ounds.

Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, was descended from ancestors who
were among the early settlers of Virginia. Hermon Harrison came to
Virginia in the second supply, as it was called. One of the name was
governor of Bermuda. John Harrison was governor of Virginia in 1623. The
common ancestor of the Harrisons of Berkley and of Brandon, was Benjamin
Harrison, of Surrey. He lies buried in the yard of an old chapel near
Cabin Point, in that county.[654:A]

It was long believed that the Harrisons of Virginia were lineally
descended from Colonel John Harrison, the regicide and friend of
Cromwell, and one of the noblest spirits in a heroic age. This
tradition, however, appears to be erroneous. The first of the family in
Virginia, of whom we have any particular record, was the Honorable
Benjamin Harrison, of Surrey, who was born in that county in 1645,
during the civil war in England. It is certain that he could not have
been a son of Colonel Harrison, the regicide. He may have been a
collateral relation.

The first Benjamin Harrison (of Surrey) had three sons, of whom
Benjamin, the eldest, settled at Berkley. He married Elizabeth, daughter
of Louis Burwell, of Gloucester; was a lawyer, and speaker of the house
of burgesses. He died in April, 1710, aged thirty-seven, leaving an only
son, Benjamin, and an only daughter, Elizabeth.

Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, was educated at William and Mary;
married a daughter of Robert Carter, of Corotoman;[655:A] and was for
many years a burgess for his native county, Charles City. In 1764 he was
one of the committee chosen to prepare an address to the king, a
memorial to the lords, and a remonstrance to the commons, in opposition
to the stamp act. Like Pendleton, Bland, and others, he opposed Henry's
resolutions of the following year. He was a member of the committee of
correspondence, and of all the conventions held before the organization
of the republican government. He opposed Henry's resolutions for putting
the colony in a posture of defence, but was appointed one of the
committee chosen to carry them into effect. He was elected, in 1774, a
delegate to the first congress, of which his brother-in-law, Peyton
Randolph, (who married Elizabeth Harrison,) was president. In February,
1776, he remarked in that body: "We have hobbled on under a fatal
attachment to Great Britain. I felt it as much as any man, but I feel a
stronger for my country." As chairman of the committe