313.

 Waldo C. Sprague, “Inscriptions of Proprietors Burying Ground and Episcopal Churchyard, Canton, Mass. [also Canton Cemetery and Gridley Burying Ground] (Wollaston, Mass., 1948), R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Mss A334, p. 21. J. Howard Morse and Emily W. Leavitt, Morse Genealogy (New York: Morse Society, 1903), 26, says 7 July 1732.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313, says only ___ Morse; Morse worked in Providence 1698–99, but probably did not marry until later (Clifford K. Shipton, et al, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 18 vols. [Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1873–1999], 4:253–59). Their first child was born 21 July 1705 (Morse and Leavitt, Morse, 26). Spear, “Harris,” 2, and Ham, Harris, 6, say she married Christopher Smith, but her father’s will calls her Amity Morse.

 Sprague, “Inscriptions,” 21; Morse and Leavitt, Morse, 26; Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston; NEHGS, 1903), 73; Shipton, Harvard Graduates, 4:253–59; his death in The Record of Births, Marriages, Deaths and Intentions of Marriage in the Town of Stoughton from 1727 to 1800 and in the Town of Canton from 1797 to 1845 Preceded by the Records of the South Precinct of Dorchester from 1715 to 1727, Frederic Endicott, ed. (Canton, Mass.: William Bense, 1896), 35, from the original p. 74.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313.

 On 27 July 1749 William Brown of Providence, bound on a voyage to sea, made his will (proved 2 Dec. 1754), naming his parents Nathan and Elnathan Brown, wife Ann, who was pregnant, and two sons William and Nathaniel (Providence Wills, 5:66–67).

 James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642–1896 (Providence: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1897), 431. The bounds and jurisdiction of Rehoboth have a complex history.

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rehoboth, 555; Austin, Dictionary, 313, 113.

 Austin, Dictionary, 313, 113; William B. Browne, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America (Concord, N.H.: Rumford Press, 1952), 20. Nathaniel Brown of Rehoboth (living in Providence) in his will dated 20 May 1738 (proved 1 Dec 1739) named his son Nathaniel Brown of Providence (Bristol County, Mass., Probate File, Nathaniel Brown, Rehoboth, 1739).

 Col. Christopher Brown [William’s first cousin] was made guardian of the younger son, Nathaniel and Allen Brown of William, eldest son and Ann Brown, daughter (Providence Town Council, 4:157–59).

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 10:148, “Brown, Mary, alias Barnon.”

 Austin, Dictionary, 313; Scott Campbell Steward and Newbold Le Roy, 3rd, The Le Roy Family in America, 1753–2003 (Boston , Mass. and Laconia, N.H.: the authors, 2003), 6–7; “The Bernon Family,” Genealogies of Rhode Island Families from Rhode Island Periodicals 2 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983), 2:480–87, from Rhode Island Historical Tracts, which says he died 21 February 1735/6. “Gabrill Bernoon of Providence, marchant, well stricken in years” made his will on 16 Feb. 1727/8, naming his present wife Mary and four children by her. It was proved on 16 Feb. 1735/6, his inventory giving his death date as 1 February (Providence Wills, 3:259).

 Austin, Dictionary, 313; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):25 (Brown), 32 (Burnoon [sic]).

 “Seekonk Inscriptions,” Register 10 (1856):181, “in an old burying ground situated at the head of Bullock’s Cove.”

 Bristol County Probate File, Nathaniel Brown, Rehoboth, 1739.

 George Tilden Brown, John Browne, Gentleman, of Plymouth. . . (Providence: Remington Press, 1919), 33–35; Arnold, Vital Record of Rehoboth, 555; Austin, Dictionary, 113. See also Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Volume I A-B (Boston: NEHGS, 1999), 1:426, 455.

 Austin, Dictionary, 311; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):267. His probate record says he died on the [blank] day of March last, being in 1746, but his inventory says 27 March 1746 (Providence Wills, 4:184–86, 192).

 Austin, Dictionary, 311, gives only her given name, from Nicholas' will dated 16 July 1725.

