W. H. Harrison Administration - Early Life
Early Life
William Henry Harrison was born into one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most highly respected families in the English colony of Virginia. Of English ancestry, Harrison was a direct descendant of King Henry III (1207–72) through his paternal grandmother. He was born in 1773 on the Harrison family plantation, Berkeley, in Charles City County, Virginia. He was the youngest of seven children born to Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett. Very little is known about his early childhood except that it was spent at Berkeley in activities such as swimming, fishing, and horseback riding. William Henry grew up during the tumult of the American Revolution (1775–83) and experienced its effects firsthand. At the age of seven he and his family were evacuated to another Harrison estate, Lower Brandon, on the James River (also in Virginia), as German mercenary soldiers and American loyalist troops under the command of Brigadier...
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