The origins of THOMAS1 HARRIS and

WILLIAM1 HARRIS of Providence, Rhode Island

  Helen Schatvet Ullmann and L. Randall Harris*

   

While there are several accounts of Thomas Harris of Providence, Rhode Island and some of his descendants in print, none is thoroughly documented and most contain questionable “facts” that link him with other early Thomas Harrises in New England.[ [1] ] The origins of Thomas and his brother, the controversial William Harris, also of Rhode Island and their known sisters Parnell and Ann Harris were unknown until recently. Some longstanding accounts claimed they came from Kent in Old England, from the town or parish of Deal.[ [2] ] In fact, Roger Williams described William Harris as “an impudent morris-dancer in Kent.”[ [3] ]

Knowing that Thomas, William, Parnell, and Ann Harris were siblings, a recent search of records of parishes near Deal yielded results in Northbourne, Kent. They were children of Andrew and Jane (Bagley) Harris.[ [4] ] Northbourne is about three miles inland from Deal.

 

1.  AndrewA Harris, a wheelwright of Northbourne, died between 24 May 1616, when he made his will, and 2 November 1616, when it was proved. He married in Northbourne 2 February 1603[/4], Jane Bagley.[ [5] ] She married second in Northbourne 29 October 1618, James Grigges, who was buried 7 March 1618/9. Jane married third in Northbourne 29 September 1619, James Sayer.

Without mentioning his five small children, who would have been ages 3 to 11, Andrew left everything to his wife Jane, including the future prospects of a half share in a joint venture made with Mathew Heely.[ [6] ]

Andrew’s will was presented in the Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury:

 

May 24th 1616 In the name of god Amen I Andrew Harris of the parrish of Norborne in the County of Kent wheelewrighte beinge sicke in bodye but well and perfecte in mynd doe ordeyne this my last will and testament in mann[e]r and forme as followeth, Imprimis I doe firste of all com[m]end my soule to almighty god my Creator and redeemer whoe gave yt and my worldlye good[e]s as followeth, I do here: by make and Constitute in this my laste will Jane Harris my wyffe my lawfull executrix gyvinge and bequeathinge unto her all my goodes moveable and  ymmoveable as namely xli current money in England nowe in the hand[e]s of Mathew heelye together with the proffytt or gayne that the sayd Mathew shall make of the same xli soe so[o]ne as he shall convenientlye make returne of the same and if by casualtye or misfortune the sayd Mathew or the good[e]s shall miscarrye either in parte or in whole then my will ys that Jane my wyffe shall equally beare her parte in the losse, alsoe I give unto Jane my wyffe one horse couler baye price 37s now in the hand[e]s of Mathew heelye so that my wife paye for the passage of the horse The rest of my worldlye good[e]s in the possession of Jane my wyffe I freely give and bequeathe unto her to dispose of at her will and pleasure and to this my laste will and testament I have sett my marke the day and yeare above written.

Wittnesses to this my will

Robert Sutton mi[ni]ster of Balymondes

Charles Bixbie churchwarden,

Frances danyer[?]

The marke of Mathew heelye

the marke of Nicholas Ch___ [perhaps Church]

 

The probate clause in Latin states that probate of the last will of Andrew Harris of Norbourne was on the second day of the month of November in the year 1616, and the executrix was Jane Harris.

Children of AndrewA and Jane (Bagley) Harris, baptized in Northbourne, Kent:

        i.   Jane Harris, bp. 23 Dec. 1604. On 21 June 1635, a “Jane Harrice” was admitted to the church in Scituate, Mass. Robert Charles Anderson wrote, “This member of the Scituate church is almost certainly the person of the same name who was a member of Rev. John Lothrop’s church in London in 1632; in the records pertaining to that church she is linked with Thomas Harris and William Harris, although no relationship among these three people is stated. No further record for this immigrant has been found in New England.”[ [7] ]  William, Thomas and Jane Harris are listed as among those “added to the Church” during a period when John Lothrop and 42 fellow dissenters were committed to prison but were allowed visitors and outside visitation rights.[ [8] ]

       ii.   Parnell Harris, bp. 3 Aug. 1606; d. Providence, R.I., between April 1676 and 4 Aug. 1676;[ [9] ] m. Thomas Roberts, who d., probably in Providence, in April 1676.[ [10] ] In late March 1634/5, “Pernel Harris of Bow Parish, London, embarked for New England on the Hercules of Sandwich, John Witherley, master.” Parnell had apparently recently returned from London and while there had obtained the required certificate, signed by Jos Leech, Vicar of Bow Parish in London, 19 March 1634.[ [11] ] St. Mary Le Bow is located very near the Draper’s Hall and Eastcheap, where her brother William had worked as an apprentice. On the passenger list, Parnell is listed just above her stepbrother James Sayers of Northbourne.[ [12] ]