 Ham, Harris, 5, writing in 1904; Hutchinson, Bethuel Harris, 14, in 1907; Spear, “Harris,” pp. 2–3, copying from Hutchinson; Mary Shaw Attwood, Some of the Maine Descendants of Thomas Harris of Providence, R.I., and Allied Families (Abington, Mass.: the author 1917), 27, in 1917; Tingley, Tingley, 129, in 1935.

 “Notes on the Hopkins Family, Genealogical and Biographical, by a Descendant,” Genealogies . . . from R.I. Periodicals, 1: 478–95 at 483, from Rhode Island Historical Tracts, No. 19. Strangely, the index says the name Nicholas Harris appears on the page, but it does not.

 Providence Wills, 2:43–46.

 Early Records of Providence, 11:74, from Town Meeting Book 1:50, also 11:127–28, 134–35, 143. Neutaconkanut Hill, with the river nearby, is mostly in Johnston and partly in Providence, near the junction with the Cranston town line.

 Early Records of Providence, 17:189, 193.

 Early Records of Providence, 11:147.

 Early Records of Providence, 9:1–2, from 3:155.

 Early Records of Providence, 13:57–58.

 Early Records of Providence, 9:70, from 3:203.

 Providence Land Evidence, 6:5.

 Providence Land Evidence, 8:509; 9:265, the latter acquired by deed recorded at 9:264.

 Providence Land Evidence, 10A:248; 11:65, both deeds recorded on the same page on 15 and 17 May 1742; Scituate Land Evidence, 3:122, 124.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 1:19.

 Austin, Dictionary, 311; Providence Wills, 4:184–86.

 Spear, “Harris,” 3.

 Mary was named in her father’s will dated 10 Nov. 1723, proved 9 Dec. 1723 (Austin, Dictionary, 168, which lists daughter Mary but without a husband).

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):88, 163, Thomas called “of Nicholas” and Sarah “widow.”

 Austin, Dictionary, 168. Thomas Collins of Warwick made his will 7 March 1725/6, naming wife Mary and daughter Sarah Ruttenborge, among others (Warwick Wills, 1:250–51). John Ruttenborge of Warwick made his will 10 Nov. 1723, proved 9 Dec. 1723, naming wife Sarah and eleven children (Warwick Wills, 1:212–13).

 Scituate Land Evidence, 3:122.

 Providence Land Evidence, 11:143.

 Bruce C. McGunnigle, Rhode Island Freemen, 1747–1755: A Census of Registered Voters (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977), 27.

 Hutchinson, Bethuel Harris, 14.

 Historical Commission, History of Washington, New Hampshire, from the First Settlement to the Present Time (Claremont, N.H.: the town, 1886), 466, in a sketch of Nicholas' grandson, Dr. David Harris.

 Cranston Deeds, 2:253.

 John R. Bartlett, Census of the Inhabitants of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. . . 1774 (Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1858).

 Spear, “Harris,” 3; Tingley, Tingley, 129, not particularly reliable sources.

 Glocester Wills, 1:151–53, which has Othniel’s death date, 4 June 1755, and that of his wife Deborah, died 26 March 1756.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 1:19.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 4:319.

 McGunnigle, Rhode Island Freemen, 27.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 4:260.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 4:416; 5:245.

 Cranston Deeds, 2:253.

 Ham, Harris, 7–8.

 “Interments in Rensselaer Co., NY Cemeteries,” the cemetery name not given, online at www.iveria.org/~mark/genealogy/renssecem/cemh4.txt

 John A. Schutz, Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780: A Biographical Dictionary (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1977), 243, which says James Harris of Lanesborough, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, was born probably in Scituate, Rhode Island.

 Austin, Dictionary, 116.

 “Genealogy of the Fenner Family,” Genealogies . . . from R.I. Periodicals, 1:331, from Rhode Island Historical Magazine, 7 (1886–87):19–37, 161–83; Rev. R. P. Root, Genealogy of the Fenner Family (Providence: the author, 1887?), paper no. 2, p. 32.

 Austin, Dictionary, 116; Providence Town Council, 3:400.

 Jacobus, Waterman 3:13–15, 24; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 Providence:88.

