Thomas Harrison (1748-1799)
The following is from The Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina, Jeannine D. Whitlow, Editor (1985) at 270-271 (Article #317 "Major Thomas Harrison" by Mary McAden Satterfield):
Major Thomas Harrison
Major Thomas Harrison was born in 1748 in Goochland County, Virginia. He died in Caswell County in 1799. He married first Mary Kennon, daughter of William Kennon and Elizabeth Lewis Kennon. He married second, Mary Pendleton, daughter of John Pendleton, a judge in North Carolina and brother of the statesman, Edmund Pendleton. Thomas Harrison was among the first justices of Caswell County, appointed by Richard Caswell. He was Major of North Carolina troops during the Revolutionary War. At the last Council among "Field Officers Appointed for Each County," Major Harrison was listed for Orange Northern Regiment. The author wrote as follows: "This finished the military organization of the state. The names of these men are preserved, that they may be known, as men who in times that tried men's souls stood up for their country and our liberties." Records show that he enlisted December 21, 1776, for three years.
He was appointed as one of the commissioners to select a [Caswell County] courthouse location. Because of the war, this work was delayed. At a session of the General Assembly held at Fayetteville, November 1, 1790, Mr. Robert Payne, the Senator from Caswell County, presented a bill for establishing a town and tobacco inspection station on Dan River on the lands of Thomas Harrison. It was passed on December 14th. At the session of the General Assembly held at the same date, Thomas Harrison was appointed one of the trustees "for extending the navigation of Roanoke River from the falls upward." It is of interest that his brother, William, performed a similar service for Virginia.
Thomas Harrison's will named the following children: Elizabeth, Jean, Mildred, Patsy, William, Andrew, Thomas, Charles, John, and Robert. There may have been others.
Thomas Harrison, Jr. died in 1832. He married first, Jane Burton. They were the parents of one daughter, Mary "Polly" Harrison, who married Abisha Slade. He married, second, Mildred Johnston, daughter of Dr. Lancelot Johnston and his wife, Zerurah Rice Johnston.
Thomas Harrison, Jr. and his wife Mildred Johnston Harrison were the parents of seven children: Robert Harrison, married his first cousin, Mildred L. Harrison, daughter of Andrew Harrison and his wife, Mildred Howell Reade Harrison; William Johnson Harrison married first, Temperance Dianitia Yarbrough -- married second, a first cousin of his first wife, Sarah Ann Ellington; Jack Harrison; Ann Harrison, married William T. Sharp; Ariminta Harrison, married Joseph Jeter; Louisa, married James M. Thomasson; Elizabeth, married George W. Thompson.
Nearly all of this family left Caswell County during the "Great Migration" westward. The children of William Johnson Harrison returned to Caswell County in 1858 after their father's second marriage. They lived at Yarbrough's Mill with their mother's parents, Richard Yarbrough and Tabitha Johns Yarbrough.
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Note that the author of the above, Mary McAden Satterfield, was Mary Yarbrough McAden and would have had special personal knowledge about this family through the Yarbrough connection.
Other Sources: Heritage of Caswell County (1985) at 487-488 (Article #664); "Heritage of Caswell County," article #317; and Burton and Allied Families.
Caswell Co., NC, Will Bk C, p. 352, Thomas Harrison-Will-w. 20 Jan 1799. "It is my wish and desire if Laws of North Carolina should ever take place for freeing slaves for them to be set at Liberty." Land to be divided among following sons on which each had built: William, Andrew, Thomas, Charles, John, and Robert; daughters Elizabeth, Jean, Mildred, Patsey. Wife; Exec: wife and sons William and Andrew. Wit: Andrew Harrison Sen., Jeane Harrison (Jurat), Jane Harrison (Jurat). Proved on oath of Jane Harrison and Jean Harrison (the younger).
Was major of the Orange County, North Carolina, regiment in the Revolutionary War, later settled in Caswell County, North Carolina, and left will 20 January 1799 - January 1799 (Caswell County, North Carolina). Birth year also seen as 1747. Source: Adventurers of Purse and Person: Virginia 1607-1624/5, John Frederick Dorman, Compiler and Editor (Fourth Edition, Vol. I, 2005) at 897.