Her brothers Thomas and William Harris administered Parnell’s estate. According to the inventory of William1 Harris, taken in Jan. 1681/2, a quarter of the estate of the deceased widow Parnell Roberts belonged to William Harris and another quarter belonged to William “in the right of Anne Harris.”[ [13] ] The other half of Parnell’s estate presumably went to her other brother, Thomas. This is reflected in a deed from Nicholas3 Harris (Thomas2–1), where he deeded 3/5s of three rights of land, one of them drawn in the original right of Christopher Unthank.[ [14] ] On 1 June 1663, Christopher Unthank acknowledged having about 1658 sold his house, house lot and right in common land to Thomas Roberts.[ [15] ]

      iii.   Ann Harris, bp. 29 May 1608. On 6 April 1680, William Harris, captured by pirates enroute to England and enslaved in Barbary, in a letter from “ArJeere” [Algiers] to his wife in R.I., wrote, “Remember my love to all, my Brother and Sister and all my kindered & friends.”[ [16] ] Thus Ann was apparently living as far as William knew, unless he was referring to his sister Jane.

      iv.   William1 Harris, bp. 9 Dec. 1610; d. London, England,[ [17] ] between 2 Aug. 1681 and 3 Dec. 1681;[ [18] ] m., probably ca. 1634, Susan Hyde, bp. St. Mary Aldermanbury, London, 20 March 1609/10, d. after 6 Dec. 1681, daughter of John and Mary (Bonfoy) Hyde.[ [19] ] At age 18, William was apprenticed as a needle-maker to Thomas Wilson of the Drapers’ Company in Eastcheap, London, for seven years beginning 22 Oct. 1628;[ [20] ] his future father-in-law John Hyde was a member of that company. William migrated to New England and was in Providence, R.I., by the spring of 1636.[ [21] ] He may have known Roger Williams in Salem, Mass., as he was among the small group who accompanied Roger Williams to the Providence area by that spring.[ [22] ] Through the remaining years in R.I., William Harris and Roger Williams had an antagonistic relationship. John Garrett calls him “the quarrelsome William Harris” and adds, “When the Quakers came to Rhode Island in the mid-1650s Harris took up with their cause.” As an old man, Roger Williams actually wrote, “W. Harris, who, being an impudent morris-dancer in Kent . . . under a cloak of separation, got in with myself, till his self-ends and restless strife, and at last his atheistical denying of heaven and hell, made honest souls to fly from him. Now he courts the Baptists; then he kicks them off and flatters the Foxians; then the drunkards (which he calls all that are not of the former two amongst us); then knowing the prejudices of the other Colonies against us, he dares to abuse his Majesty and Council, to bring New England upon us.”[ [23] ] William and Susan (Hyde) Harris had five children.[ [24] ]

2.    v.   Thomas1 Harris, bp. 11 July 1613;[ [25] ] m. Elizabeth _____.

 

 

2.  Thomas1 Harris was baptized in Northbourne, Kent, 11 July 1613. He died in Providence, Rhode Island, 7 June 1686.[ [26] ] He married, perhaps in England, probably about 1636,[ [27] ] Elizabeth _____.[ [28] ] She may be the widow Elizabeth Harris who was buried in nearby Rehoboth, Massachusetts, 8 March 1690.[ [29] ]

Many have erroneously said that this Thomas Harris arrived in New England with his brother William and Roger Williams aboard the ship Lyon, arriving in Nantasket 5 February 1630/1.[ [30] ] However, the first record of this Thomas Harris in New England is when he was in a group of “second comers” to the new settlement, who “was received a purchaser of Providence previous to” 20 August 1637. These were thirteen men “desirous to inhabitt in the towne of Providence” who subscribed to a “ciuill” compact.[ [31] ]

On 2 September 1650, Thomas1 Harris was taxed £1. He served in many positions in the growing plantation of Providence. From 1652 to 1657 and 1661 to 1663 he was commissioner, in 1654 lieutenant. In 1655 he was listed as a freeman. He also served as a juryman in 1656, deputy in 1664, 1666–67, 1670, 1672–73. In 1664–66 and 1669 he was a member of the town council, and was surveyor of highways in 1667.[ [32] ] Thomas was granted sometime before 1660 six acres of land on “Mooshausick River.”[ [33] ]

