Harrison family of Virginia

The Harrison family of Virginia has a history in American politics, public service, and religious ministry, beginning in the Colony of Virginia during the 1600s. Family members include a Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Harrison V, and also three U. S. presidents: William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, and Abraham Lincoln. Some Harrisons have served as state and local public officials and others have been instrumental in education, medicine, and business. Entertainer Elvis Presley is also in their number.

The Virginia Harrisons comprise two branches, both with origins in northern England. One branch was led by Benjamin Harrison I, who journeyed from Yorkshire by way of Bermuda to Virginia before 1633 and eventually settled on the James River at Berkeley Plantation; Benjamin and his descendants are often referred to as the James River Harrisons. Successive generations of this part of the family served in the legislature of the Colony of Virginia. Benjamin Harrison V also served in the Continental Congress, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and later was Governor of Virginia.

The James River branch produced President William Henry Harrison, Benjamin V's son, and President Benjamin Harrison, William Henry's grandson, as well as another Virginia governor, Albertis Harrison. Descendants of the James River family include two Chicago mayors and members of the U.S. Congress. Sarah Embra Harrison of Danville, Virginia launched a decades-long church ministry, the "Pass-It-On Club", in the midst of the Roaring Twenties. Sarah had four siblings who were chief executives in the tobacco and banking industries.

The second branch of the Harrisons was led by Isaiah Harrison, who immigrated in 1687 from Durham, England and settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1737. Isaiah was likely the son of Rev. Thomas Harrison, the chaplain of the Jamestown Colony. Isaiah’s granddaughter Bathsheba married Captain Abraham Lincoln and they were President Lincoln’s grandparents. As members of the Virginia planter class, early generations of the Harrisons included typically abusive slaveholders. President Lincoln was credited with measures to eliminate slavery in the nation, and the Harrisons eventually abandoned the institution.

Also among the Valley Harrisons were founders of the Virginia towns of Harrisonburg and Dayton. Musician and actor Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll," was a descendant of Isaiah’s granddaughter Elizabeth. Gessner Harrison was active in linguistics and his daughter Mary Stuart was an early leader in women's advocacy. A number of the Harrisons chose medicine, including urologist Hartwell Harrison, who in 1954 collaborated in the world's first successful kidney transplant, as the donor's surgeon.