Thomas Harris and Thomas Ligon, Burgesses from Henrico County

17th century map of Henrico County, VA

​Twenty-fourth in a series of biographical sketches whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island
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Thomas Harris (1586-c. 1649) Henrico County, VA

Thomas Harris, an ancient planter and inhabitant of Virginia listed on the 1624-25 Muster, arrived on the Prosperous in May 1611 with a group brought by Sir Thomas Dale to establish a settlement in Henricus. On 18 Nov 1618, Harris was granted 100 acres as an Ancient Planter at Neck of Land and is listed in the Muster at Charles City as age 38 with his first wife Adria (Hoare), age 23.

Thomas Harris and Adria were married in Virginia, as she had come to America in 1621 on the Marmaduke. Thomas acquired another 650 acres of land for the transportation of 13 persons to the colony and another 400 acres by inheritance.  Harris also acquired the 700 acres known as Longfield that belonged to his neighbors, Edward and Ann Gurganey, when Ann Gurganey bequeathed the land to Harris in her 1619/20 will; this land was patented in his name in 1637. 

Harris was elected as a Burgess for Neck of Land in 1624 and for Henrico in 1640, 1647-48.  He also served as a Commissioner for the “Upper Parts,” land which included Henrico, and as the Commander of Henrico County.  After the death of his wife Adria, he married the widow of William Vincent, Joane, who was five years his senior.  The only children of Thomas Harris were by his first wife Adria: Mary and William.  Mary married Thomas Ligon, and William inherited Longfield in his father’s will, made about 1649 but now lost.

Thomas Ligon (1623/4-1675/76) Henrico County, VA

Thomas Ligon, the eldest son of Thomas Ligon (c. 1577-1626) and Elizabeth Pratt (1602-1631) was baptized at Walsgrave-on-Sowe, Warwickshire 11 Jan 1623/4.  He immigrated to Virginia in the 1640s and settled at Henrico County.  He married Mary Harris, daughter of Captain Thomas Harris, of Henrico County before 1649.  Mary stated in a deposition given in 1684 that she was 64 years of age, making her birth year about 1620.  The couple had five sons: Thomas, William, Richard, Matthew, and Hugh; and two daughters: Johan (wife of Robert Hancock) and Mary. 

​Thomas, the immigrant, served as a member of the House of Burgesses for Henrico in 1656, was a lieutenant colonel in the militia, and was a surveyor of Henrico County until his death in 1675/76. Lt. Colonel Thomas Ligon left a will (now lost), dated 10 Jan 1675/76 and proved 16 March 1675/76, in Henrico County, Virginia.  His widow Mary Harris Ligon gave her brother the “whole profits of the surveyor’s place” by an agreement recorded 1 Nov 1679 until her eldest son should become of age.  In Mary Ligon’s will, dated 18 April 1702/3 and proved 1 Feb. 1703/4 in Henrico County, she left sons Richard Ligon and Hugh Ligon 200 acres lying in Curles, Henrico County, being part of the land given to her by her father, Captain Thomas Harris.
 
First Mississippi Company descendant of Thomas Ligon and Thomas Harris: Charles Hill