Thomas was a patentee in the charter from Charles II to Rhode Island in 1663.[ [34] ] In 1650 Thomas’ homestead of approximately five acres is listed among 52 other home lots “extending from the ‘Towne Streete,’ now North and South Main Streets, to ‘The Highway at the head of the lotts,’ now Hope street.”[ [35] ] Additionally, on 19 February 1665 he drew lot 7 in a division of lands.[ [36] ] From 1666 to 1669 and 1671 to 1675 he was an assistant, that is, in the uppermost echelons of the provincial government. On 14 August 1676, he was “on a committee that recommended certain conditions under which the Indian captives should be disposed of by the town. They were to be in servitude for terms of years.” On 1 July 1679, he was taxed 5s., 7½d. On 27 April 1683, he said that about 1661 he laid out a three-score acre lot for his son Thomas at Paugachauge Hill and a twenty-five-acre lot on the south side.[ [37] ]

In his official capacities, Thomas Harris signed many documents. In 1663 he signed a probate document as a town deputy:[ [38] ]

One excerpt from the Early Records of the Town of Providence reads:[ [39] ]

 

Aprill ye 28th: 1684, To ye Town met, Neighbours, whereas there is a Great, & continuall want in this Town, of a pound, to impound Cattell when they are found Trespassing, & this Towne being destitute of a Pound, I desire that the Towne would take some speedy course that a pound may be made that so such Trespassing creatures may be Secured Tho: Harris Senr.

 

Thomas signed his will on 3 June 1686, four days before his death. It was proved on 22 July 1686. To his unnamed wife he gave the “use of two home lots, orchards, dwelling house, household stuff, etc. for life, and a horse, three cows, three calves, half the swine and two hives of bees.” Children were son Thomas and daughters Mary Whipple and Martha Field. Sons-in-law Thomas Field and Samuel Whipple were to be overseers with Thomas Harris, Jr., executor. The inventory totaled £45.10s.[ [40] ]

After Thomas’ death, widow Elizabeth Harris was living 18 September and 31 October 1687 and in August 1688 when she was taxed 1s. in both years.[ [41] ]

Children of Thomas2 and Elizabeth (_____) Harris, born probably in Providence:[ [42] ]

        i.   Thomas3 Harris, b. by 1637;[ [43] ] d. 27 Feb. 1710/1;[ [44] ] m. Providence 3 Nov. 1664, Elnathan Tew,[ [45] ] b. Newport, R.I., 15 Oct. 1644,[ [46] ] d. 11 Jan. 1718 aged 77 [sic], bur. North Burial Ground in Providence or the Elnathan Harris Lot in Johnston, R.I.[ [47] ] daughter of Richard and Mary (Clarke) Tew.[ [48] ]

       ii.   Mary Harris, b. ca. 1639;[ [49] ] died Providence 14 Dec. 1722 aged 83; bur. North Burial Ground, Providence;[ [50] ] m. ca. 1666,[ [51] ] Samuel Whipple of Provi­dence, bp. Dorchester, Mass., 17 March 1644 [1643/4], son of John and Sarah (_____) Whipple,[ [52] ] d. 12 March 1710/11.[ [53] ] His was the first interment in the North Burial Ground.[ [54] ]

      iii.   Martha Harris, b. ca. 1643; died in 1717;[ [55] ] m. by 1670 Thomas Field,[ [56] ] who d. 10 Aug. 1717.[ [57] ]

 

Addendum

 

Early researchers often combined information on several different Thomas Harrises into one or more composite individuals. Typical inaccurate profiles might claim many of the following: that a single Thomas Harris of early New England was from Deal in Kent, sailed in the ship Lyon with Roger Williams, ran a ferry in Cambridge, was admitted a freeman in 1631, had nine children, and was a Quaker imprisoned and whipped in Boston.

Considering these various claims for this Thomas1 Harris:

Providence came in the Lyon.[ [59] ] John Winthrop’s journal says Roger Williams arrived at Nantasket on the Lyon on 5 March 1630/1 “with their wiues & Children, about 20: passingers”[ [60] ] There is no mention of the Harrises. Thomas Harris alias Williams of Charlestown, Massachusetts, arrived in 1630.[ [61] ] He was the ferryman.

