Benjamin Harrison IV
Benjamin Harrison IV (c. 1693 – July 12, 1745) was a colonial Virginia planter and politician who served as a member of the House of Burgesses for Charles City County and built the three-story Georgian brick mansion at Berkeley Plantation, completed in 1726.[1][2]
The son of Benjamin Harrison III, a former Speaker of the House of Burgesses, he married Anne Carter, daughter of the prominent landowner Robert "King" Carter, and fathered several children, including Benjamin Harrison V, who signed the Declaration of Independence and later served as governor of Virginia.[3][4]
Harrison attended the College of William & Mary, becoming the first in his family to receive a college education, before returning to manage the family estate.[3][5]
His life ended abruptly when a lightning strike killed him and one of his daughters while they were in the plantation's manor house, an event that interrupted the education of his eldest son.[6][3]
Through his descendants, Harrison became an ancestor of two U.S. presidents: William Henry Harrison, the ninth, and Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-third.[4][5]
Early Life
Birth and Parentage
Benjamin Harrison IV was born circa 1693 or 1694 at a small house on Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.[3][4] The plantation, situated along the James River, had been patented by his ancestors in the early 17th century and served as the family seat, emphasizing the Harrisons' deep roots in Virginia's colonial planter class.[6] He was the son of Benjamin Harrison III (c. 1673–1710) and Elizabeth Burwell (c. 1677–1734).[3][7] His father, a planter and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, managed Berkeley Plantation and expanded the family's tobacco interests before dying when Benjamin IV was in his mid-teens.[3] Elizabeth Burwell Harrison, daughter of Lewis Burwell—a colonial official and landowner—brought connections to other elite Tidewater families, reinforcing the Harrisons' social and economic standing in the colony.[3] This parentage positioned Benjamin IV to inherit not only landholdings exceeding thousands of acres but also a tradition of public service and agricultural enterprise.[6]Education at William & Mary
Benjamin Harrison IV enrolled at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he pursued a classical education typical of the institution's early curriculum.[8] The college, chartered in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II, focused on humanities and languages to equip students for roles in the clergy, law, or public service.[9] Harrison's studies emphasized Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, reflecting the Anglican-oriented preparatory training prevalent in colonial Virginia higher education.[8] He completed his degree, marking him as the first in his family to achieve a college graduation—a distinction that underscored the Harrisons' rising status among Virginia's planter elite.[3] This accomplishment followed his birth around 1693 and preceded his return to manage family estates, integrating scholarly preparation with practical plantation oversight.[4] No precise enrollment or graduation dates are recorded in surviving contemporary accounts, though his education aligned with the college's maturation in the early 18th century amid efforts to establish it as a center for colonial intellectual life.[8]Marriage and Family
Union with Anne Carter
Benjamin Harrison IV married Anne Carter, daughter of the influential Virginia planter and colonial agent Robert "King" Carter, circa 1722.[6][10] The union connected Harrison to Carter's extensive tobacco estates and land grants, which spanned tens of thousands of acres across the colony, enhancing the Harrisons' economic and social standing among Virginia's gentry.[4] As dowry provisions, Harrison gained management rights and profits from entailed Carter lands, along with approximately 1,000 acres in Prince George County.[3][4] William Byrd II, in his private diaries, described the prospective bride as "a very agreeable girl," reflecting elite social circles' assessments of such matches.[3] The couple established their household at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, where Harrison oversaw construction of the three-story brick mansion, completed in 1726; a datestone above a side entrance bears their initials "BHAC" above a heart motif and the year.[6] Anne Carter, born in 1702, died in 1743, two years before her husband's fatal lightning strike.[11][12]Children and Household
Benjamin Harrison IV and his wife Anne Carter raised their children at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, where the family established a prominent household centered on tobacco cultivation and estate management.[6] The couple had at least nine children, several of whom played notable roles in colonial and early American society.[5] The children included:- Benjamin Harrison V (1726–1791), the eldest surviving son, born at Berkeley Plantation, who later became a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and three-term governor of Virginia.[6][5]
- Elizabeth Harrison (1723–1783), who married Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress.[5]
- Anne Harrison (1723–1745), who married a Randolph and died young.[5]
- Hannah Harrison (dates unknown; died 1745), unmarried, who perished alongside her father in the lightning strike at Berkeley.[6][5]
- Lucy Harrison (1728–1789), who married and later became known as Lucy Necks.[5]
- Henry Harrison (1735–1775), a captain associated with Hunting Quarter in Sussex County, Virginia.[5]
- Carter Henry Harrison I (1736–1793), proprietor of Clifton Plantation in Cumberland County, Virginia.[5]
- Charles Harrison (1740–1793), who served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army.[5]
- Nathaniel Harrison (1742–1782), sheriff and member of the Virginia House of Delegates.[5]