Descendants of Rev Abraham HARRIS

Notes

To find any person descended from Rev Abraham HARRIS select Here.  To find any person in this website use the Alphabetical Surname List.

1. Rev Abraham HARRIS

Rev. Abraham Harris (1760-1820), Unitarian minister in Earl Street, Maidstone, County Kent, England from 1780 to 1820, was originally from Swansea, Wales. He married Hannah Polhill in 1788 and had sons Rev George Harris, Unitarian minister and social reformer in England and Scotland, and John Polhill Harris, who emigrated to Chicago in 1853.  Abraham's daughter was Catherine (Kate) Harris who married Charles Ellis of Maidstone.

There is currently no definitive position as to the parentage of Rev Abraham Harris.  George Harris(born 1794)'s father, Abraham was a minister of the "Protestant Dissentary" which was the original name of the Congregationalists.  He is thought to have had four brothers called Moses, Aaron, Arthur and Rees.  He lived at Maidstone, Kent and early in his life had a connection to Swansea.

First Option - Father George Harris
There is some suggestion that Abraham Harris is related to Lord Harris? His ancestors MAY lie in the Lord Harris family tree (famous cricketer and administrator) IF it can be established that Abraham's father was a Rev George Harris.  This gentleman was father of General Sir George Harris (1746-1829).

Also Ref: The Genealogist Edited by John Gough Nichols, Vol 1 London 1846 - "John Polhill,..., married, and left issue an only daughter, Hannah, who married Arthur (sic should be Abraham) Harris, Esq. of Maidstone, a branch of Lord Harris's family."

Note: Speculation only.  It is possible that Abraham was the son of the Rev George Harris, B.A. Cambridge, curate of Brasted, Kent by his wife Sarah, daughter of George Twentyman of Braintree, Cumberland.  This Reverend George Harris was the father of the 1st Baron George Harris of Seringapatam and Mysore(1746-1829).  This could be possible by looking at the naming of Abraham's children:

Catherine - Wife's grandmother's name.
George - could be Abraham's father's name?
John Polhil - Wife's father's name.

Second Option - Father Christopher Harris
Some consider that Abraham's parents to be Christopher Harris and Sarah Simmonds of Maidstone.  But no evidence to support this has been seen.

Third Opton - Father Solomon Harris
The Rev. Abraham Harris was a native of Swansea.  He was educated first under Dr. Davies, of Abergavenny, and then at Hoxton College, under Dr. Abraham Rees, Dr. Andrew Kippis and Dr. Savage.  He settled at Maidstone very early in life, and continued there till his death on the 1st of July, 1820.

(Note: In the "Vestiges of Protestant Dissent: Lists of Ministers, Included in the National Conference of Unitarian, Liberal Christian, Free Christian, Presbyterian, and Other Non-subscribing or Kindred Congregations" by George Eyre Evans - Liverpool 1897.  A Solomon Harris was listed as the minister at Swansea, High Street, from 1751 to 1785).  Is he related?  Solomon Harris and wife Lydia Cave (d/o William Cave) at least had a son Houlton b 23 Oct 1755 Swansea, a son Solomon b 7 Jun 1757 Swansea, a daughter Lydia b 24 Jun 1759 Swansea, and a son William b 9 Jul 1763 in Swansea. The first three were baptised all on 15 Apr 1760 Non Conformist, London.

England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973
Abraham Harris
Marriage Date 19 Dec 1788
Marriage Place All Saints, Maidstone, Kent, England
Spouse Hannah Polhill
FHL Film Number 1736877 Reference ID Item 1

Marriage: Abram Harris of Maidstone bachelor & Hannah Polhill of the same parrish married on 18 Dec 1788.
Book: Volume 32
Collection: Kent, Surrey, London: - Canterbury Marriage Licences, 1781-1809 (Marriage)

The details of the marriage licence of Abraham and Hannah dated 19th December 1788 states that those present were a George Harris and a Jane Prentis. It would appear that Jane Prentis was baptised in 1765 at the Presbyterian Chapel, Earl Street, Maidstone, Kent. She married Robert Harris in 1789. The George Harris could well have been Hannah's uncle George b1743.  Jane has siblings of Stephen, Rose, Ann Whiting (wife of Anthony Whitting) and Elizabeth.

The Investigator Vol. 1 May and September 1820
KENT
Deaths: June - At Maidstone, aged 63, Rev. Abraham Harris, for 41 years Unitarian minister of that place.

HARRIS Abraham. Minister 1780-1820, all at Maidstone. Died 1 July 1820 at Maidstone. Monthly Repository: 1820. 430.

Bath Chronical and Weekly Gazette 13 July 1820
Deaths: Rev Abraham Harris 41 years minister of the Unitarian congregation in Maidstone.

England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991
Name: Rev. Abraham Harris
Gender: Male
Burial Date: 09 Jul 1820
Burial Place: Maidstone, Kent, England
FHL Film Number 1835447
Reference ID item 2 p 218

The Monthly Repository of theology and Gebneral Literature V15
Intelligence.—General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Jan-Dec 1820
Obituary
July 1, the Rev. Abraham HARRIs, who had been about 41 years minister of the Unitarian congregation at Maidstone. His health had been gradually declining for several months previous to his death. During his long illness, in which his sufferings were sometimes intense, he evinced the most entire patience and resignation. He was never known to complain, but uniformly endeavoured to conceal what he felt. On the body being opened, at the request of the medical gentlemen who had attended him in his illness, it was found that the heart was enlarged to twice its natural size, and the valves almost entirely ossified; that the left lobe of the lungs was almost totally decayed, and that there was an immense accumulation of water in the chest. Mr. Harris was a man of remarkable milduess and suavity of manners, highly respected and his loss greatly regretted, not only by the members of his own congregation, but also by those of every other denomination who had been acquainted with him. The Rev. L. Holden, of Tenterdem, his long and intimate friend, delivered his funeral sermon at the Unitarian chapel, Maidstone, on Sunday the 16th inst., from these words, “Jesus wept.”

His funeral was attended by both Methodists and Congregationalists who closed their  own places of worship for the day.

Abraham was buried in All Saints Maidstone. But seemingly alone.  His grave/slab stone reads "In memory of The Rev Abraham Harris 40 years the minister of the Unitarian Chapel in this town died 1st July 1820 aged 60"