 

 

Helen Schatvet Ullmann, cg, fasg, may be contacted at [email protected]. L. Randall Harris may be contacted at [email protected].


*L. Randall Harris has done extensive research of the Harris family in Kent; the authors combined their New England research.

[1]  Several Thomas Harrises lived as adults in New England prior to 1650. See the Addendum.

[2]  Mary Shaw Atwood, Some of the Maine Descendants of Thomas Harris of Providence, R. I. (Abington, Mass.: the author, 1917), 14; Mrs. Thomas H. Ham, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Harris (Albany, N.Y.: C.I.F. Ham, 1904), 3, 49. This book follows the line of Nicholas5 Harris (Jedediah4, Nicholas3, Thomas2–1), but Mrs. Ham was not aware of all of Thomas’s children and of information in other compilations. However, her source of the information that the Harrises came from Deal is the “written record of Nicholas Harris5, M.D.,” whose father Jedediah probably heard about the family origins from his grandfather, Thomas2.

[3]  John Garrett, Roger Williams: Witness Beyond Christendom, 1603–1683 (London: Macmillan, 1970), 88, quoted from Perry Miller, ed., 7 vols., The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, (New York: Russell and Russell, 1963), 6:397–98.

[4]  Northbourne Composite Parish Register, 1586–1718, at Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Canterbury, Kent, U3/74/1/1; Archdeacons’ Transcripts, 1563–1812, DCa/BT/136; and Bishops’ Transcripts, 1603–1812, DCb/BTa/173, all read by Diane Thomas of Acis Genealogical Research in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Microfilms are available from the Family History Library, as follows: composite parish register [FHL 2,354,573 Items 8–14] Archdeacons’ Transcripts [FHL 1,752,058 Item 5], and Bishop’s Transcripts [FHL 1,736,929 Item 1]. A transcription of the parish register and Archdeacons’ Transcripts for 1563–1664 is on FHL 1,544,553 Item 8.

[5]  Her name was at first read as “Bayley,” but several readers agreed it was “Bagley.”

[6]  Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury, registered wills, 55:335, at the Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone, Kent, PRC17/55/335, transcribed by Diane Thomas and Jerome E. Anderson. The will is available on microfilm [FHL 0,188,953].

[7]  Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634–1635, Volume III, G–H (Boston: NEHGS, 2003), 225–26, citing Register 9 (1855):279.

[8]  Champlin Burrage, The Early English Dissenters, 1550–1641, 2 vols. (New York: Russell and Russell, 1912), 1:323, 2:297.

[9]  Anderson, The Great Migration: Volume III G–H [note 7], 226–27, citing The Early Records of the Town of Providence, 21 vols. (Providence, 1892–1915), 15:150.

[10]  Anderson, Great Migration, 1634–1635, Volume III G–H [note 7], 226.

[11]  “Two Early Passenger Lists,” Register 75 (1921):217–26, at 220. See also G. Andrews Moriarty, “Additions and Corrections to Austin’s Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island,” The American Genealogist 19 (1942):127–35, 221–29; 20 (1943):53–58 et seq., at 20:57.

[12]  A James, son of James Sayer, was baptized in Northbourne on 1 November 1612. His father was James Sayer, third husband of Jane (Bagley) (Harris) Grigges, according to unpublished research by Diane Thomas (for whom see note 4). Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634–1635, Volume VI R–S (Boston: NEHGS, 2009), 191, has no further information on James Sayer[s] in New England.

[13]  Early Records of Providence [note 9], 6:85, from will book 1:53.

[14]  Providence Land Evidence, 8:509; 11:143. The other two rights were drawn in the right of Nicholas’s grandfather Thomas Harris Sr. and father Thomas Harris Jr. See Helen Schatvet Ullmann, “Thomas2 and Nicholas3 Harris of Providence, Rhode Island,” online at AmericanAncestors.org.

[15]  Early Records of Providence [note 9], 20:170–71, recorded 26 February 1706/7.

[16]  Harris Papers, Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 10 (1902):324. See Beth A. Bower, “Captivity with the Barbarous Turks: Seventeenth-Century New Englanders Held Hostage,” American Ancestors 13 (Spring 2012):18–24, William is mentioned at 19–20, 22–23.

[17]  William R. Staples, Annals of the Town of Providence, Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 5 (1843):587.

[18]  Harris Papers [note 16], Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 10:341–42.