 Jacobus, Waterman, 3:24. The will of Richard Waterman of Providence, dated 16 Aug. 1741, proved 20 Aug. 1744, named wife Abigail, deceased, and among others his son Zuriel Waterman, deceased, and three grandsons, Thomas, Jonathan and James, sons of son Zuriel deceased, as well as a granddaughter Susan Waterman (ibid., 3:15).

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):277; Providence Wills, 3:275 [second set of page numbers], where his death date appears on his inventory.

 Jacobus, Waterman, 3:24; Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence):193.

 Jacobus, Waterman, 3:24.

 Early Records of Providence, 9 (1895):63, from Providence Records, 3:198.

 Ham, Harris, 5; not verified.

 Austin, Dictionary, 312–13. Her birthdate is from Tingley, Tingley, 129, but it has not been verified. According to the will of Toleration Harris, Warwick, 30 Sept. 1762, his daughter Ann, wife of Col. Christopher Harris, had already received her portion so was allotted only 5s (Warwick Probate, 2:160).

 Providence Land Evidence, 11:149.

 McGunnigle, Rhode Island Freemen, 27.

 Bartlett, Census of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. . . 1774, 228.

 Benjamin Cowell, Spirit of ’76 in Rhode Island (Boston: A. J. Wright, 1850), 104.

 Anthony Walker, So Few the Brave: Rhode Island Continentals 1775–1783 (East Greenwich, R.I.: Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, 1981), 111.

 Mildred M. Chamberlain, The Rhode Island 1777 Military Census (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985), 53.

 Johnston Wills and Inventories, 1759–1817,134–36. There are two blank pages following, apparently for an inventory that was not recorded.

 Codicil to her father's will.

 Ham, Harris, 6; Attwood, Harris, 15.

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Providence): 216; David Hoogland Carpenter, History and Genealogy of the Carpenter Family in America from the Settlement at Providence, Rhode Island, 1637–1901 (Jamaica, N.Y.: Marion Press, 1901), 323–24. A Silas Carpenter of Providence made his will on 3 Sept. 1743 [Israel’s 21st birthday], mentioning six sons, the last three being under 21. Israel was named as 5th son (Rhode Island Genealogical Register, 4:156, citing Providence Wills, 4:282).

 Johnston Land Evidence, 1:20, 69, 85, 272, 332.

 Bartlett, Census of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. . . 1774, 227.

 Columbian Phenix, 9 March 1811, p. 3, online at GenealogyBank.com.

 Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 2 (Johnston):7, the marriage of Nicholas, son of Israel, and Phebe Fenner on 30 Dec. 1770.

 Ham, Harris, 5, gives her maiden name only, but the marriage is in Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 4 (Newport):36.

 Newport Wills [WILL?] of George Rye, 13 June 1746 (9:170–71 as abstracted in the Rhode Island Genealogical Register 9:299), Hans Kastenen, 15 July 1745 (9:149 as in RIGR 9:298) and Andrew Tanner, 7 Dec. 1744 (9:51 as in RIGR 9:298).

 Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Records Database, searched at the Rhode Island Historical Society; photograph of her gravestone, online at FindaGrave.com; Providence Gazette, 3 Jan. 1784, p. 3, “Sat. last died here, in the 63d Year of her Age, Mrs. Sarah Harris, Relict of the late Capt. Joseph Harris of Newport”; repeated in the Newport Mercury, 17 Jan. 1784, p. 3.

 McGunnigle, Rhode Island Freemen, 27.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 3:385; 4:365. While Joseph had the deed to him recorded 6 July 1749, Jedediah waited until 3 Dec. 1758 to record his.

 Scituate Land Evidence, 4:344.

 New Hampshire Gazette, 10 Nov. 1769, 20 July 1770, 22 March 1771, 6 and 27 Sept. 1771, 17 July 1772, 8 Jan. 1773, and 14 May 1773. He may have been there earlier in the 1760s, but shipping news did not then give first names of captains.

 G. Andrews Moriarity, transcription of a list of “members of the Second Baptist Church at Newport, R.I.,” Register, 69 (1915):91–92 at 92.

 Bartlett, Census of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. . . 1774, 16. She was listed next to Hugh and John Harris, but the names may not be in geographical order. There was a Joseph Harris at Glocester (ibid., 132), but it seems unlikely to be this man.

 

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