John HARRIS

Notes:

Name:
A widely used account of John Harris of Charlestown provides a false maiden name for his wife, does not include all of his children, and fails to mention that he left Charlestown and died in what is now the State of Maine. Amy (also Ame) Harris, the wife of John Harris, was admitted to the First Church in Charlestown on 9 (6) (August) 1656, and was mentioned at the baptisms of four of her children there from 1661 to 1665. She was NOT, however, Amy Hills, a daughter of Joseph Hills of Malden, Massachusetts. The will of Joseph Hills "of Malden now of Newbury", dated 14 September 1687 and proved on 14 March 1687/8, names several children and grandchildren, but no daughter Amy or anyone of the surname Harris. In 1966, Col. Edward M. harris discussed the confusion between John's wife and the wife of the unrelated Anthony harris of Winnisimmet. The maiden name of John harris's wife Amy remains unknown. Moreover, she probably was not John's first wife, as work published in THE REGISTER since Colonel Harris's article shows that John Harris had at least one child, Elizabeth, born several years before his known children with Amy.

In Charlestown in 1658, John Harris was granted 15 acres of woods and "2 1/1 cow commons." He had moved to the early settlement at North yarmouth in what is now Maine by 1682, where he was named in a deed as one of four trustees on 28 June 1684. He died evidently very soon after, as he was replaced as trustee by 26 July 1684 and referred to on 15 November 1685 as "John Harris, sometime of North Yarmouth in Casco Bay, dec(ease)d." About that time, a town grant was laid out on the right of Mr. John Harris "Senior", for ten acres of land and four acres of marsh, which was claimed immediately by John's son Joseph on behalf of himself and his brother Thomas. In 1795, the son Joseph was remembered as being among the inhabitants of North Yarmouth about 1685, soon before Indian attacks forced the settlement to be abandoned. The settlers were conveyed to Boston and dispersed in its neighborhood. The town was not resettled until about 1727, when "Old John Harris's Assigns" had Lot 45 set aside to them in a proprietors' drawing.

Family/Spouse: UNKNOWN. died before August 1656. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth HARRIS was born about 1649 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died in 1677/78.

Family/Spouse: Amy ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]