[19]  Frederick J. Nicholson, “Hydes of England: Ancestors of Thomas Olcott of Connecticut, Samuel Hardy of Massachusetts, and Susan Hyde, wife of William Harris of Rhode Island,” The Genealogist 20 (2006):131–83, at 159–60, 168–70. This article includes interesting information about William’s travels and death.

[20]  Drapers’ Company of London Archives, Boyd’s Roll, A Register of Apprentices and Freemen, Drapers’ Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2DQ, research by Penny Fussell. The apprenticeship bindings book shows that William, son of Andrew of Northborne, Kent, wheelwright deceased, was apprenticed to Thomas Wilson for seven years on 22 October 1628. There are no records of him taking up the Freedom of the Company on completing his apprenticeship and no other information relating to him appears in the Company’s archives.

[21]  John Osborne Austin, The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (Albany: Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1887; repr. with Additions and Corrections by John O. Austin and G. Andrews Moriarty; Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982), 312.

[22]  Staples, Annals of Providence [note 17], Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 5:587.

[23]  Garret, Roger Williams [note 3], 24–25, 88.

[24]  Nicholson, “Hydes of England” [note 19], The Genealogist 20:168–70.

[25]  The original parish register and the Archdeacons’ Transcripts both say 11 July (courtesy of Robert Charles Anderson, fasg). See note 4.

[26]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310.

[27]  Based on the probable year of birth of his first known child, who was made a freeman in 1658.

[28]  The widow Elizabeth Harris, listed on tax records after Thomas’s death (Early Records of Providence [note 9], 17:101, 110, 125), was presumably his widow. Raymon Myers 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 Co., 1935), 127, asserts without evidence that her maiden name was Leatherland and that they married on 20 April 1632. Tingley’s work contains additional fiction (see below) with no documentation at all.

[29]  James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642–1896 (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1897), 832, from the original 1:89. The bounds and jurisdiction of Rehoboth have a complex history.

[30]  For example, in Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310. An early account in the Annals of the Town of Providence says, “Little is known of the early life of Mr. [William] Harris. He first landed in Boston, and the tradition is that he came in the same ship with Mr. Williams. He left Salem with Mr. Williams, and was one of the first six that crossed the Seekonk” (Staples, Annals of Providence [note 17], Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 5:587.); Tingley, Some Ancestral Lines [note 28], 127, which is a notoriously unreliable source. He claimed Thomas1 Harris was born 2 April 1605 (calculated from a spurious age at death) and invented three additional children for Thomas.

[31]  Early Records of Providence [note 9], Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1:118.

[32]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310; the 1655 “Roule of the Freemen of the Colonie,” in John Russell Bartlett, ed., Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, 10 vols. (Providence: A. C. Greene & Brothers, 1856–65), 1:299.

[33]  Charles Wyman Hopkins, The Home Lots of the Early Settlers of the Providence Plantations (Providence, R.I.: Providence Press Co., 1886; repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997), 62. The Mooshausick was the smaller western river in Providence.

[34]  The First Laws of the State of Rhode Island, 2 vols. (Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1983), 3.

[35]  Hopkins, Home Lots of the Early Settlers [note 33], illustration at 25.

[36]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310.

[37]  Ibid., 310; Providence Deeds, 1:24.

[38] RHi X17 1282 [John Brown, Thomas Harris, et al], Certificate Concerning a Will, Rhode Island, n.d., ink on paper, manuscript, Misc. Manuscript Collection, MSS 9003, book 1, p. 8, image courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

[39]  Early Records of Providence [note 9], Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 17:27, 419.

[40]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310, 312, has a detailed abstract of the will. The docket book for Providence probate records, file A47, says the will is on file and that it is in Early Records of Providence [note 9], 6:154, but that work only says that Thomas Harris [Jr.] presented the will on 22 July 1686 and that the inventory was allowed on that day, this in the middle of the published documents for his nephew Andrew Harris’s estate.

[41]  Early Records of Providence [note 9], 17:101, 110, 125.

[42]  Tingley, Some Ancestral Lines [note 28], 127–28, includes three additional children for which no evidence has been found: William, who died 11 July 1650 age 17; Eleanor, who died 28 June 1650 age 15; and Margaret who died 2 April 1659 age 16. Apparently they are fictional.

[43]  Thomas Harris, Jr., is on a list of men made freemen on 18 May 1658 (Bartlett, Records of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations [note 32], 1:387), which suggests that he was born by 18 May 1637, if not earlier. He bought land in 1661, was chosen as a petit juryman on 27 February 1663 and as constable on 27 April 1666 (Early Records of Providence [note 9], 3:12, 49, 83), a particularly responsible position.

[44]  The date in his probate (Early Records of Providence [note 9], 7:48–56).

[45]  James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island 1636–1850, 21 vols. (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1891–1912), 7 (Rhode Island Friends Records):20, 35.

[46]  Ibid., 7:77.

[47]  Two entries in the Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcriptions Project, online at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/cemetery/key.html; two photographs online at FindaGrave.com, where the entry for the North Burial Ground says the stone was moved from a small cemetery in Manton, Rhode Island, part of Johnston. This comment taken from John E. Sterling, North Burial Ground, Providence, Rhode Island: Old Section, 1700–1848 (Greenville, R.I.: Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2000), 61. The stone clearly says she was aged 77.

[48]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 394.

[49]  Ibid., 312, probably calculated from her age at death.

[50]  Ibid., 222, 312; David Jillson, “Descendants of Capt. John Whipple, of Providence, R.I.,” Register 32 (1878): 403–07, at 404; Sterling, North Burial Ground, Providence [note 47], 135.

[51]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 222, which says their second child was born in 1669.

[52]  Ibid., 222, 312; Jillson, “Capt. John Whipple” [note 50], Register 32:403–04; Mary Isabella Preston, Bassett-Preston Ancestors (New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1930), 318–19; Charles H. Whipple, Genealogy of the Whipple-Wright, Wager . . . Families (Los Angeles: Press of Commercial Printing House, 1917), 13; Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1633, 3 vols. (Boston: NEHGS, 1995), 3:1972–73, citing Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 311–12; Records of the First Church at Dorchester in New England, 1636–1734 (Boston: George H. Ellis, 1891), 156, where the order of entries shows it was 1643/4.

[53]  The date in his probate (Early Records of Providence [note 9], 7:22–29), a transcription from Providence Wills, 2:181–82.

[54]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 222, 312; Early Records of Providence [note 9], 7:22–29, Samuel Whipple's will, from Providence Wills, 1:181; M.A. Benns, “Harris Family Records,” (1942), notebook at the Rhode Island Historical Society, p. 1 [FHL 0,022,327]; Sterling, North Burial Ground, [note 47], 135.

[55]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 76, 312.

[56]  Ibid., first child born 3 January 1670.

[57]  Ibid., 76 (which suggests that his father may have been John Field), 312; Providence Wills, 2:19, his inventory, presented 9 September 1717, gave his death date, administration to son Thomas the same day.

[58]  Staples, Annals of Providence [note 17], Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 5:587, says William Harris came on the ship with Roger Williams. See also Meredith B. Colket, Jr., Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe 1607–1657, revised by Keith M. Sheldon (Cleveland, Ohio: The Ohio Society and The General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1985; revision 2002), 150; Richard LeBaron Bowen, The Providence Oath of Allegiance and its Signers 1651–2 (Concord, N.H.: Rumford Press, 1943), 53–58; Atwood, Maine Descendants [note 2], 14; Ham, Nicholas Harris [note 2], 49.

[59]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310.

[60]  Richard S. Dunn, James Savage, and Laetitia Yeandle, ed., The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630–1649 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996), 44–45.

[61]  Anderson, Great Migration Begins 1620–1633 [note 52], 2:864–66; Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Bethia Harris (Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1934), 6–8.

[62]  James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 4 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1860–62; repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965), 2:363, which actually treats all these men separately from Thomas of Providence. Savage did not claim that Thomas of Providence came in 1630 nor on the Lyon.

[63]  Anderson, Great Migration Begins [note 52], 2:864.

[64]  Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of New England [note 62], 2:363, lists ten children (including both a Job and a Joab), actually children of his son Thomas. Savage probably took that from Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2 (1835):118.

[65]  Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island [note 21], 310–13.

[66]  Ibid., 310.

[67]  Rufus M. Jones, The Quakers in the American Colonies (London: Macmillan, 1911), 70; James Bowden, The History of the Society of Friends in America, 2 vols. (London: Charles Gilpin, 1850–54), 1:98, 107–08;. Roderick Bissell Jones, “Harrises in Boston before 1700,” Register 105 (1951):190–97, 242–47; 106 (1952):15–30, at 105:191 and 106:27.

[68]  Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of New England [note 62], 2:363.

[69]  “Early Records of Boston,” Register 6 (1852):183; Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachu­setts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1925), 2:547, from court records.